One thing Chicago sure doesn't have is Austin City Limits! Although, Chicago does have a good reputation when it comes to music with festivals like Lollapalooza, Pitchfork and Taste of Chicago, it doesn't beat Austin in that category.
Austin City Limits threw down on October 8 of this year and you guessed it, it was amazing! The Eagles, Muse, Phish, The Strokes, M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, Spoon, Slightly Stoopid, Black Keys, Norah Jones and so many other worldly renowned artists jammed at ACL 2010.
As amazing as the artists and their performances were it wasn't just that that made the weekend incredible. It was the combination between everything; the atmosphere (there was the beautiful Austin sky line in the background everywhere you walked), the weather (unlike last year the weather was clear and sunny all weekend long), the array of people (some obvious frequent festival goers and other festival virgins). All of these factors worked together to make this weekend an experience unlike any other.
Another difference between Austin City Limits and the other festivals in Chicago is that Austin knows when ACL weekend has arrived, whereas in Chicago it's just another day but some music fanatics and many youths know about the festival that's going on. In Austin, people in every restaurant or business we visited throughout the weekend made conversation about the huge amazing weekend that had arrived. By no means does the city shut down for ACL, actually quite the opposite it anticipates the festival's arrival and prepares for the visitors, music, and culture to flood in.
Well already, my favorite weekend of the year has come and gone and ACL 2010 is now over. But we do have South by Southwest to look forward to. And I am positive that that music festival will also dominate over any festivals Chicago puts on. It is great and such a privilege to be exposed to such great music in both cities but Austin does beat Chicago by a tad in the music competition.
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