ACL Taped For The Final Time On The Forty Acres
After 36 years and some 800 tapings from the heart of campus, the iconic Austin City Limits — television’s longest-running music show — has left The University of Texas.
Last night was its final performance in Studio 6A, an intimate space that brought some of the world’s greatest performers deep into UT’s blocky and decidedly unglamorous Jesse H. Jones Communication Center.
Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, and Norah Jones are among the legendary acts that made the ACL studio a “historic rock and roll landmark” as deemed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
Country singer Lyle Lovett was the final musician to play in the space, finishing last night with his song “Closing Time” and drawing tears in the process.
Over the next month, ACL will begin transitioning to the $40 million Moody Theater across from City Hall on Second Street.
The new place will be different. It’ll have a new backdrop, no more free beer, and an audience of 800 instead of 300 at a time. But pilot performer Willie Nelson is one of the owners of the new place, and hopes are high that years of new memories will be made there.
Photo by Andrew Torrey/Daily Texan
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2 Comments
Boy oh boy, am I gonna miss that venue in the burnt orange building that wasn’t. From Stevie Ray to David Byrne to Bob Schneider to Willie and finally Lyle Lovett–a good old Klein boy himself, and memories of shows there with fond friends, some of whom are no longer living, that was one special place on the Forty Acres. I look forward to the new venue.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Dean Diaz
Class of 1988
Who performed at the first Austin City Limits? 35 years ago? I think that I was there – was it Jerry Jeff or Willie? or someone else – I have forgotten?!