Zilker Park

Speaking of Umbrellas...It's Bumbershoot Time

ACL Fest: Where the Streets Have No Name

Drenched In Blog: Goin’ Out West for ACL Fest

Fire at Austin City Limits

LCD Soundsystem, Reverend Horton Heat, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Muse, Wilco and Ghostland Observatory: Chris Gray Closes the Notebook on ACL

Has ACL Festival Jumped the Shark?

So There's This Little Festival In Austin This Weekend...

ACL Is Underway, Rootsy Early On

ACL Day One: More band photos

Photos: The Raconteurs at ACL

Austin City Limits Goes Grunge; Tickets On Sale Today

Just in time for tickets to go on sale - as in now - leaks have conveniently begun to spring in C3 Entertainment's carefully under wraps lineup for this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival, scheduled for October 2-4 in Zilker Park. (Don't worry, Longhorn fans: Unlike last year, that's UT's ... More >>

Festivus Maximus

The Austin City Limits Music Festival's got a roster that won't quit

ACL Fest Preview: School of Seven Bells and Prescott Curlywolf

Amanda MertenSchool of Seven Bells​For the next three weeks, Rocks Off will be bringing you two or three short previews a day of artists playing the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park October 2-4. That's right, ACL is 17 days away - where is this year going? (Same place as all the ot ... More >>

ACL Fest Preview: Five Outdoor Music Festivals That Could Have Gone a Lot Better

The 2009 Austin City Limits Festival kicks off Friday, and many of you are no doubt devising parking strategies and grappling with various permutations of 'How will I make it from the [a] set at [b] stage in time to catch [x]'s set at the [y] stage?' It's a serious dilemma, as ACL always puts toget ... More >>

Aftermath: Them Crooked Vultures at Stubb's in Austin

Photos By Craig Hlavaty​Just a few short hours ago Aftermath saw the rock world's newest supergroup in action as Queens of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, ex-Nirvana drummer/current Foo Fighters helmer Dave Grohl, and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones took the stage at Stubb's in Austin for a warm- ... More >>

Random Notes from ACL: The Grass Is Always Greener...

Chris GrayIt's a little more crowded than this at Zilker now, but it was fun while it lasted.​ The grass is especially sweet at this year's ACL festival. The new turf at Zilker Park is nice too.Now we are in the media tent, surrounded by friends and family: Rocks Off's Austin Chronicle mentor (and ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day One: Night Falls

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttGoodnight moon!​The sun has nearly set over ACL, the fields of Zilker Park filled with the smell of fresh grass (of several kinds...), happy bodies and the oddly soothing sounds of a cacophonous mixture of Andrew Bird, Reckless Kelly and Them Crooked Vultures. (Although ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day One: Coheed & Cambria Prog Out With Their Fro's Out

Photo By Groovehouse​Mid-afternoon on Friday, prog-metallers Coheed & Cambria hit the stage for an hour of guitar histrionics and lead singer Claudio Sanchez's trademark Geddy Lee-style banshee's wail. With a signature sound that usuals coats the walls of any indoor venue the band plays, C& ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day One: In Which Rocks Off's Black Heart Is Melted And We Meet Vinnie Testaverde

With another ACL comes another chance for us to sharpen our snarkening knifes and go out hunting the wilds of Zilker Park searching for only the best in surreal public displays and the fancifully misguided and miscalculated public faux-pas. On with the show! ​These two chill-ass dudes made us wish ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day One: Aftermath

Photo by Mark C. AustinSchool of Seven Bells​Before we start discussing the great music we heard yesterday, we would like to take time to thank the Gods Of Rock for blessing Day One of the Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) 2009 with an amazing afternoon and evening of weather. Anyone who has ... More >>

ACL 2009: The Green Scene

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttYes, those are chickens. At ACL.​The freshly-planted grass isn't the only thing that's green in Zilker Park this year. Since we're in super hippie fun land Austin, after all, it only makes sense that there's a huge emphasis on the environment at the festival. From a dis ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Two: Phoenix, Robyn Hitchcock and Them Crooked Vultures

Photo by Matthew Taplinger​The quality of the grass at ACL on Charles Attal's apparent birthday blow out (if projections for "Feliz Cumpleanos" were to be believed) was nothing to sniff at. The great lawn of Zilker Park was emerald and ready to absorb the dance steps of a sold-out crowd with h ... More >>

Live From ACL: Buckets of Rain, and a Bright Spot or Two

Photos by Chris GrayThis photo was NOT taken Saturday. Trust us.​ The streak is over. In eight years, Austin City Limits has seen plenty of days of unbearable heat, but hardly any rain. The most significant time was during Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' headlining 2006 set, but even that was m ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Two: The Decemberists, Dapper and a Little Dangerous

Photo by Mark C. Austin​If there's one band Rocks Off didn't envy during Saturday's ACL downpour - seriously, Zilker Park smells like a stable today, moreso because the staff just finished seeding the mud-splattered grounds with hay - it was the Decemberists. The Portland collective closed out Sat ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Two: Who'll Stop the Rain?

