Austin City Limits Turns 40! (TV Show)

[Christa42]

This year, the acclaimed Austin City Limits Television Show turns 40! The first show starred Willie Nelson and I know a few Coldplayers were quite up close and Personal when Coldplay played for this amazing show.

 

Here is a great article from the Dallas Morning News with a cool interactive vid which includes Coldplay:

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/music/headlines/20141010-40-year-old-tv-show-austin-city-limits-helps-make-austin-hip.ece?1

 

 

 

By THOR CHRISTENSEN

THOR CHRISTENSEN The Dallas Morning News Special Contributor

[email protected].

Published: 10 October 2014 04:17 PM

Updated: 10 October 2014 04:17 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

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There’s no denying the mammoth cultural impact wielded by the little ol’ show from Texas called Austin City Limits.

As it marks its 40th anniversary this month with a star-studded PBS special and a new book, Austin City Limits has become the longest-running music series in American TV history and the only series to ever win a National Medal of Arts.

It also helped transform Austin into arguably the hippest American city west of the Mississippi River, for better, and for worse: Without ACL, it’s hard to imagine the runaway success of the South By Southwest festivals and the ensuing population explosion, traffic jams and sky-high rents that now threaten to suck the very soul out of the self-anointed “Live Music Capital of the World.”

“I feel guilty at times that we’ve encouraged too many people to move here,” says Terry Lickona, the show’s longtime producer. “I’ve talked to people who literally moved here after watching ACL because the show made Austin seem like the coolest place to live.”

Yet as impressive as its legacy is, Austin City Limits faces an uncertain future and is in danger of being eclipsed by the annual music festival that piggybacked to fame on its name.

Long-term success was the last thing on anyone’s mind when Willie Nelson taped the pilot episode of ACL on Oct. 17, 1974. The show was almost an afterthought — something to fill up the new PBS TV studio that had been built on the sixth floor of UT-Austin’s Communications Building B.

But within a few years, it was a national hit on public TV, in part because it offered an authentic Tex-centric version of country music that most of America didn’t know existed.

Before ACL, “country music more commonly evoked negative images, epitomized either as dangerous as the homicidal rapist hillbillies from 1972’s Deliverance, or as simple as the cornball hayseeds hiding in the fields on TV’s Hee Haw,” writes music professor and historian Tracey E.W. Laird in her new book Austin City Limits: A History (Oxford University Press).

By the ’80s, the show expanded its scope to include the occasional non-country act like Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos and Neil Young. And in the early 2000s, it opened the floodgates to acts ranging from Phish and the Pixies to Dallas’ own Polyphonic Spree.

That move toward rock coincided with the 2002 launch of the Austin City Limits Music Festival — a separate entity run by concert promotion giant C3 Presents, which licenses the ACL name. The festival’s wildfire success made the TV show financially secure after years in which producers worried they didn’t have enough money to stay afloat for another season.

“It’s been a two-way street,” Lickona says. “When the festival started, they desperately wanted to use our name, and ACL gave them instant credibility. And the success of the festival has increased the awareness of the show for younger people who used to think it was just something their parents watched.”

In 2011, the TV show moved its stage — complete with the famous mock Austin skyline — into the new, 2,700-capacity ACL Live at the Moody Theater, a switch that generated even more cash flow thanks to the 100-or-so concerts that take place each year at the downtown venue.

Yet while the cross-promotion has meant financial stability, it’s also triggered a midlife crisis of sorts.

For a lot of people, the TV show is now an afterthought to Austin City Limits Music Festival, which has grown into a six-day, two-weekend behemoth that draws hundreds of thousands of people to Zilker Park. (This year’s festival ends Sunday.) Google “Austin City Limits” and the first thing that pops up is the festival, not the PBS show.

And while the TV show’s increasingly rock-centric bookings have beefed up the ratings, they’ve also diluted the uniqueness of what was once a Texas-oriented program that championed country, folk and roots music. Acts from those genres are now the minority in a lineup that leans heavily on rock and pop acts like fun., Phoenix and Coldplay.

But Lickona takes umbrage with critics who say Austin City Limits has become a generic showcase for what’s currently hip.

