Austin, my kind of city

With Rita being a tropical storm and off to the east, we were in the clear to enjoy the Austin City Limits without any worries.

I’ve gone to my fair share of festivals (jazz fest, warped tour, field day…) and I have to say the Austin City Limits had to be one of the most pleasant festivals I’ve experienced. An estimated 65,000 people came down for it and despite all the people, everyone was generally friendly, and didn’t overcrowd one another.

As for the music, I’m now a fan of the Arcade Fire after seeing them put on two amazingly enthusiatic shows over the weekend. Wilco put on one of the most enjoyable performances while a media helicopter flew by in weird angles capturing the show throughout their set. The Decemberists were excruciatingly charasmatic while Built to Spill’s aftershow performance left much to be desired in the form of crowd interaction and less artsy jams.

Everywhere we went we heard live music. Out of coffee shops, bars, backyards. And over the weekend, I saw no shortage of cyclists in town either, as Lance is a resident of this fine city. So put those things together and that’d be a place I’d live in, if I lived in Texas. »