Austin City Limits 2010 Recap

After waiting months for the weekend of October 8th, Austinites and other fans finally got to experience Austin City Limits 2010. The three-day music festival has been bringing in thousands of audience members since 2002, and this year was no different. Vampire Weekend, The Strokes, and Phish were set to kick off the festival.

First up was Vampire Weekend. As expected, Vampire Weekend brought in a young crowd, most of who said they camped out for a total of two hours. The band walked out to the DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win,” to get the crowd pumped up for their hour set, and that is exactly what they did. Most would assume a Vampire Weekend show to be chill: It was the complete opposite. The band kept the audience engaged throughout their performance, playing songs from both their self-titled album and their recently released album Contra. This performance was a personal favorite from the whole weekend. The Strokes and Phish finished the night off in true rock fashion.

Day two had Deadmau5, Matt and Kim, M.I.A, and Muse to keep the crowds coming. Deadmau5 was and Matt and Kim were playing at the same time: I had to choose Deadmau5. He put some great beats together after fighting some technical difficulties at the beginning of the performance. The crowd was jumping, dancing, and fist pumping like champs for his hour-long set. He also of course had his signature oversized mouse head on during the performance.

After a house performance it was time for the headliners of the night Muse and M.I.A to hit their respective stages. Muse, like expected, put on a great rock show, bringing in thousands of people to see them. For being so far from the stage, they still kept the audience engaged in the show. M.I.A, best known for her single “Paper Planes,” also put on a great show, and kept her fans’ bobbing and dancing till the end of the night.

ACL was wrapped up by a variety of bands: Yeasayer, Switchfoot, Band of Horses, Norah Jones, Cage the Elephant, and headliners The Eagles. Yeasayer was not as fun to see as I thought they were going to be but they still put on a great show. After Yeasayer, I decided to camp out for Switchfoot. The Christian Rock band brought in a very diverse group of people. Their energy made their set go by fast; The audience wished they could play another song. Their successors to the stage, Cage the Elephant, brought in a crowd that went beyond crazy: pushing and crowd-surfing throughout the whole set. This made it hard for those ACLers who brought sandals to the party. This was a fun band to see because there was not a single dull moment. The Eagles wrapped up the weekend with a two hour set. They finished with classic songs that everyone knows and loves like Hotel California.