Austin City Limits Music Festival | Day One | Weekend Two

We made our annual pilgrimage to the great state of Texas this past weekend for the annual Austin Music City Limits Music Festival once again. Three straight days of amazing music (and food) catered to everybody with it's spanning musical genres. Friday night was highlighted by acts such as Andrew McMahon and The Wilderness who played to the early masses. Electro-pop darlings Crystal Castles got our dancing shoes moving with one of the better sets of the weekend, perfect mix of showmanship and dance influenced material had the Honda stage raging. Pop-rock siblings Brian D’Addario and Michael D’Addario of The Lemon Twigs put on a remarkable live set reminiscent and influenced by the likes of Queen and David Bowie. The late afternoon blessed us with the winner of this years Mercury Prize (an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland), Skepta who's London Grime sound has received worldwide acclaim. His set was on point and delivered just as we had expected. Other worthwhile sets included The Revivalist, Bonobo, Eagles of Death Metal and The xx who headlined the Honda Stage. One of the most anticipated sets of the day belonged to Solange (who was running late to her scheduled time). Her set provided a perfect segway to her Brother-in-laws set, Mr. Sean Carter aka Jay-Z. The New York rap legend performed in front of a 40-foot inflatable dog balloon designed by Jeff Koons. He played all of his major hits and even had Damian "JR Gong" Marley join him for "Bam" off his latest album 4:44. His set included well known hits including crowd sing-a-longs such as "Empire State of Mind", "Big Pimpin", "Run This Town", and many more. He ended his set with a touching tribute to the late Checter Bennington of Linkin Park with his rendition of the hit mashup "Numb/Harcore" before closing out the night with "99 Problems". A great first day to kick off the festival.

JAY-Z looking over the large crowd gathered for his performance during weekend two of this year's Austin Music City Limits festival. Photo Credit: Robert Castro

The xx Made Their Triumphant Return To Denver

The xx (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

What was originally scheduled as a Red Rocks show got moved to the 1st Bank Center due to snowy weather (leave it to Colorado for it to be clear after all) The XX still managed to play an amazing set for the less than sold out arena (many got refunds due to venue switch). Riding the wave of their recently released third studio album I See You, the band played a majority of newer material. Opening things with their much acclaimed "Intro" Romy Craft directed the attention as she wailed away to the opening riffs of the classic from their first album. Flanked by founding members Oliver Sim and Jamie xx the band ripped through an almost two hour set. Sim at one point acknowledged the crowd as to the unfortunate factors that caused the venue change exclaiming that "Mother Nature is a bitch" and almost certainly said they would return to the majestic venue. 

The band definitely is at full speed when Jamie xx is on his game as he plays the role of conductor throughout the entire set with his array of instruments that give the band the true organic sound. Highlight of the night was as Croft and Sim left the stage with only him at the helm, he went into his recently released version of "On Hold" that went straight into the original version as the rest of the band came back out on stage to finish off the number before Romy shined on "Angels" to end the night. A perfect ending to an otherwise unexpecting 48 hours. 

Openers Perfume Genius put on an amazing show that surely garnered some new fans judging by the reaction during their set. 

Setlist:

Intro | Crystalised | Say Something Loving | Islands | Lips | Dangerous | I Dare You | Performance | Infinity | A Violent Noise | Brave For You | VCR | Fiction | Shelter | Loud Places (Jamie xx cover) | Encore: On Hold | Angels

Words and Images: Robert Castro