Stephanie Tacy | Daily Texan Staff
Update (12:00 a.m.): After arriving to his show twenty minutes late last week, A$AP Rocky made a point to be on time at the Samsung stage tonight.
The rapper filled his set with crowd pleasers such as “L$D” and “Everyday,” keeping the energy up by encouraging people to mosh at the front of the stage and at one point offering the crowd milkshakes.
While his set did have it’s awkward moments — partly because of the rapper’s onstage banter — it was obvious Rocky was excited to be there. He frequently gave shoutouts to Austin City Limits, the city of Austin and his fans.
The rapper’s set didn’t compare to the recordings on his album, but he compensated with an earnest, fun-loving attitude that kept the crowd on their feet.
—Cat Cardenas
Update (11:50 p.m.): When UT alumna Natalie Tischler comes across knick-knacks from a flea market or photographs from her travels, she sees an opportunity to make jewelry.
Founder of the Austin-based business Ornamental Things, Tischler designs earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces inspired by everyday objects. She’s set up shop at Austin City Limits each year since 2008.
“I was always just really creative,” Tischler said. “Growing up, I would make my own clothes out of my own patterns. I started making jewelry, and it seemed like the perfect marriage of practicality and creativity.”
Graeme Hamilton | Daily Texan Staff
In one of her jewelry lines called “Silhouettes,” Tischler transforms photographs she’s taken during trips to Paris, Brooklyn, St. Louis and around Austin into small silhouettes that she prints onto necklaces. She first founded Ornamental Things in 2004 after finishing college at age 31.
“I had a son when I was really young, so I was raising him in my 20s, working as a secretary and going to school,” Tischler said.
Over the years, Tischler has sold her jewelry to hundreds of stores across the U.S., Canada and Japan. Her products can be found at Urban Outfitters, Free People and Anthropology.
With three employees, Tischler said she likes to keep the company small. All of the plating, enameling and soldering of the pieces are done in the U.S., and assembling the jewelry happens in the business’s Austin studio.
“Running a business is so difficult,” Tischler said. “You have to work all the time. You have to be driven and focused. It’s a big challenge. I think keeping a business going for almost 12 years is a great feeling.”
—Marisa Charpentier
Update (8:45 p.m.): When Weekend Two exclusive Modest Mouse took the Honda Stage, everything felt out of place — but in the best possible way. Lead singer Isaac Brock came out wearing a bright blue button-up covered in pink flamingos and dark blue nail polish. The alt-rock group brought with them a variety of horns, violins and banjos to mix with their typical psychedelic beats.
The group started off the night with “Missed the Boat,” getting crowd members, even those pushed to the outskirts, singing and cheering right away.
While playing their single “Ocean Breathes Salty,” Brock spit the fast-paced lyrics into the microphone, displaying an energy that would last throughout the hour. Brock was so into the performance that he didn’t seem to notice the guitar pick stuck to his sweaty forehead.
Playing tracks that utilized horns and banjos, such as “The Devil’s Workday,” the group made each song feel like a new experience. The show culminated in a performance of their most popular track “Float On.” As the sun set behind the stage and temperatures cooled, the crowd chimed into the chorus, singing, “And we’ll all float on okay, we’ll all float on anyway.”
—Marisa Charpentier
Update (5:36 p.m.): At the start of his show, Shakey Graves made it clear he’s a fan of Texas. The Austin-based musician kicked off his set by informing the crowd of UT’s win against OU at the Red River Showdown, and a Texas flag draped off a keyboard beside him.
Shakey Graves, otherwise known as Alejandro Rose-Garcia, started off the hour with “Late July,” playing tracks off his 2014 album And the War Came throughout the show.
He didn’t struggle getting the crowd involved. During the first song, he had audience members clapping faster and faster as the song sped up. He’d often jump off platforms and jam out with his guitar on his knees.
