Sunday at Austin City Limits Festival was the best yet and it was all thanks to Arcade Fire setting the crowd ablaze.

Arcade Fire closed the evening with a stunning, hyper-energetic, super-humanly together performance. The extra special connection was made by the band, informing everyone that Win Butler spent a good portion of his childhood in Texas.

Fellow Canadian band Broken Social Scene put on a stellar afternoon show — as did Manu Chao, Death from Above 1979 (on their reunion tour), Empire of the Sun and Fleet Foxes. Empire of the Sun earns the award for craziest stage act of the weekend. We’re talking massive headdresses, outrageous dancers wearing what appeared to be unicorn heads and an abundance of flashing lights. They drew a massive crowd in no time, that’s for sure.

The one notable quirk about this festival was the abundance of flags — or should I say bizarre pseudo flag-like objects on posts.  They were thousands of them. You know what they say — “Keep Austin Weird!”.

Leaving Austin City Limits seemed a lot less emotional then I expected it to be. Music festivals are a time for connecting with thousands of other like-minded people and in my experience end with a sense of accomplishment. Although I was sad that Austin City Limits was over, I knew I didn’t have to leave town just yet. It will be a lot harder leaving Austin than it was the festival.

Photo by Kim Jay