by Erin Mendez

I spent this past weekend at my first Austin City Limits under blazing heat, surrounded by raging crowds, deafened by the roaring vibrations in my chest. The atmosphere at ACL was buzzing with excitement and the crowds were adorned with extravagant outfits. ACL felt like a judgment-free zone where everyone came together for their mutual love for music.

I kicked off the festival by watching Megan Thee Stallion, who dominated a massive, lively audience with her powerful stage presence. Megan was extremely engaging with her crowd and she even invited a diverse multitude of audience members onstage to share the spotlight with. Every time the cameras focused on the people dancing, the crowd would go wild and cheer them on with encouragement. Despite not knowing Megan’s music too well, her performance was deeply empowering and I think it accurately set the tone for the rest of the festival. After her set was over, we briefly watched Erykah Badu, who had a very experimental, curious performance.

The two closers that I watched that night were Miley Cyrus and George Strait. We went to see Miley first, who illuminated the stage in a dazzling red romper and opened her performance with “We Can’t Stop,” which had the crowd ballistic and energetic as she continued to perform songs from her Bangerz era along with Plastic Hearts and even her famous cover of “Heart of Glass.”  Miley also integrated snippets of Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” into a song, and the crowd’s singing reverberated far beyond her stage. As we walked over to George Strait’s stage, we could hear her singing until we were directly in front of his stage. George’s audience was expansive and much more relaxed than the frenzy at Miley’s show. Everyone seemed appreciative of his performance and the back of the audience was full of couples dancing to his music. 

Saturday was by far the busiest, most hectic night of the weekend, with all the artists I was most excited to see playing back to back. We first saw girl in red, who had a very pleasantly youthful aura and a delightful setlist. After this, we briefly watched 070 Shake because I am a huge fan of her song “Glitter”, and she had a much greater audience turnout than I expected, and was by far one of the most fiery, animated presences I saw at ACL, screaming at the top of her lungs and captivating the crowd. Me and my boyfriend left early to go wait for Freddie Gibbs, which paid off because we were in the equivalent of the fourth row next to aggressive mosh pits. We then had to switch between Doja Cat and Modest Mouse, managing to catch our favorite songs by both.

Maybe I’m mildly biased because an article over one of Dayglow’s albums got me my media pass into ACL, but I can confidently say that Dayglow was unquestionably my favorite performance of the festival. Although I saw a local College Station show of his in August, it didn’t compare to the energy or crowd of Saturday’s show; it was a completely different experience and because Austin is Sloan Struble’s hometown, it’s likely that he has a broader audience. I got lucky enough to work my way up to a farther side of the barricade, and I had more fun dancing at his show than any of the others. It seemed like the entire crowd knew his lyrics and the band seemed to be enjoying the show so much that it was contagious. We ended the night by watching Billie Eilish, whose crowd seemed to stretch eternally.

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tate McRae, who is a humble,  down-to-earth 18-year-old Canadian singer that feels “off the moon” with excitement about her upcoming world tour with Shawn Mendes. Tate described the surreal transition from playing shows with 150 people to playing festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits as “a surreal feeling”, as she is “living [her] dream.” Tate has skyrocketed to fame because of songs like “you broke me first”, and when asked about the release date for her debut album, she assured that “[she’s] almost finished” and “it’s for sure gonna happen next year.” Tate believes she is different from other artists because of her approach to songwriting as “[her] diary” and something very “personal to [her] life.” I asked Tate if she has a particular goal that would feel like a milestone in her career and she responded that although she does have venues and award shows she would dream of performing at, her objective is to “have albums out and love everything [she’s] written” and “perform it until the day [she] dies”, as to not “look back and hate everything [she’s] created.” Lastly, Tate advised people interested in the music industry to “just put themselves out there” and “[not] overthink it.” 

Tyler, The Creator was the last performance of the night, closing ACL in an epically vibrant show that showcased work from all of his albums, catering to all types of his fans. Tyler was extremely humorous, grinning onstage while asking the audience to boo him before saying “thank you, I needed to be humbled.” Tyler had a very rare, special charm that makes him extremely likable and fun to watch. I’m not very familiar with Tyler’s discography prior to his recent three albums but everything was deeply enjoyable nonetheless. I was in the front middle of the crowd, constantly finding myself at the edge of mosh pits, caught in a sweaty sea of bodies with no room to even lift an arm. Regardless, Tyler’s show was sensational and quite an unexpected gem for me.

I can’t explain how truly lucky I felt to experience this monumental festival and I’m so grateful to be a part of an organization that allows me to do something I love so much. Austin City Limits was unforgettable and I can’t wait to return and experience many more years of this.