Although his music blends folk and blues sounds, the performance felt more like a rock concert. A large white skull decorated the backdrop, and Shakey Graves spent much of the performance to jamming beside his drummer with his guitar.
When he began playing his most popular hit, “Dearly Departed,” he invited audience members to sing along in place of Esme Patterson, the song’s featured artist who couldn’t make it to the show. With an anthem-like chorus, the song encouraged audience members to stomp and sing along to “You and I both know that the house is haunted, and you and I both know that the ghost is me.”
—Marisa Charpentier
Graeme Hamilton | Daily Texan Staff
Update (5:25 p.m.): British group Glass Animals thrives off making the creepy and uncomfortable cool. They brought their daze-inducing electronic sound and eccentric lyrics to the Samsung stage with songs such as “Walla Walla” and “Psylla.”
The group created a jungle-esque environment, providing an oasis for festival attendees in the afternoon heat. They started off the performance by playing nature noises. Palm trees lined the sides of the stage, and images of snakes and foliage flashed on the backdrop, providing a fitting setting for the group’s song “Black Mambo.”
Lead singer Dave Bayley supplemented the smooth, mesmerizing tones with fitting dance moves, often flailing his arms and contorting his body to the music.
When the group’s most popular hit, “Gooey,” began, Bayley had no trouble capturing the crowd’s attention. Members of audience sang along to the imaginative lines, “my, my simple sir, this ain’t gonna work. Mind my wicked words and tipsy topsy slurs.”
—Marisa Charpentier
Update (5:20 p.m.): Throughout the band's hour long set, MisterWives frontwoman Mandy Lee didn't stand still for a second as she jumped around the stage and at one point did pushups between songs.
Even though songs such as “No Need For Dreaming” and “Hurricane” got off to slow starts, Lee’s enthusiasm and passion carried the audience through her performances. The rest of the band kept up with her breakneck pace with trumpet and saxophone solos and cartwheels from the Texas-flag clad bassist.
Lee interacted with audience members regularly, inviting them to dance and sing along with her. Before performing most of their songs, the singer pumped up the crowd with messages of equality and encouragement that they be true to themselves.
Graeme Hamilton | Daily Texan Staff
The peak of the set came toward the end when the group spiced things up with covers of The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” and Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T.”
The indie pop band wasn’t one of the festival’s headliners, but thanks to Lee’s energy, the group drew in one of the largest crowds of the afternoon.
—Cat Cardenas
Update (3:20 p.m.): With an 800-pound printing press in tow, the co-founders of Drive By Press founded their business on a cross country trip in their pickup truck.
The Austin City Limits vendors have been in the business for more than ten years, providing customers with custom woodcut prints. Though they got their start in Austin, they’ve traveled more than 400,000 miles to share their prints with people from coast to coast.
On one of the shop’s cross country trips, the group blew out the clutch on their pickup truck. Low on funds, they made prints and shirts for the whole garage, who discounted their price by not charging them for labor.
“We travled to different art centers and universities that didn’t offer printmaking in their curriculum,” co-founder Gregory Nanney said. “We got gas money and people interested by printing woodblocks onto t-shirts and it just grew from there.”
The shop brought a series of custom Texas-themed designs to the festival, and are now working on a series of prints centered around the history of hip-hop.
Nanney, who hand carves some of the shop’s custom designs onto wood blocks, said printmaking was a way for him to make his art more accessible.
“Ever since I was a kid, I just loved to draw,” Nanney said. “It’s kind of the way I related to people and shared things. But when you draw something, it’s just one image, when you make a print, you can disperse that information and make as many as you want.”
— Cat Cardenas
Graeme Hamilton | Daily Texan Staff
Update (3:00 p.m.): As the stars rock out on stage, festival-goers from all walks of life cover the park. Check in periodically throughout the weekend to see who they're listening to and what their stories are with our series ACL Off-Stage.
