“I’m the last person that’s going to step up and jam with Dave Grohl … I’m a terrified jammer,” Americana musician Shakey Graves, an Austin native, said backstage during the first weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where artists like The Weeknd, Hozier and Kurt Vile performed for a sold-out crowd of 150,000.
At 4 a.m. after Grohl’s headlining performance, Graves watched members of Foo Fighters play again, this time accompanied by renowned concert photographer Danny Clinch, Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi and Gary Clark Jr. at Austin’s famed Arlyn Studios, but had no regrets about not jumping in himself. The event, limited to about 50 people, served as an exclusive afterparty for the events of Oct. 2, when Clark joined the Foos during their set for the Sonic Highways track “What Did I Do?/God As My Witness.”
Drake’s Oct. 3 headlining turn, which featured a surprise appearance from Atlanta rapper Future — “a reward for being the best crowd I’ve seen all f—ing year” — included live debuts of material from their chart-topping collaboration mixtape What a Time to Be Alive. “I came here to do work in Austin,” said the Toronto-bred Drake. “There’s no love like Texas love.”