ACL MULTIMEDIA
- Our photos: Fri. | Sat. | Sun.
- Your photos: View | Share yours
- A-List at ACL: Fri. | Sat. | Sun.
- More A-List: Sixth Street | Envy magazine | Rock the Vote | Paste party | Sound and the Jury
- Interviews: AA Bondy | Sharon Jones | Jamie Lidell | Bavu Blakes | More video
- Sights and sounds: 1 | 2 | 3
- Fashion Festies: ACL's best dressed
- Photos: ACL history | ACL Fest: A to Z
REVIEWS
- Foo Fighters | Shooter Jennings | Neko Case | Okkervil River | Beck | Iron and Wine | Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings | Robert Plant and Allison Krauss | MGMT | Mike Farris
- More reviews: Fri. | Sat. | Sun.
- Full ACL Fest coverage
ACL FEATURES
- Swirling with dust, music
- Flyleaf - not your typicaly heavy rock Christian band
- Hot acts, cool kickoff
- Corporations get more than a banner when they sponsor a stage at ACL Fest
- Eclectic ACL lineup isn't built around headliners
- Musical skills honed on Sundays
- Jacket fans, hop on Band of Horses
- As acclaim rises, Lewis might be able to shuck day job
- SXSW gave White Denim a leg up
- After the festival lights go out, the night is just beginning
- Inside the Dell Dome: music, mirth and ping-pong
- Bingham a rising star in country music
- Widespread love for the Chicken Cone
- Fest food vendors
- ACL Fest is serious about its food
- Plan your day with our critics' picks
- Austin figures into Brooklyn-based Afrobeat band Antibalas
- FAQ: What you need to know besides who's playing
- Sweeney's ACL gig will be a dream come true
- Vampire Weekend ready to sink teeth into new material
- Celebrities? They're everywhere
- Award salutes Lickona's career
- An ACL Fest history
Austin Music Source
- Changes abound at SXSW
- Okkervil River on Letterman Wednesday
- R.I.P. Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton
- Check out the No No No Hopes demo for free
- CD review: The Gourds, 'Haymaker!'
THE A-LIST
- Day 5 of Free Week featuring Scorpion Child, High Watt Crucifixers, Frantic Clam, more: Photos
- Day 4 of Free Week featuring Zookeeper, Stereo is a Lie, Fire From The Gods, more: Photos
- Day 3 of Free Week featuring The Always Already, Low Down Shaky Chill, Unwed Fathers, more: Photos
- Day 2 of Free Week featuring Riverboat Gamblers, The Ugly Beats, What Made Milwaukee Famous, more: Photos
- Day 1 of Free Week featuring The Alice Rose, Built by Snow, Summer of Blood, more: Photos
- New Year's Eve on Sixth Street: Photos
- First Night in Downtown Austin: Photos | Video
- Early New Year's Eve at Speakeasy: Photos
2008: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
- 2008: Celebs in the news
- 2008: Celebs we lost
- 2008: Year's top events
- 2008: Year's top movies
- 2008: Year's top restaurants
- 2008: Year's top TV
- 2008: Wacky, tacky celebs
R@NK: HOT OR NOT?
- Winter movies
- CMA fashions
- Best James Bond
- Bond girls
- Scary movies
- Political pundits
- Sexy soap studs
- Fall TV
- Comedians
Inside the Dell Dome: music, mirth and ping-pong
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The dome at this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival is not, have no fear, Biosphere II come to roost in Austin. It's the new Dell Dome, a mobile version of the music-art-interactive-whatever Dell Lounge, and it's been hopping from festival to festival since Lollapalooza in Chicago. And it sounds like a good bit of fun.
Graffiti artist Mike Ming decorates the canvas exterior, and fest-goers can transfer his artwork to their own duds with a T-shirt station. There are airbrush tattoos available. You can make a custom playlist of ACL Fest bands' tracks and download 10 tunes for free courtesy of Dell and Paste magazine when you get home. You can go online and update your MySpace to prove you just saw the most awesome band ever.
It appears the thing has been something of a hit this summer. (At ACL Fest, the dome will be just west of the Dell Stage.)
"It's a way of bringing the lounge to live events," said Susan Kittleson, the company's director of consumer marketing for the Americas. "It's a celebration of the democratization of music and the ability to express yourself through music and design. We've been amazed at how many people come. At one of the festivals we had 20,000 people go through the dome over three days."
Maybe the hot draw is getting your hair done like Amy Winehouse. This, sadly, is not a joke. And the wait has been up to four hours for that particular service.
Also, bands — including Roky Erickson, White Denim and this year's winner of the Sound and the Jury competition — will be doing interviews inside, with clips up the following day.
Also, and still not joking: There will be ping-pong. Yes, the one thing everyone has said ACL Fest has sorely been lacking lo these many years.
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