Indie Rock Bliss: Backstage at Austin City Limits

There are certain seismic music events — songs, artists, and memories that ignite you, and remind you of what you love about music. They are the moments you experience that shape you and stick with you forever.

For me, those times include (but are not limited to) the first time I watched The Strokes' music video for their fuzzy, retro-drenched, guitar track “Last Night,” in my teenage bedroom as their singular embodiment of cool played out on the screen. I was in awe. There was also the candid in-studio interview I had with another New York City-born icon, King Princess, in a room filled with vintage equipment, listening to stories of the hits that had been created on the mixing board. I was gobsmacked.

This past weekend, under the unforgiving south west sun, I added a few new ones to my list, while reliving others thanks to an invite from T-Mobile to spend Austin City Limits weekend one, backstage, sidestage, and (of course) in their festival hot-spot Club Magenta: a members-only lounge where you can view acts on the T-Mobile stage with the comfort of AC, charging ports, and daily prize drops, all exclusive to those with Magenta Status (aka, fans with T-Mobile plans).

T-Mobile’s backstage also included artist Q&A’s (like one with PAPER favorite floweovlove, who btw, showed up to her set dressed like a cigarette … smokin’.) It also meant side-stage views for acts like King Princess, who perfomred her stirring, gut-punch of a track “Girl Violence,” Role Model, who gave us millenial life when he brought Lizzie McGuire out during “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out,” Rainbow Kitten Surprise, who played a crowd so massive my stomach dropped (later I showed their guitarist Darrick "Bozzy" Keller my view from the sky, and he confirmed it was epic), and (of course) I got to scream along to one of my favorite bands The Strokes as they headlined the stage on night two (from front of house, thanks to, again, T-Mobile.)

So what was PAPER’s biggest takeaway from our weekend in Texas? From watching King Princess spin at the Patron’s La Hacienda in the center of the fest, to poetic-crooner Jensen McRae’s backstage Q&A, and even watching The Backseat Lovers serenade the crowd while charging our phone in the backstage lounge — indie rock, with its daring guitars and spirited pop melodies, is alive and well and there’s no better testament to that than the fans, roars, and smiles we witnessed first-hand in Austin last weekend.

Photography Courtesy of T-Mobile, Getty