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Weekend one of the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival has come and gone in the blink of an eye. During it all, Austin City Limits Radio was in the park hosting performances and interviews with artists throughout the weekend. Sponsoring two different events outside of the general festivities, Austin City Limits Radio welcomed performing artists at Threadgill’s on Friday and Saturday for our Live Morning Broadcast before bands hit the big stage. Backstage at the fest, we also caught up with a few of our favorite artists between sets. If you missed any of these live events, here’s a quick view of the weekend’s most memorable moments!
Kicking off the first day at Threadgill’s for the ACL Radio Live Morning Broadcast, singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb performed one of her most popular songs, “Stay”. The acoustic love ballad created the perfect relaxing introduction into an action-packed weekend. Audience members of all ages tapped their feet along to the chorus, singing, “You say, I only say what I want to”. Loeb performed on the Threadgill’s stage before singing her playful, kid-friendly songs at Austin Kiddie Limits.
Rolling into Friday afternoon of the festival, band members Andy Hull and Charles McDowell of Manchester Orchestra stopped by backstage to chat with Austin City Limits Radio. Discussing their plans for the weekend, the band looked forward to performing at Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday, then heading to California the next day to perform in Foo Fighters’ Cal Jam Festival. As a reflection of this busy series of events, Hull reminisced on Manchester Orchestra’s beginnings. “The first time we ever really toured outside of Atlanta for our first ‘fest’ was South By in 2005,” Hull said. “We’re coming up on year fourteen of being a band and this stuff always feels like really cool, little mile markers for us where we can remember where we were the last time we were at ACL.” Manchester Orchestra will be returning to the festival this Friday so be sure to catch their performance on the HomeAway stage.
Starting back up on Saturday morning at Threadgill’s, Austin City Limits Radio welcomed another round of artists to the stage for the Morning Broadcast Show. A fan favorite of the showcase was Australian singer, Stella Donnelly. Donnelly took the stage with her guitar and powerful vocals that immediately grasped the attention of the audience. Donnelly’s presence on the Threadgill’s stage was a perfect example of big things coming in small packages. Despite Donnelly’s petite appearance, she wowed the crowd with her bold voice and even louder message to share.
Last but certainly not least, we closed weekend one of ACL Fest backstage with Janelle Monáe. After her performance on the American Express stage, Monáe sat down with us to chat about the festival’s energy, creating positive social changes, and the power of music. Speaking about the community created at concerts, Monáe expressed how she hopes that when fans come to her shows, “They feel love, they feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel like they are someone with a platform that will speak up and use their voice,” Monáe said. “I think the most important thing we can do is to uplift each other.” Using her platform as a female artist and woman of color, Monáe encouraged young fans to get involved in the upcoming local elections to promote positive social change. Monáe could not have radiated more positivity as she spoke with Andy Langer.
If you happened to miss any of the Austin City Limits Radio live broadcast events last weekend, head here for our videos from Threadgill’s and here for our footage from backstage. Or tune in to 93.3 and 97.1 KGSR this weekend as we kick off another series for weekend two!
Photo Credit: Berenice Guzman // ACL Radio Staff
