Austin Music City Limits Music Festival | Day Two | Weekend Two

Day two of the festival started off with a bang with amazing early day sets from Mondo Cozmo, Carseat Headrest, A$AP Ferg, and supergroup Dreamcar (Davey Havok of AFI and No Doubt). The late afternoon brought on an inspiring performance from Angel Olsen who was battling the effects of the dust and still managed to play an amazing set. One of the funnest sets of the weekend belonged to Glass Animals and their high energy off the wall performance. Dave Bayley and company entertained the packed Honda Stage with hits off their album How To Be A Human Being. It's always great to see when hometown bands play their respected towns, such were the glowing reviews from last weeks Spoon set. Expecting the same,  the band came out swinging and put on another amazing set. Led by frontman Britt Daniel and company the band played an array of hits off their ever spanning catalog with a majority of newer material off Hot Thoughts.

The evenings battling headliners split between Chicago native Chance The Rapper and California rock legends The Red Hot Chili Peppers (photo restrictions applied to both acts). Chance performed the same set he has been performing on his last tour, while RHCP played all of the classics we have come to love. An evening that catered to the older and newer generation.

Spoon frontman Britt Daniel warms up their hometown crowd during day two of the festival. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Chance The Rapper Shines In his Red Rocks Debut

Chicago's Chance The Rapper played his first of two sold out Red Rocks shows on a brisk chilly Tuesday evening. Riding the wave of much heralded success the past year the Be Encouraged Tour made a pitstop at the heralded venue. The current tour is mostly playing arena shows so the Denver crowd got a treat as the rapper played to an intimidate 9,000 plus guests. This is our fifth time getting to see Chance and as he progresses in his career all elements of his performance have blossomed into a persona unlike no other. Backed by his band the Social Experiment, Chance tore through the recently Grammy Award winning album Coloring Book (Mixtape). Opening with "Blessings" the emcee strutted back and forth on stage often pausing to glimpse at the majestical venue (as all others before him have done). Chance is able to control the tempo of his songs with such grace that it makes for beautifully crafted sing-a-longs and crowd participation. From upbeat rap anthems to slow religious awakening ballads, he is in control from beginning to end.

Most of the evenings arrangements were from Coloring Book, he did pay homage to mentor Kanye West on his version of "Waves" as well as covers of "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1", and "Ultralight Beam". He also managed to include the recently released collaboration with DJ Khaled's "I'm The One", which is certain to become a staple among summertime bbq's this coming season. Other crowd favorites included "No Problem", and "Summer Friends". The night ended with the perfectly soulful gospel inspired "Blessings". As the crowd began to exit, one thing is for certain, they witnessed one of the youngest most talented performers in the industry today. With a slew of festival headlining performances and continuing his current tour Chance The Rapper is on top of the world right now with no signs of coming down.

Words and Images: Robert Castro

Music | Top 30 Images of SXSW 2015

We take a lot of pride in our photography here at Ultra5280. This year we had three photographers covering the battlefield known as SXSW. With nearly over 4,000 frames shot, it was a daunting task narrowing down some of our favorites. Enjoy.