By Shelby
Photos by Brian O’Neill
After attending the festival for the past five years, I feel like ACL signals the end of summer. Now don’t get me wrong, fall is my absolute favorite season, but I’m always a little sad when ACL is over. It’s intense and exhausting and, yes, expensive, but there’s no other weekend like it. Without dust, mud or unbearable heat, this year’s edition was one of the best, even if The Eagle could never hold a candle to the 2008 headliners, my beloved Foo Fighters.
So what was my favorite part of ACL? This:
The National @ ACL 2010 from Brian O’Neill on Vimeo.
Other highlights included:
Muse’s Matthew Bellamy in one of the coolest tuxes ever (top right)
Band of Horses returning to play a bigger stage (left middle)
LCD Soundsystem in what is hopefully not their last appearance (right middle)
While my husband finally became a convert of The National, he will probably always say that his favorite part of any ACL Fest is the eating. So here’s his food court report:
“Food is good. Especially cheeseburgers. Especially Austin’s Best Burger, which I wish were a real place where I could get burgers outside of ACL. I did a taste test of Austin’s Best Burger (with cheese fries), Tim Love’s Love Shack Burger (a prime tenderloin/prime rib burger with special Love sauce) and the Chopped Beef Sandwich from The Salt Lick. All at the same time. Very scientific stuff. The winner is … me.
Followed that deliciousness up with a Tiff’s Treats brownie, which brought me to new levels of delight. Twice I opted for the Maine Root Beer over a regular beer, and it was an excellent decision both times. Beer is overrated. When at ACL, music is good, but food is gooder.”
Thanks, O’Husband!