“So-called indie music may be the mainstay of our format. But those are the people making the most original music today, whether it’s the Colombian singer Juanes or Wilco or Beck or Ryan Adams or the Black Keys,” he says. “These bands are unique in what they do. They are what ACLis today.”

Of course, that’ll probably change tomorrow in the ever-evolving world of rock. But one aspect that isn’t likely to change is the very thing that makes ACL worth watching 40 years later: Its live concert format.

In an ADD world full of three-minute videos, Austin City Limits is that rare outpost where you can watch an artist perform for 53 minutes straight. There are no props, no pyro, no giant stadiums packed with fans waving cellphones in the air. There are just musicians playing music, totally live and unfiltered.

Whether you watch it on TV or online at acltv.com, the show looks pretty much the same as it did in 1974 when the Red Headed Stranger first walked onstage.

“We’ve held steadfast to the original concept: Give our stage to an artist and capture them up close as they sing their heart out, play their ass off on guitar and do what they do best,” Lickona says.

“It’s a simple idea, and nobody thought it would last more than a couple of years,” he says.

“Little did they know.”

 

Thor Christensen is a Dallas writer and critic.

 

http://acltv.com/2014/08/12/acl-announces-season-40-broadcast-tv-schedule/

 

ACL Announces Season 40 Broadcast TV Schedule

 

Today Austin City Limits is proud to unveil our milestone 40th season, celebrating a four-decade run with more legendary artists, innovators and highly anticipated debuts. Providing viewers with a front-row seat to the best in music performance for 40 years, we’ll return on Saturday, October 4th with an unforgettable hour-long set from an American original, musician/songwriter Beck. Prior to the season premiere, a primetime special honoring the program’s anniversary, Austin City Limits Celebrates 40 Years, airs Friday, October 3rd, 9-11pm ET on PBS Arts Fall Festival.

Beck kicks off the celebratory season with an epic, career-spanning full-hour performance. One of the most creative artists of his generation, Beck shines in an exceptionally entertaining hour, showcasing a mix of vintage fan favorites and more recent gems. On the next installment, British sensation Ed Sheeran makes his ACL debut in a must-see episode that features the breakout star performing his entire set solo acoustic. Sheeran exudes the raw talent that propelled him to the top of the charts, with charged versions of hits from his landmark debut and new songs from the chart-topping follow-up release. Acclaimed Memphis singer-songwriter Valerie June shares the bill, making a captivating ACL debut with her starry-eyed roots music. Legendary industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails make a rare television appearance in an arena-worthy hour-long presentation that previewed in the spring to become one of ACL’s most talked about episodes. A season highlight is the return of ACL veteran Jeff Tweedy for a special hour. The Wilco leader showcases his first-ever solo project Tweedy, performing a mix of new songs and Wilco classics joined by his son and special guests. Noir-rock outfit Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds make their ACL debut in a full-hour episode offering a memorable career-wide set powered by dark songs about love, death, God and fate. Music legends Los Lobos return to the ACL stage for their fifth appearance, with the influential and enduring East L.A. band celebrating their recent 40th anniversary alongside ACL’s.

The new season boasts a number of highly anticipated debuts from music innovators: Breakout country star Eric Church, folk-rock wonders Thao & The Get Down Stay Down and acclaimed southern rock band J. Roddy Walston & The Business.

ACL executive producer Terry Lickona says, “Anniversaries can seem trite and predictable, but this season is very special for me in so many ways. It represents 40 years of musical adventure and discovery. ACL fans have come to expect the unexpected, and we love it all. We celebrate our past, but we’re more excited about the future!”

For the fourth consecutive year, the producers of Austin City Limits, in conjunction with High 5 Productions, and the Americana Music Association, are proud to present a special ACL Presents—featuring the best music performances from this year’s Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Ceremony held September 17th at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN.

Season 40 Fall Broadcast Schedule (additional episodes to be announced):

October 4 Beck

October 11 Ed Sheeran | Valerie June

October 18 Nine Inch Nails

October 25 Tweedy

November 1 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

November 8 Los Lobos | Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

November 15 Eric Church | J. Roddy Walston & The Business

November 22 ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2014

The complete line-up for the full 13-week season, including new episodes to air beginning January 2015, will be announced at a later date. Check our news section for additional episode updates