ACL Festival 2019: Guns N’ Roses, The Raconteurs, K.Flay, & More Rock Day One

by Tracy Fuller | Oct 12, 2019

Experience by Katrina Barber for ACL Fest 2019 KLB 6725 Noise From The Pit — Courtesy of ACL Festival
Photo By Katrina Barber

October 11, 2019

ACL Festival Is A Festival Of All Backgrounds & Passions

Noise From The Pit rocked the second hit-packed weekend of this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival. This festival excels in bringing together a plethora of eclectic bands, spanning a wide variety of genres as electronica, pop, hip-hop, country, Latin, alternative, and rock. Fans can often find themselves faced with hard choices between some of their favorite acts with competing set times, but there’s nothing better than having a wealth of fantastic options. ACL Festival is certainly a wonderful environment for artistic discovery.

Kiddie Limits by Sydney Gawlik for ACL Fest 2019 SG107695 Noise From The Pit — Courtesy of ACL Festival
Photo By Sydney Gawlik

Even The Cold Chill Couldn’t Stop The Love Of Music From Taking Place

On Friday—Day One of the Festival—temperatures dropped significantly from what fans had come to expect of Austin’s weather during the previous weekend. The gloomy weather could not deter these spirited music lovers. As they began crowding into Zilker Park in their best festival-wear for a full day of dancing and exploring all that the weekend had to offer. Between sets, fans were offered plenty of entertainment options to uncover around the park. From commemorating the weekend with a free tattoo at the Honda Stage Experience to shopping in the ACL Art Market, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Like many others in the crowd, the first day of ACL Fest blew this music-enthusiast away. With musical acts like Madison Beer, Black Pistol Fire, Monsieur Perine, K.Flay, The Raconteurs, Guns N’ Roses, and many more, how could it not? Each of these acts drew unbelievable crowds with enthusiasm that could not be beat.

K. Flay & The Raconteurs Vibed Among The Masses

In particular, K.Flay gave a killer performance, rocking through many fan-favorites from her latest album, “Solutions.” The intensity that she brought to the Vrbo stage reverberated out to the epicenter of the festival. The Raconteurs put on another must-see act from the American Express stage that afternoon. There is nothing quite like existing within the soundwaves of the ingenious and legendary guitarists, Jack White and Brendan Benson, as they savagely shred through hits as “Now That You’re Gone” and “Steady, As She Goes.”

Guns N’ Roses Takes Zilker Park To Paradise City

After a wonderfully long day, I found myself in the pit of the main stage. Where I was surrounded by some of the most die-hard Guns N’ Roses fans out there. Nearby fans in the crowd expressed that this classic act was one that they had been waiting for for many, many years. With plays of their great hits, “Paradise City” and “Welcome to the Jungle,” this legacy headliner certainly did not disappoint.

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KAABOO Texas – Inaugural Festival The Size Of Texas

by Tracy Fuller | May 17, 2019

KAABOO Texas Takes on Jerry World

The Dallas-Fort Worth festival scene has been missing over the years. There are quite a few options in music festivals in DFW but they are so niche specific to your typical festival experience. Fans already have an expectation of what to expect with festivals like JMBLYA, Homegrown Fest, and Fortress fest. These are on a different scale of production. Now throw in KAABOO Texas at Jerry’s world, dab smack in the middle of the two cities with a 100k capacity, this definitely leaves room for potential to be one of the biggest festivals in not only Texas.

With its’ first year at the Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadium, the KAABOO Texas lineup was a masterclass of diversity. There was literally something for everyone. With headliners like the multi-platinum Grammy legend Lionel Richie, The Killers, Kid Rock, and Sting the first year of the festival was unprecedented to the DFW area. Not to mention Lynyrd Skynyrd, Little Big Town, The Avett Brothers, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Pitbull, Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, The Black Eyed Peas, Ludacris, Flo Rida, Garbage, Andy Grammer, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Violent Femmes, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and many more. That’s just the musical side of things. KAABOO Texas had a pretty stellar comedy lineup. Especially with the likes of comedians Chad Daniels, Garfunkel and Oats, and Dennis Miller at the HUMOR ME tent.

