Austin Festival Glut

I still love me some Austin City Limits, but as I have mentioned before, the special-ness of the festival has been reduced over time as the lineup seems to homogenize with all the other festivals that are popping up EVERYWHERE.  We still get Asleep at the Wheel every year, and the gospel morning stuff on Sunday is a fun touch, but when EDM rules all and every festival this year is playing LCD Soundsystem as a headliner, it kind of sucks the joy out of a lineup.

With that thought in mind, I noted the other day that even more local, Austin-area festival lineups have been announced, and they somehow have legit artists and big name draws.  On one hand, more music sounds awesome.  Lets get more good bands to Austin, maybe with cheaper ticket options, more variety, and more Austin-centric sounds.  Sounds awesome!  But on the other hand, and this is my fear, will this further dilute the ACL lineup and leave us with an experience like last year, where the lineup is extremely fat in the middle, but the top few lines are lacking?  I hope not, but the Lolla poster released the other day feels that way with Future, J. Cole, and Lana Del Rey as headliners.

This weekend (April 14-17), you've got the Old Settler's Music Festival out in Driftwood.  Now look, I'm not trying to say this is a viable substitute for ACL or anything, but they've got ex-ACL performers like Dawes, the Jayhawks, Deer Tick, and The Suffers, as well as well-known folks like Rodney Crowell, Hayes Carll, Bob Schneider, and excellent up and comers like Sarah Jarosz, Shinyribs, and the Milk Carton Kids.  Are these folks going to get named to another Austin festival this year?  Don't you kind of doubt it?  One of my best starts to an ACL day was sitting in the grass in 2013 listening to Dawes for the first time.

Last weekend, you had the Euphoria Fest out at the Carson Creek Ranch.  This one was heavy enough on electronic stuff that I don't even recognize 3/4 of the lineup, but they had Bassnectar (a headliner for ACL last year), plus Griz (awesome), Lettuce, Eric Prydz, STS9, Juicy J, and something called "Pigeons playing Ping Pong."  I, for one, would happily allow all EDM music to play Euphoria and be left off of the ACL lineup, but I know that isn't how the world will shake out.  But despite my opinion, these are well-known and major artists.  Especially those ping pong pigeons.

April 29 to May 1, you have Levitation Fest (which used to be the Austin Psych Fest) with a couple things that I'd pay to see on their own right this minute.  Courtney Barnett, The Arcs, Parquet Courts, Slowdive, and Brian Wilson performing Pet Sounds.  Ween would be funny.  I'm sure other people will want to see Animal Collective and Flying Lotus.  The Arcs are one of the things I saw on the Lolla poster that got me excited for this year, and I was bummed out when Courtney Barnett wasn't doing ACL last year.  Those are big, good names, not even mentioning the fact that Pet Sounds is one of those greatest albums of all time type things, and you aren't going to find it being performed any where else.

In July (16-17), the Float Fest is back in San Marcos again, with some awesome music for a tiny festival I'd never heard of before.  Heavy on the college-bro, joke-jams and rap, but still - Chromeo played ACL recently, Santigold and Big Gigantic (both played ACL, Bonnarroo and Lolla a few years back), Rick Ross, Bone Thugs in Harmony, Slim Thug, Future Islands, Metric, Kongos, and Bleachers.  I mean, I think Rick Ross is the only major name that could be used to headline an ACL-sized event, but those are bands who absolutely would be listed above the fold on the ACL poster - Chromeo was 6th line in 2014.

If I had all the money and time in the world, I'd jump right on all of these, plus ACL and Fun Fun Fun in the fall.  But I don't, and I've got to be selective about how I spend my music cash and time.  So I want ACL to be the biggest and best, with an insane top 2 lines of no-doubt headliners and then a well-curated, stacked undercard full of classics, up-and-comers, and interesting new finds.  I want it so chock full of tunes I want to see that I'm pissed the whole time about the conflicts and tunes I'm missing.  Remember 2012?  Neil Young vs. Jack White? AVICII v. Black Keys?  Avett Brothers v. Old 97s v. The Lumineers?  Florence & the Machine v. Alabama Shakes v. Weezer?  Punch Brothers v. The Shins v. The Roots? Chili Peppers?  I mean, that was so much damn fun.  My fingers are crossed, but I worry about the trends that appear to be happening, and for now I'm blaming the glut of festivals for the dilution of the big shows.