Photo by Mark C. AustinThe Scabs​That was the question on Saturday, when downpours tested the drainage properties of the newly laid Zilker Park sod to test. Curiously, with the air still warm, the crowd seemed to take the growing swamp in stride, but you have to guess that with all the muddy-b ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Three: Aftermath

Photos by Mark C. AustinDavid Garza​So, what happens to freshly laid grass in a public park after a day full of rain and thousands of people walking back and forth across it at the same time? Well, as anyone who was present for Day Three of Austin City Limits Festival 2009 (ACL) could tell you ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Three: Pearl Jam With Special Guests Ben Harper and Perry Farrell

Photos by Mark C. Austin​Pearl Jam closed out this year's ACL with aplomb, the audience stretching nearly the entire length of Zilker Park to see Eddie Vedder and the seminal band while nostalgically recalling large portions of the 1990s as songs like "Daughter" and "Evenflow" washed over the ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Three: Spin the Black Circle

Photos by Mark C. Austin​It only took one song in to Pearl Jam's Sunday night closing set at the Austin City Limits music festival for it to dawn on Rocks Off that for way too long this band has been forsaken by back-handed hipster discount and radio-influenced apathy. No band from the grunge- ... More >>

ACL 2009: This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Photos by Mark C. Austin​From the Austin American-Statesman comes word that Zilker Park, which hosted the three-day Austin City Limits Music Festival this weekend, will have to remain closed until the end of the month. Why? Because ACL more or less destroyed the park. For the next 25 or so da ... More >>

ACL Aftermath, Part 1: Spearhead's "Electric Mudslide" and the Whole "Dillo Dirt" Situation

Mark C. Austin​ Night fell on the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park this past Sunday under a full moon and over a sea of mud. (It wasn't strictly mud, but more on that in a bit.) Many in the crowd, especially those in the proximity of the Dell stage, responded the only logical way p ... More >>

While You Weren't Tweeting: What, No More ACL?!

​Whether you helped rip Zilker Park to shreds or you simply groaned inwardly (and rolled your eyes outwardly) every time someone gushed about Them Crooked Vultures, everyone's got their own brand of ACL war story to propagate. But since we know that you suckers actually ruined your Ferragamos ... More >>

Million-Dollar Mud

The 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival became a quagmire everywhere but onstage.

Austin City Limits Festival Tickets On Sale Tomorrow At 10 A.M.

We're not saying Soundgarden is playing ACL, but you never know...​That's right. Now why would Rocks Off make something like that up? Hope you have $180 lying around and don't have any meetings or classes or anything like that tomorrow morning, because they're going to go quick. Better go ahead an ... More >>

It's Not Easy Being Green: How Venues And Festivals Handle All That Garbage

Marco TorresSold-out Jay-Z crowd = A lot of trash at Toyota Center.​ On any given night, 18,000 to 25,000 people fill the Toyota Center, whether to watch the Rockets play or to see Lady Gaga in full regalia. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces more than ... More >>

Acts We Think - OK, Hope - Are Playing ACL Fest This Year

​By this time Tuesday, we will all know who is playing the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October. Damn, it seems like we have speculating about the line-up since, well, we got the last of the "Dillo Dirt" out the middle of our toes after last year's muddy and rainy ACL weekend. Tuesday brig ... More >>

ACL Fest Releases Schedule; Adds Black Lips, Silversun Pickups

black-lips.com via FlickrBrand-new ACL 2010 adds The Black Lips​The Austin City Limits Music Festival released the schedule grid for this year's gathering in Zilker Park Oct. 7-9. The festival also added several bands, including Atlanta garage-punks (and recovering exhibitionists) the Black Li ... More >>

ACL: What Could Possibly Be Worse Than Last Year's Mudbath?

