Sadly, ACL Fest Day 3 is the last day of Austin City Limits Music Festival — until next year. So soak up the festival while you can!

How the ACL Fest organizers managed to book three days of fantastic bands is beyond us, but we’re not complaining. The headliner for ACL Fest Day 3 is alternative rock group Foo Fighters, whose lead singer is Dave Grohl, the former drummer for Nirvana. Foo Fighters are known for their live shows, so their ACL Fest appearance should not be missed.

Foo Fighters are from Seattle, so what about Austin musicians at ACL Fest? South Austin Jug Band, a local bluegrass band, is one set to perform from 6:40-7:40pm. Other musicians set to perform include The Raconteurs, whose guitarist and singer is Jack White of the White Stripes; Blues Traveler; Gnarls Barkley; and Nakia and His Southern Cousins.

There are just too many awesome acts to list, really, so we hope you’re looking forward to ACL Fest Day 3 like we are. Austin City Limits Music Festival is one of many things we just love about Austin. If you’re visiting from out of town, we hope you’ll be able to get out and see more of Austin. And don’t forget to stop by Allens Boots on South Congress. Cowboy boots and cowboy hats are perfect Texas souvenirs and will no doubt remind you of the great time you had in Austin, Texas for ACL Fest.

So you survived Day 1 of the Austin City Limits Festival (were you wearing a cowboy hat?), and now you’re ready for ACL Music Festival Day 2. Or maybe you just have a one-day pass. Regardless, there’s no denying that the ACL Fest Day 2 line-up is stellar and once again has something for everyone.

Saturday, September 27 at ACL Fest brings more big names, possibly the biggest of those big names being Beck. Beck has one of the headlining spots at ACL Fest Day 2, and rightfully so. Beck’s breakout single was “Loser” in 1994, and since then he’s continued to put out albums that typically blur the genres. His most recent album, Modern Guilt, was released in July of this year. The other ACL Music Festival Day 2 headlining spot belongs to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

Some other artists performing at ACL Music Festival Day 2 are The Black Keys, a blues duo; indie rockers MGMT; legend Roky Erickson; and Texas country musician Robert Earl Keen. Just like Days 1 and 3, ACL Fest Day 2 will have a special stage set up for kid-friendly musicians, which is a great place to stop by if you have little ones with you.

At the end of the day, you’ll probably be worn out from the hours and hours you spent in the hot sun watching fantastic live music. Come home, kick off your cowboy boots, and rest up — ACL Fest still has one more day!

This weekend it’s time again for the Austin City Limits Festival, better known as ACL Fest, an annual music festival here in Austin, Texas. And while last year’s festival line-up was one that many thought couldn’t be topped, it seems they have indeed topped it. Big names like Beck, Foo Fighters, Robert Earl Keen, Blues Traveler and The Raconteurs grace the lineup of this year’s Austin City Limits Festival. There seems to be something for everyone, really, with the large amount of musicians scheduled.

So let’s take a look at the Day 1 lineup of ACL Fest, which is Friday, September 26. Headliners include The Mars Volta, named “Best Prog-Rock Band” by Rolling Stone this year, and Manu Chao, a musician born in France that sings mostly in French, English and Spanish. The Mars Volta is known for their live shows, often having more than 10 musicians onstage at once to perform their tunes. The Mars Volta get their name from a Federico Fellini book, in which Fellini used the word “Volta” to describe a changing of a scene or a new scene. As for Mars, well, the band members just really love sci-fi. As for the meaning of the combined words, The Mars Volta invites fans to come up with their own meaning.

Don’t go thinking The Mars Volta and Manu Chao are the only performers playing ACL Fest Day 1. No way — there are a ton of other fantastic musicians and bands to check out. There’s even a special stage aimed towards kids, the appropriately-named Austin Kiddie Limits Stage. Acts lined up for ACL Fest Day 1 that are creating a lot of buzz include Hot Chip, Gogol Bordello, David Byrne and Vampire Weekend, to name a few. If there are bands on the line-up that you’ve never heard of, be sure and try to stop by to give them a shot — part of the fun of the festival is being able to see new acts and hopefully go home at night with some new favorite artists.

Whoever you’re planning on seeing at ACL Fest this year, one thing’s for sure: Don’t forget your cowboy hat. The weather is expected to be hot and sunny, so wearing a cowboy hat will not only be stylish, but it’ll help protect you from getting sunburned. We suggest a Stetson hat, but with Allens Boots’ wide selection of great Western wear, you’ll surely be able to find the perfect cowboy hat to wear to ACL Fest.

If you were at Zilker Park last weekend for Austin City Limits Music Festival, no doubt you saw a lot of interesting stuff. It’s hard to say what the best part of the festival was. Great live music, (surprisingly) delicious food and even some excitement during the propane fireand then later when a speaker caught on fire during Bjork’s performance.

Though the food vendor lines were usually pretty long, it was worth it to get lunch, dinner and drinks from local Austin businesses at the festival. Chicken cones and beer seemed to be the most popular items that people were buying.

Still, we have to say that there’s one thing that could have made ACL festival a million times better: Cooler weather. Festival goers didn’t stand a chance against the Texas heat and humidity unless they were wearing sunscreen, stayed hydrated and had a hat on their head. Last week, we recommended that everybody going to the festival wear their favorite cowboy hat — and we weren’t kidding. The size and shape of a cowboy hat offers so much protection from sunlight and keeps you cool in the hottest weather. One of our favorites to recommend for events like ACL Fest is a Stetson Hat. Cool and comfortable and hip.

When we were at the festival, we tried counting all the cowboy hats we saw. Apparently a ton of people took our advice — counting cowboy hats in the giant ACL crowd was impossible. We saw everything from Bailey hats (and even a few kiddos wearing children’s Bailey hats!) to Monticarlo hats to Resistol hats. Some even matched up their cowboy hats with Frye cowboy boots. We really wanted to tell those hat-less, sunburned, and sweaty festival goers to stop by Allens Boots and enjoy South Congress, but we were too busy people-watching and enjoying the music.

Can’t wait ’til next year’s ACL Fest.

ACL music festival weekend has come again, and it looks like it’s going to be another scorcher. That is there’s going to be a scorching lineup, with the Reverend Horton Heat, Björk, LCD Soundsystem, Blonde Redhead, and far more bands than we want to type out right now, and there’s also going to be a scorching Texas sky with 90 degree plus heat. Pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the ACL music festival.

We’re not going to play favorites, but if we had to make a choice, we would have to say that the Austin City Limits Music Festival is our favorite music festival around. That’s really saying something, though, considering that Austin is also host to the much larger SXSW music festival. (we might change our minds next spring, but don’t quote us on that).

What’s Cool About ACL?

ACL music festival has two principle advantages over the SXSW music festival. For one thing, the ACL music festival is a South Austin event, and that means you can pull on your cowboy boots and walk right over to the music festival stages from downtown Austin, South Congress Avenue, or even the Allens Boots store.

The other thing we really like about the ACL music festival is that it’s the perfect opportunity for everyone to wear their favorite cowboy hat. Often referred to as a “drinking hat” or “party hat”, a Stetson hat will help keep you cool as well as help you look cool while you’re partying at the Festival.

The big news circling Austin this week has been the White Stripes canceling their show at the ACL music festival, and of lesser importance to us, the rest of their tour. Of course that only leaves more room for Austin locals like KevinMcKinney and One Mississippi.

For all the out of towners who are visiting Austin for the first time for this ACL music festival, we all hope you have a blast. Be sure to take the time to experience the town outside of the ACL music festival grounds — if you get the chance — and take a little something of Austin back home with you.