I thought the show’s name being attached to another abattoir concert/festival was awful enough, now the PBS cornerstone will be moving to a new venue capable of “accommodating” over 2700 people. Good luck finding a place to park with it being next City Hall.
The original TV studio had a 320-people limit. Getting in to an ACL show was a rare, awesome treat. Practically a legendary experience! Believe me, the Fountains of Wayne show Ethan helped me attend is in my top five of all time concert memories. Now it s new “theater” spot will be equal to having Christmas every month since the capacity is equal to Austin Music Hall, the Backyard or Stubb’s. Just what the city needs, another congregation point for hipster d-bags, sheeple and prizewhores; the latter are listed because tickets are free with TV shows. I could be wrong with the inaugural (and successive) concert charging yet I have five bucks saying it will be Willie Nelson regardless of price tag.
In this torrent of bitching I do want to applaud the show for having Lyle Lovett do the finale. ACL likely did wonders to boost numerous careers: Stevie Ray Vaughn and Shawn Colvin quickly come to mind. It indirectly aided mine. Back in late 1993, I somehow wrestled control of the TV from my grandmother that night to watch an episode starring Rosanne Cash and Carlene Carter (daughters of musical legacies). While Carlene danced with a couple audience members, I thought Austin was going to be a more interesting place to live and waited with great anticipation for my offer through Doc.