Austin City Limits was coming to a close as the sun beat down on the worn-out park. The grass lacked moisture and dust circled with the wind every now and then, but there was still one more day of cold beer, hot food, and loud music to get through. Those prone to sickness walked around in dust masks, and many were shirtless as the sun had already discolored their backs. The city was a lot less busy than Saturday was due to the tens of thousands of tourists in town for the Texas-Arkansas football game. So considering the sparse crowd, it was easy to get up close for the first act of the day.

AA Bondy was alone on stage, with a guitar strapped on his shoulder and a harmonica hung in front of his mouth. A small crowd in the Dell Stage waited in anticipation as he played his introspective, lyrically-centric songs for the few fans who knew every word. Songs off his stellar debut album American Hearts filled the set by the former Verbena front man, and he took some chances in arrangement with beautiful renditions of “World Without End” and “Witness Blues.” In between hilarious stage banter, he managed to fit in new songs like “O the Vampyre,” showing that AA is barely beginning.

Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet carried a simple sense of humor, relaxing and lightening the already hot morning. They played a welcomed cover of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” who’s stringed sections where well conducted by fiddler Casey Driessen and cellist Ben Sollee. Bela Fleck was given some exciting solo time which allowed for him to reaffirm his place as an outstanding musician, as well as talk of other projects including a Flecktones Christmas record. The set ended by diving deep into Washburn’s Chinese influences as the quartet played two songs, one of which an old Chinese fable of instant attraction and lust, all of which sung in that very language.

With one of the more powerful voices of the weekend, Brooklyn’s Nicole Atkins and her band, the Sea, wowed her fans in attendance with tracks from her debut album, Neptune City, as well as two untitled tracks which show that the band is working on new material. Her vibrato voice is unparalleled on songs like “Maybe Tonight” and “The Way It Is”, but she isn’t only a classic pop belter. Incorporating the fans on “Brooklyn’s On Fire” show that she’s a performer and can command the festival stage.

The Austin natives Octopus Project played a bass intensive set, hitting all the right tunes with their creative futuristic indietronica. All four members were dressed in uniform with Lambert (Josh), Miranda, and Figg sharing the same wardrobe as your local Jehovah’s Witness while the other Lambert (Yvonne) looked like a lost character from the Jetson’s. To help them out on a few opening songs, they recruited a dozen or so lucky marching band members from Austin High School. “Truck”, off the bands third record Hello, Avalanche set a giddy dance party theme for a set that would see all the members trade instruments as well as the rare appearance of a Theremin, an instrument that does not require the player to contact it but instead reads the airwaves that are created by certain hand motions.

The bouncy electronic laced rock continued with Stars as the sun’s full heat was at its highest. These Juno winners were spot on with a sea of people listening to the band’s romantic tales of love and death. Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan traded vocal duties as they supported their latest EP Sad Robots.

The sun began to lower when Neko Case took the stage. Her presence was smart, cool and collected as she joked back in forth with the audience and her band. At one point she introduced a song with a long back story that involved whales eating babies. While strange to say the least, it makes sense if you put her in the context of the rest of her career. This set however was all about her solo material bringing in the old-school style of country that she does so well.

Okkervil River’s Will Sheff is a rock star. Almost messiah-like in Austin, Sheff manned the stage for the down-to-earth opener “Plus Ones,” but quickly raised the energy with upbeat wordy songs mainly off the latest two albums, The Stage Names and The Stand-Ins. The show stealer, however, was his duet with reunited member Brian Cassidy for “Lost Coastlines,” where Will’s tenor contrasted with Cassidy’s melting bass voice. The closer, “Unless It’s Kicks”, was the ultimate sing and clap-a-long as Sheff made sure the entire crowd was participating before continuing with the song. Okkervil River’s return to Austin was a successful one.

Jack White and The Raconteurs brought the dirty rock and roll back getting everyone geared up for the night’s headliner. Opening with the title track off their latest record, Consolers of the Lonely, the pace was set for an hour and fifteen minutes of unbridled sloppy rock. White mentioned early that he was suffering from back issues, but kept the energy strong with Benson taking most of the vocal duties.

Ben Bridwell, vocalist from Band of Horses, kissed his wife and his baby one last time before he walked out in front of the largest audience he had ever played for. The entire band looked stunned and humbled by the mass of people, and with the help of the red sunset, they launched full steam into songs from both of their records. “Ode to the LRC” had more of a punch then it does on 2007’s Cease to Begin, while “Marry Song” picked up a bluesier tone with added guitars on top of the low toned keys. The stage lights enhanced a beautiful rendition of “The Funeral,” and they closed with the cover of Them Two’s “Am I Good Man?”, a groovy blues tune which was rudely interrupted by the Foo Fighters beginning early. It was an experience to be had, and one that solidified the live power of the band. New songs were also played in preparation for the new record.

September 28th marked the last stop on the road for the Foo Fighters. With word of a hiatus, it was also the last show for what could be a couple of years. Knowing this on top of seeing the sheer size of the audience, the Foo Fighters played its hardest, thundering through a reel of greatest hits that started with “All My Life”. The acoustic portion of the set had to be shortened, but this just meant that there was more room for the rock and roll Foo is known for with “Stacked Actors” being the classic example of what these guys can do live. The Who’s “Young Man Blues” also made it’s last appearance, blowing people away once again. What has been a theme on this tour continued for this show as Grohl took requests for the encore. “Big Me” was chosen after the front man gave up on trying to decipher a word out of all the yelling and cheering. “Best of You” was the obvious closer for an epic show that could have easily seen the largest crowd they played to all tour. Hopefully, these guys don’t stay away too long because judging from this last tour, the Foo Fighters have only gotten better.