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For the 16th year, Austin City Limits music festival has attracted thousands of people to the Capital City.
75,000 people converge on Zilker Park each year for the event.
“It’s just all about the music and the whole ACL experience,” said Dan Caren who says he has attended the festival for the last seven years.
This years’ ACL experience includes more than 110 bands playing on eight different stages two weekends in a row.
Big names like Jay Z, Gorillas, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ryan Adams are headlining the 2017 festival.
“We come every year and get out here early, get our spots, have our whole day mapped out, it’s an awesome part of Austin,” Caren said.
At the same time, the mass shooting in Las Vegas is still fresh in everyone’s mind. Lukas Nelson who played with his band Promise of the Real on Friday said that’s something that rocked everyone in the industry, but attacks won’t keep him from doing what he loves most.
“It shook me when it happened in Paris. It shakes me every time, but it’ll never break me,” Nelson said.
Instead, Nelson hopes to honor those who lost their lives by enjoying every moment he spends on stage.
“We have to just appreciate life even more, celebrate love, and go out and do these kinds of things,” said Nelson.
This year, ACL organizers placed extra restrictions on belongings and required visitors to go through airport-like security screenings. Festival staff even agreed to refund tickets to those afraid to attend because of recent events in Las Vegas.
“I think it’s unnecessary. I think that what we should do now more than ever is congregate and be in love and celebrate with music,” Nelson said.
Austin police increased patrols during ACL and said they will stage undercover officers inside the gates.
DPS and federal authorities have also agreed to help with security.