First weekend kicks off for ACL Music Festival

"It’s our goal to improve the ACL Fest experience for our fans every year and so each year you come out to the park, tweaks are being made to improve the experience for the fans and we are committed to doing that year after year,” said ACL festival spokesperson Brooke Leal.

Stages have been set up to reduce sound overlap. Along with music- ACL will offer a new wine bar venue and the merchandize tent has been expanded into an air conditioned building.  Additional security measures have also been added- which includes a ban on bags larger than this one - 10X10.

"So as you come to the park, there will be airport style security checkpoints at each of the 3 entrances to the festival, there bags will be searched by security personnel,” said Leal.

There's also some unexpected fallout from the recent attack in Las Vegas. ACL will refund tickets - for those worried about safety- but in doing so - has not required the return of wristbands. As a result - there's no way to prevent the resale of a band with a deactivated number.

"For a fan who has a question about a ticket, we encourage fans to reach out to FrontGate Tickets, who is our ticket vendor, here at the festival to answer any questions about their tickets,” said Leal.

To avoid getting ripped off by buying a refunded wristband with a de-activated number-  its advised to purchase tickets only from authorized sellers. A long list of do and don't can be found on the event website.

Barton Springs Rd will be closed again, but what will be different this year is that the entertainment footprint will actually cross over the road. There is a big stage located near Barton Springs Pool.

"This will be one of the safest places actually the safest places with the sheer presence of law enforcement this weekend,” said APD interim Chief Brian Manley.

Along with extra manpower from DPS and federal authorities, Chief Manley said they're getting help from an unexpected asset.

"We are actually going to take some of those vehicles that are still waiting to be fixed for the carbon monoxide issues, and we are going to bring them to the event and use them as hard barricades at some of the roadways that we want to block for vehicular traffic.

Chief Manley also promised the event will not reduce police coverage in other parts of town.