When Junior Walter Bristol bought a Weekend One ACL pass for the first time, he never intended on meeting and filming Lil Yachty, until he wound up backstage at the rapper’s set with camera in tow.
“I was set up to work video for another band performing later in the weekend,” Bristol said. “At security check-in, I got to meet Lil Boat. Somehow, I ended up backstage for the performance with my camera and captured some cool flicks.”
Walter Bristol originally came to Austin City Limits with his camera in hand to film Ben Kweller’s Saturday set, the band in which he spent the summer recording. Bristol, co-captain of the DSHS Skate Club, started a mini-series on Youtube called SIDEKICKS, where videos of the club skating are routinely filmed and posted under the internet tag ‘Waltron’.
“Through these videos and skating with friends, I met the Kwellers and was subsequently given these opportunities,” Bristol said. “Getting to work with Ben Kweller’s band of: himself, Chris Mintz-Plasse, Ryan Dean, and John Abney on the road for the summer July tour- and more recently, ACL- has been such a sick experience. Whether it be running some small errands or filming full videos, it’s just so cool to be able to be around all of them.”
While Walter Bristol considers the 2023 ACL Fest to have been a success, disappointment arose from headliner Kendrick Lamar’s shortened performance on Friday, weekend one.
“The excuse of his plane having malfunctions felt very insincere and once the show began it felt very low energy on his part,” Bristol said. “However, the background dancers were amazing and fit an almost eerie vibe.”
The setback in Kendrick Lamar’s performance ended up in Bristol’s favor, as he was able to finish the Lumineers set list and catch the abridged Kendrick show on Friday. Bristol considers both the Lumineers crowd and the audience at Labrinth’s set to have been the most receptive.
“Both had amazing visuals and a super receptive crowd so that no matter where you were in the masses, you had a great experience…Overall ACL 2023 was a great experience for me as a first-time go-er and will definitely be going again in the future,” Bristol said.
