Rewind: Five years of Rocks Off ACL Fest coverage

The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that the Austin City Limits Music Festival will expand to two weekends starting next year, echoing California's Coachella, which presented identical lineups on successive Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this past April. The Austin City Council approved a resolution authorizing festival producers C3 Presents to expand.

For Houstonians, it means two chances to make a long weekend out of it, and hopefully a lot more ACL artists booking local gigs in the week between the two festivals. It also might be just a good time to spend that whole week in Austin, because October is pretty much the end of festival season and there's no reason for any of the artists to really go anywhere except here and Dallas.

Look for Austin's music venues to be even more packed that week than they already are. According to Austin TV station KXAN, the prospective dates for ACL '13 are Oct. 4-6 and Oct. 11-13. This year's festival takes place in Zilker Park Oct. 12-14.

The resolution was introduced by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and co-sponsored by Council Members Mike Martinez and Chris Riley. The text is below:

WHEREAS, the Austin City Limits Music Festival has been a major event in Austin since 2002 that has brought a positive economic impact as well as quality music venues; and

WHEREAS, the success of the relationship with C3 Presents has provided the redevelopment of the great lawn at Zilker Park and a year round green space for all citizens of Austin; and

WHEREAS, C3 Presents provides additional funding for maintenance assistance for the care and upkeep of the great lawn at Zilker Park; and

WHEREAS, undertaking joint efforts to continue quality operations and maintenance of City Parks to ensure the quality of life aspects flourish; and

WHEREAS, the agreement between the City and C3 Presents will not only benefit Zilker Park, but also Auditorium Shores;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN:

The City Manager is encouraged to negotiate and execute an agreement with C3 Presents to include an additional weekend event for the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

The City Manager is encouraged to ensure that deposit fees by all rental groups for the use of Auditorium Shores are collected and utilized for the maintenance and repairs for any post-event issues.

Note that Auditorium Shores, site of the increasingly popular Fun Fun Fun Fest, will also benefit from ACL's expansion. Interesting.