They Got Steam Heat

Austin City Limits Music Festival broils under a September sky

By Jean Scheidnes
Austin American-Statesman
Sept. 18, 2004

Austin, are you ready to ROCK? Then get set to SWEAT.

If you're heading to Zilker Park for the second and third days of Austin City Limits Music Festival, expect to be more than a little moist by the time you get through the gates. Embrace your sweat. Watch it trickle down your shins.

And if you should suddenly stop sweating, go to the medical tent.

Afternoon temperatures of almost 100 degrees did not deter the 70,000 fans who poured onto the festival grounds long before the comparative cool of dusk. Crowd-pleasing acts on Friday's bill included local heartthrob Bob Schneider, gospel greats the Blind Boys of Alabama and Louisiana sleeper hit Marc Broussard.

Early birds staked their claim to patches of tree-shaded grass, until they looked like castaways clinging to atolls for dear life. Optimists put blankets down on the perimeters to wait for late-day shade. Those less fortunate milled around under umbrellas.

"Heat is going to be the big issue this year," said Tannifer Ayres of the festival's emergency action team. Watch for dizziness, nausea, disorientation, she said. "For every beer you drink, have a water. I can't stress enough . . . alcohol is not a hydrator."

Police said 100 people had been treated for heat-related illness at the medical tent. Two were transported to the hospital with heat exhaustion or possible heat stroke. Two others went for treatment of a seizure and an ankle injury.

The medical staff and festival organizers were doing an "excellent job" of ensuring that people had enough water and had their needs met, said Lt. Randy Pasley of the Austin Police Department.

No arrests were made, police said.

"The crowd has been magnificent so far," he said.

Three-day passes are sold out, but single-day passes are still available for today and Sunday.

The festival has also extended its influence far beyond the borders of Zilker Park. It was evident in the impenetrable snarl of traffic around Waterloo Park, where loads of festival-goers departed in shuttle buses every few minutes.

It also was evident in the ocean of bicycles parked near Barton Springs Pool and the thick line of shorts-and-sandals clad people who swarmed Friday afternoon down Barton Springs Road, trying to reach what has become one of the city's musical meccas.

Inside the festival, last year's long bathroom lines had diminished considerably. Festival organizers had also redesigned the food court to make it more accessible.

Oppressive heat did not deter Ismael Retana, who said he moved to Austin largely because of the festival, nor others who poured into Zilker Park and hooted for their favorite bands. Last year, Retana, 25, quit his job rather than miss the festival. This year, there's no need, since he doesn't happen to have a job.

Attendees generally expressed pleasure with how smoothly the festival was running, and how laid-back the attitudes were. (You can take your beer anywhere!) Although drinking, people-watching and shopping were side attractions, the more than 130 acts were the main events.

"I saw the lineup, and I really thought it was a joke," marveled Jenny Adrich, 27, from Seattle. "All my favorite bands in one place, for so cheap."

Adrich and two friends said they were very pleased at the prices, especially for beer and water. At $2 for a bottle of water, no one was getting gouged. All three stated their intentions to buy one of those straw cowboy hats. Yes, the hats are back from last year's fest, and they've been multiplying all day. At the SoCo Art Market, Texas Headwear is doing very brisk business in them, for $15 a pop.

But the hottest accessory is a battery-operated, hand-held misting fan being distributed by SBC Corp.

To get one, you first must obtain a promotional coupon from an SBC representative in the park, and then exchange it for a fan at the SBC tent. While you're at it, you can check your e-mail, watch golf on TV, anything to be inside for a few blessed minutes.

If you can't score an SBC mister, another smart-looking accessory is a paper fan, as is an umbrella, opened for shade, sweet shade. There are tight masses of people huddled under any patch of shade and in front of the large mist machines.

Why not schedule the fest in comparatively cooler October? Festival officials say they don't want to go head-to-head with Longhorn football weekends, and the Horns have a bye week.

In front of the stages, there's tension building between the chair people and the standers. The chair people feel that by lugging a chair around all day, they've earned the right to an unobstructed view. The standers think the chair people need to get over it; this is a festival.

It's a little surprising that there's no restriction on bringing 18-foot poles into the festival, but that's what a lot of groups have done, so they can find one another. Atop the poles are all manner of flags, piņatas, wind socks, balloons and paper lanterns. The freakiest among them have scarecrows that, dressed in "Keep Austin Weird" tees, resemble Austin hippies about to be burned in effigy.

The most surreal sight has to be "the beach," a sandlot with beach umbrellas and Adirondack chairs. Two biker dudes sat there with their boots on, smoking cigars and keeping watch over a stroller.

The longest lines — and they're only seven or eight-people deep — are for snow cones and smoothies.

As the day goes on, fewer and fewer people are wearing shirts. Women are sporting bikini tops or improvising them out of rolled up tank tops. Men are sporting big, naked beer bellies. Naturally, this is a casual affair, even by Austin standards.

Chris Leroy, 24, of San Francisco proudly sported his Red Dog T-shirt, khaki shorts and flip-flops.

"Today is church, and this is my Sunday best," Chris Leroy said.

Anita Powell and Joe Gross contributed to this report.