Austin City Limits 2007

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Last weekend was the Austin City Limits music festival, which we attended. The festival is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We went all three days, although we didn't go for the whole time each day--it was way too hot and it's just too much time for a toddler to spend. Plus we're too old.

But we had a good time. We rode our bikes to the festival each day, which is way easier than trying to take the shuttle buses or getting dropped off and walking in (which is still a pretty long walk).

The only problem with riding the bikes is that it's an uphill ride home, but we took it easy. On Saturday we stopped off at Jo's coffee on the way home. Jo's is at the base of the South Congress hill, which we have to climb to go home. We had a snack rested and then went on.

On Sunday we put the bikes on the back of the Explorer and parked in the Palmer Event Center lot and then rode in from there so we wouldn't have to ride up the hill at the end of the last day. That worked out pretty well--we went to the fest early on Sunday to hear some early shows and then left about 5:00, the hottest time of the day. On Sunday I went back by myself to catch a couple more acts and see a bit of Bob Dylan.

This picture is of Julie and Dada as we enjoy a bit of a snack on Saturday before heading for home, exhausted from a long hot afternoon.

Julie took this picture of me with Dada on my shoulders, which was her perch for a good part of the festival. She also rode in the sling some (sleeping soundly through Andrew Bird's excellent show).

It was still hot this year (highs in the mid 90's) but not as hot as last year. The rainy summer had made the grass in the park quite lush, which made it much more pleasant in the park, not the dust bowl it had been a couple of years ago. Some highlights were the Ziggy Marley show at the Kiddie stage and Guy Forsyth, who I had heard a lot about but had never seen live.

Bob Dylan, the closing act on Sunday, was a bit of a disappointment, or would have been had I had any expectations at all. His voice was awful. As we were leaving I kept expecting to turn around and see some sort of demon on stage croaking out the lyrics. He just did not work in that venue at all.