Music | Austin City Limits Music Festivals | Day Three (Friday) | Review and Photos

ACL Music Festival (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Our final day of the festival had us excited for a few awesome bands. Our day got started with seeing the buzz worthy Halsey who has been burning up the airwaves as of late with a slew of hits. Riding the waves of her debut EP Room 93 and recently released first studio album Badlands, Halsey's indie-pop sound has resonated with us and we have been playing her record for awhile now. Her performance was simple and entertaining coming off with a saayness from somebody you would have figured to have been playing for years.

Halsey (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Halsey (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Sunday gave us a chance to walk around the festival and enjoy many of the amenities, which by the way are the best of any festival. Getting a chance to check Austin Eats and the amount of great food had us pretty full after shopping for a few items in the Festival Boutique area. A craft beer section had us feeling right at home as we sampled an array of some of the country's best beers. 

Craft Beer, right up our alley. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Next up for us was one of favorite hip hop artist Chance The Rapper, the last time we Chance he was performing to packed crowd at this years Fader Fort during SXSW. With a live band at his disposal, Chance's sound has created a new dynamic that is easy to follow and even better to sing a long to. Reaching back to hits from Acid Rap as well as a few new numbers made for one of the best sets of the festival. Chance will be heading to Denver soon and we highly recommend seeing him.

Chance The Rapper (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

One set that we wish would have been a little later would have been alt-j's set. We had a chance to see them at Red Rocks earlier this year and were amazed by the visual lighting that elevated the performance to one of the best we have seen this year. As the sun was setting the killer lighting took awhile to kick in. After about 45 minutes or so we could see the amazing production from far away. Alt-J is a band who you either love or hate, for us luckily we have been big fans for awhile now. Their unique approach to music sets them apart from anything we have heard and while they may not be the best showman in the business being able to close your eyes and enjoy the music is enough for us to consider them worthy.

Alt-J (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

As night began to descent upon us we were ready to get our festival ended with a few bands we have grown to love. First up was Hozier, a band we first heard about during SXSW (funny how a few months after playing that festival elevates certain bands to big time festival status). We first saw them at The Fox Theater in Boulder a few months ago, he has since gone on to play bigger venues including a mesmerizing performance at Red Rocks late this Summer. One thing we enjoy as photographers is great lighting and the production team behind Hozier does it best. Sometimes simple is better and his performances have won us over each and every single time we have seen him perform.

Hozier (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

The final act of the night had us torn between seeing Florence and the Machine and The Weeknd. It finally came down to the fact that we have never seen The Weeeknd and the fact that he is probably the hottest thing in music right now. With a slew of Billboard hits at his disposal and just aired SNL performance the timing couldn't be better. The Weeknd did not disappoint as he ripped through all his hits in true to form fashion as he had the whole crowd singing every word of every single song, something rarely seen. With a backdrop of elevated lED's and his band perched above it left him all alone at the bottom doing what he does and that is put on a show for the ages. Hands down a perfect way to end our festival. Until next year ACL!

The Weeknd (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)