Overall, the festival lineup, experience, and production value considering its’ first year was one that would definitely stand as a memorable experience. With a ten-year contract being set in place, this festival is on the right track to becoming one of the nations biggest festival brands. KAABOO Texashas plenty of room to grow and expand. I am definitely looking forward to what next years festival will bring. What is next for the KAABOO brand? Well, KAABOO Del Mar has already announced its lineup for this Fall with a bill of the likes of Bryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Dave Matthews Band, Mumford & Sons, and Duran Duran. Tickets are already on sale!

JMBLYA Was A Colossal Smash With J. Cole, Migos & More

by Tracy Fuller | May 10, 2018

JMBLYA Was A Colossal Smash With J. Cole, Migos At Circuit Of The Americas In Austin

JMBLYA fest took place this past weekend, and in its’ the sixth year has grown to be quite the hip-hop festival. Scoremore annually takes the festival all over the Texas triangle, Dallas, Austin, and Houston over a three-day span. This years festival was quite the jump from the parking lot at the Statesman. This not only was it at the Circuit of the Americas but this year the implementation of two stages came into play.

Young Thug Takes Cardi B’s Place At JMBLYA

The intended lineup for JMBLYA this year was quite the billing with heavy hitters like Bun B, Kevin Gates, Carti B, Migos and J. Cole was sure to make this years event the one to top them all. Unfortunately, not everything always goes as planned. Young Thug was a last-minute substitution for a recently announced pregnant Cardi B. While that was a significant hit to the billing, Young Thug was an impressive alternative that the crowd reacted to with enthusiasm.

Now if the absence of Cardi B was not enough, Kevin Gates announced one day before the festival run began that he would not be able to perform. This hit to the bill was a tad bit harder to replace with only a days’ notice. Whom did they get with such short notice? The diamond-studded Atlanta based hip-hop legend, TI. While it has been quite some time since TI has had a Top 40 hit, that did not stop him from keeping the crowd going, even with a generational gap. Even on my way to the media lounge to check out my footage(thank you ScoreMore for taking care of us!), I could see teenagers singing along to hits like “Whatever You Like” and “Rubberband Man.” Overall, the move to bring him in was a good move in my book. Great job JMBLYA!

Migos Captivated The Energy Of Everyone In Attendance

The next moment of the night for me was the set by Migos. This would be my first time seeing them, and they surely did not disappoint. Quavo, Offset and Takeoff appeared to hardly break a sweat as they walked across a stage embellished with strobe lights and haze. They began to unload the massive load of hits they have compiled in just a few years. It would not be right if they did not play their bangers “Fight Night,” “T-Shirt”, and of course “Bad and Boujee.” As I worked to get my shots in the barricade, I took a moment to take in what was going around me. It was like I was slowed down in time, watching the crowd around me going wild. It was as if the fans had waited all day specifically for Migos to take the stage.

As I began to head to the next stage, I noticed something. I could not get through the crowd at all, as they were all lined up to see J.Cole. The sea of people went as far as the main stage to the vendor area. It was clear that the best was yet to come with J. Cole’s performance coming up next.

Cole’s poetic ability was something that was actively apparent from the very beginning of his set. By getting the crowd going with the chorus of “Motiv8” and vibed portions of “ATM” The vibe of J. Cole had set a whole different tone with the crowd. Everyone seemed to embrace each other through the music, leaving everyone in unity.

ScoreMore Kills It With This Years JMBLYA Fest At Circuit Of The Americas

Overall, the festival was a great experience, and I had a blast mingling with the crowd. The production team over at Scoremore and the guys and gals with the Code 4 team both killed it. The only real pitfalls for the event was due to it being the hottest day of the year so far. There were more overheated medical calls than the fantastic medical team was prepared for. Thankfully, their response to the calls was impeccable, and everyone was taken care of. I can not wait to see how they build on things for next years JMBLYA