Mark C. AustinCan't WAIT to go back!​In exactly one week, Rocks Off will be broadcasting live from the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin's Zilker Park. This will be our fourth spin around the grounds since 2007, and every year we swear we won't fall in love with a bartender in the me ... More >>

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 1

Brittanie SheyThe Ettes​Brittanie Shey: Things seem incredibly crowded, and hotter than Houston, if that's even possible. The dust is already flying. Some of us here braved the bro-crowd at the Black Keys (see jump) but some of us, seeing the mile of bodies wobbling before the stage, decided t ... More >>

ACL Day 2 Recap: M.I.A., Gogol Bordello, Deadmau5, Mouse Masks

credReturn of the Bamboo Banger: M.I.A.​Aftermath was eager to catch Gogol Bordello, only because our companion had missed their last Houston show at Meridian in 2008. We were convinced he'd get a kick out of them so we dragged him over to the AMD stage early in order to get a good view. One ... More >>

ACL Day 3 Recap: Devendra Banhart, Band Of Horses, Other Beardos

Photos by Marco Torres​Aftermath doesn't know the bargain Austin City Limits promoter C3 Presents gets by booking both Lollapalooza and ACL, but to this dog-tired participant, this year's Zilker Park festivities ended up feeling less Austin weird and more something-something. Not that it's a ... More >>

ACL 2011 Rumors: Ten Bands Who Could Make The Cut

Marco TorresWill ACL close with classic rock again, like with the Eagles last year? Neil Young?​The Austin City Limits Music Festival's big 2011 lineup announcement is imminent, scheduled for May 17, and Rocks Off will surely be on top of the news after it hits. Last year we sat on the compute ... More >>

Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, And Kanye West Lead ACL 2011 Lineup

Marc BrubakerGoin' back to Zilker: Arcade Fire at The Woodlands, May 4​Moments ago, the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced its lineup for the 10th-anniversary weekend, scheduled for Sept. 16-18 in Zilker Park. Top names include Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Kanye West, and Bright Eyes. P ... More >>

No Smoking At ACL: Five Ways To Still Get Your Nic Fix

​That heavy sigh and occasional sniffles you heard on Monday was the Rocks Off team finding out the Austin Parks Department has banned smoking at the Austin City Limits Music Festival this weekend, for which we will all be leaving tomorrow evening. The team of smokers on this crew nearly canc ... More >>

Five ACL Acts We're Totally Not Making Up

Aloha, Susan... Stevie Wonder Coldplay Arcade Fire Kanye Kanye Kanye blah blah blah yada yada yada. Rocks Off could write about this year's ACL headliners until we're blue in the face - and we probably will this weekend - but what's the point? The real fun of the festival is on the back roads of ... More >>

Five Can't-Miss Acts At ACL Fest This Year

Craig HlavatyWe're running this picture of My Morning Jacket's Jim James now because this will be the last we see of him all weekend.​For weeks after we skipped last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival to man the controls in Houston, Rocks Off found ourselves thinking, "Man, I wish I woul ... More >>

ACL: Cults Semi-Wows To Start Our Day And Ha Ha Tonka Bassist Says To Hell With Smoking Ban

Craig Hlavaty​Smoking ban? What smoking ban? Ha Ha Tonka bassist Lucas Long don't care about the smoking ban at Zilker Park. Good times, y'all.

ACL: Batman's Bale At Bingham, Nick 13 is a 10 On Sunday Afternoon

Marco Torresoh hai Batman!​The widget on our phone says it's only 91 degrees here at Zilker Park but we don't believe that voodoo. The humidity and heat pounding the park reminds us of Houston. We smell Pasadena and our fair city's taco trucks all the way from Austin. Our day started by walk ... More >>

ACL: Arcade Fire, Big As The Great Outdoors

Photos by Jim Bricker​Check out all our ACL 2011 coverage, including our hottest crowd shots and slideshow from Sunday featuring Randy Newman, Arcade Fire and The Walkmen. Arcade Fire Bud Light Stage, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park September 18, 2011 Sunday night in a serene ... More >>

Touch the Sky

The 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival in exactly 12 paragraphs.

We Have Visited The BestFest Grounds, And It Is Good

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Just minutes ago, Rocks Off returned from the Best of Houston® BestFest grounds at the Midtown superblock off Main and Travis, and we can say with all certainty that this weekend will be huge. We were there shooting a segment to air on Channel 39's NewsFix today at 5 ... More >>