Austin City Limits Festival Recap

Although it's a bit late, we wanted to give a quick recap of our Austin City Limits Festival experience. We worked again with Futurgarb, the Chicago-based company we worked with in St. Louis. It really is always a pleasure working with them. The value that they show every employee is astounding, especially in today's world where some companies treat employees like they're disposable. Vanessa and I feel appreciated and respected every time we work with Futurgarb, and we hope to work with them again next year for festival season.

A downside to the ACL experience was that Vanessa and I didn't get to work together. We had to stagger days since there were already four other veteran employees from Futurgarb who came along. We were frustrated at first, because that defeated the purpose of working together to foster deeper bonds, etc., but it quickly became clear that six people working in a 10 ft by 10 ft space would've been brutal.

Now, let's talk music. These are the noteworthy bands we were able to see and/or hear while we worked slinging some garb:

Drake
The Weeknd
Florence & the Machine
Foo Fighters
Hozier
Jose Gonzalez
Brand New
Disclosure
Flosstradamos
Vance Joy
Bassnectar

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but this list in itself rules. I can honestly say The Weeknd sounds exactly the same in person as he does on a track, the same with Disclosure. That's something I really value about an artist. Also, as much as Drake threw down in his set, every time he stopped to talk to the crowd about how this was "the best" crowd he's ever performed in front of, I didn't buy it. Nothing seemed genuine in the way he spoke to the crowd. I don't like being schmoozed, Drake. I've already loved you since "Man of the Year" and "Replacement Girl".

We worked two weekends in a row, about 35-40 hours each weekend. It was very exhausting but that doesn't mean we didn't have time for some fun with the Futugarb crew......

Like participating in our very first escape challenge at Maze Room Austin! If you haven't tried an escape room challenge then I implore you to do so. We had such a blast solving puzzles and figuring out riddles and working together. It truly was an experience we'll never forget. A huge thank you to Maze Rooms Austin.

We also visited a few local bars and bonded over some Fireball whiskey (sans Vanessa) and pool sharking. Lots of laughs were shared, and memories made. Thank you to Max, Ali, Sheree, and Irina for welcoming us into the Futurgarb mix and for bringing extra light into our lives.

We've been busy this week gearing up for our next meaningful work experience at Formula 1! We also finished writing about the Austin Humane Society for the next issue of Suncoast Pet. Big things happening for The Roamans. See you all on the road.