Photo by Graeme Hamilton | Daily Texan Staff
Mike Pizinger, UT alumnus and chair-elect of Divine Canines
“My mom had alzheimer’s so I started volunteering at the state hospital just as a way to understand my mom’s situation, and I fell in love with being able to do therapy work with dogs. Shiner here is 7 years old, she’s a black lab and she’s double certified to do therapy work. There have been so many moments that have stuck out to me, but once, we brought Shiner to a stroke patient that was just learning to speak again. When we brought her into the room, [the patient] almost jumped off the bed and you could tell she was trying to get out all these emotions of sheer joy. The therapist said ‘You could’ve brought in 50 people or dropped a million dollars on her bed and nothing would have made her as happy as you did with 30 seconds with your dog. I think they can just elicit a response that humans can’t. They’re completely objective, they don’t judge people, they don’t care what your background is, they’re just there with unconditional love. It’s pretty great that most places I go, nobody remembers my name, but they remember my dog’s name and that’s what’s important.
— Cat Cardenas
Update (2:20 p.m.): As the stars rock out on stage, festival-goers from all walks of life cover the park. Check in periodically throughout the weekend to see who they're listening to and what their stories are with our series ACL Off-Stage.
Photos by Graeme Hamilton | Daily Texan Staff
Dave Sullivan, research associate at UT's center for energy and environmental resources
“I have attended every single day of the ACL music festival since 2002 when it started. Both weekends, every day. Years ago, String Cheese Incident appeared on one stage both Saturday and Sunday, and they did different numbers. I’ll never forget that. It was just a wonderful performance, and I can still remember it 10 years on. It’s not just the music. I tell people all the time, it’s the atmosphere. It’s what you see. It’s the little quips that you hear people say, the drama that you see play out. It’s like everything is a cartoon. We’re living in a cartoon world here. Thirteen years back, it was more rock and roll, Americana, Soul, Pop, and then we had more rap, and now we have more EDM. People my age think, ‘Hey there’s a guy up there with his laptop.’ There’s 20,000 people out here dancing to a guy with his laptop, so that’s one of the biggest changes.”
Paige Jones
“This is my fourth year to come. My son, my husband and my grandson Tom, we all come every year. We live in Houston, and we bring our RV up and stay at the RV park. To me this is one of the best festivals. We just really enjoy coming and being together. It’s a joy to be with my son and grandson. We like the Foo Fighters and Billy Idol. I didn’t start going to festivals until my son got me going. The first time I came here was when my son had tickets, but he had to go to a conference, so my husband and I had to bring the two boys and a friend. We had never been before, but we loved it so much, we’ve been back every year. My favorite part is just being together. We make memories every time we’re together, and it’s cool being three generations."
—Marisa Charpentier
Update (1:10 p.m.): It’s day two and we’re ready to take on the festival with all of you. Be sure to follow our team’s twitter accounts to stay tuned into what’s going on! Find us at: @catcardenas8, @marisacharp21
Here’s our schedule for today:
- 2 p.m. — Glass Animals at Samsung
- 3 p.m. — Misterwives at HomeAway and Shakey Graves at Miller Lite
- 5 p.m. — Walk the Moon at Miller Lite
- 6 p.m. — A$AP Rocky at Samsung and Modest Mouse at Honda
- 8:20 p.m. — Deadmau5 at Honda
Click here to heck out our slideshow of our coverage of Friday at ACL.
—Marisa Charpentier
Update (12:45 p.m.): Good afternoon everyone! Today’s weather is set to be clear and sunny with a high of 89 degrees. Be sure to rub on lots of sunscreen and drink lots of water.
Over the course of this weekend, we'll be live-blogging Austin City Limits Weekend Two. Let’s see which artists out-do their performances last weekend and which ones bring something new to the festival. Follow Daily Texan reporters, photographers and editors as we post the highlights of our work here. For minute-to-minute coverage of the best and the worst that ACL has to offer, follow us on Twitter at @thedailytexan.