Exclusive backstage looks at ACL Fest artists: Our ten top portraits

Austin photographer Dave Creaney started his career as a photographer. His friends played in bands, so he bought a camera and took it to concerts. Over time he began to develop his skills. As an intern, he first filmed the Austin City Limits Music Festival for the Austin American-Statesman in 2016. With a knack for capturing the movement and magic of live music, he immediately became an integral part of the Statesman's ACL Fest coverage team.

In 2021 he had the idea of setting up a portrait studio in our tent in the backstage media area of the festival. At this point he had a clear view of his photos. He wanted to leave his fingerprints on his work, “to light it the way I want to light it, to put it up the way I want to put it up,” he said after this year's festival. He hoped to encourage personal contacts and interactions with the artists, “rather than sitting in the studio side by side with 20 other photographers and just getting what you get.”

ACL Fest 2022: 48 never-before-seen celebrity portraits

In his first year shooting portraits for the Statesman, Creaney sent emails to over 100 artists playing the festival. He had a whole bunch of festival sets to shoot, so he spent two weeks sprinting back and forth through Zilker Park, from stage work to his tented studio. As the years passed and artists and Statesman readers marveled at the quality of work Creaney was able to capture in his field studio, we began recording his commissions outside of the studio. The only things he filmed on the field this year were Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol (because he wanted to catch the mosh pit) and a sad cell phone shot of the empty field for rapper Mike, after the Pink Exodus for Chappell Roan.

Here are Dave Creaney's 10 favorite portraits from ACL Fest 2024.

Leon Bridges

Creaney met the sepia-toned soul man from Fort Worth in his trailer. Bridges wore a denim jacket and Creaney turned his lights really warm, using camera tricks to paint the world blue to match.

“(Bridges) was just cool as a cucumber,” Creaney said.

Later in the evening, “the playlist king of Austin's boutique hotels delivered substance to match all that style” as he “hit the American Express stage with battle-tested hits like “River” and set closer “Beyond.” his father, conquered – pleasant retro soul, expanded and codified for the next generation,” wrote Statesman contributor Ramon Ramirez.

Teddy swims

“It's fun to photograph everyone with facial tattoos,” Creaney said of the soul-pop artist who stopped by our tent a few minutes before his performance. Creaney didn't realize he actually knew some of Swims' music until it floated across the field with heartbreaking power.

“He’s a little intimidating at first, but he was super nice,” Creaney said. In the photos, Swims has very kind eyes.

“The way he looks doesn’t match the way he sounds at all,” Creaney said.

Be dead

Although the band are locals, they are “friends of friends,” and Creaney had never met them until they passed the tent.

The band was willing to try some really weird poses. “I made this great recording of the lead singer. “She does this weird Willem Dafoe pose that went viral where he does this crazy hunched over position,” he said, adding, “That was really fun and funny.”

Kalu and the electrical joint

“Kalu and I are already good friends. I photographed him a few times,” Creaney said. The psych-rocker, who hails from Austin via Nigeria, stopped by our tent on both weekends of the festival.

“It's always fun to get back in touch with him. He’s such a happy guy and you just have so much energy around him,” Creaney said. On his second stop at the tent, his sister and nephew got together to take some family portraits.

Goldie Boutilier

“She's so photogenic that it was just a joy to have her there,” Creaney said. “She almost looks like a model and felt like getting a little weird. (She) gave me some really fun, almost fashionable photos that I thought were really fun.”

Something corporate

“Lead singer Andrew McMahon jumped with both feet on the piano keys at the end of the opening song, chatted with the audience throughout the performance, hitting every high note and seemed genuinely excited about every song,” the band told Lily during their first set over the weekend Statesman's Kepner reported.

Backstage, the millennials were “just super cool guys,” Creaney said. “They hung out and wanted to try some things and didn’t take themselves too seriously, which is always nice to see.”

Chaparelle

“It takes a strong woman to look at you and smile,” singer Zella Day sang with wry wit and clear intent during the festival's first weekend, Ramon Rodriguez reported.

The band is a collaboration between Texas songwriters Day, Jesse Woods and Beau Bedford. “Their ballads are about 'dreaming about the honky tonk' and making a romantic 'mess.'” They write about dancing “to the beat of a two-step” and quantifying heaven,” Ramirez wrote.

For Creaney, photographing Day as a solo artist during his first year hosting the studio was a full-circle moment. “She was a great subject both times and they did it as a trio,” he said.

Royal Otis

Royel Maddell, half of the Australian guitar-pop duo, has a strict photo requirement: He refuses to let anyone shoot him in the face. The band handpicked photographers to dig their ACL set, and the Statesman wasn't on the list.

“But I was photographing them in the studio and we did some weird stuff where, like, he was wearing his sunglasses on the back of his head and facing away from the camera,” Creaney said. He worked to find a way to make it interesting, beyond the standard hair-in-the-face approach that seems to be the band's usual approach.

Stephen Sanchez

Before he lost his voice and had to cancel his second weekend performance, Sanchez enchanted audiences with his velvety voice and vintage sound. Even despite the Texas heat, he was dressed smartly.

“He showed up in this almost flawless fit,” Creaney said. He wore a sharp black suit with straight hair and had “some badass rings” on. And he was willing to get a little weird too.

“I took this great shot of him smashing his face, which I think is funny. And then other, darker shots,” Creaney said.

Midnight Navy

Francisco Jose Rosales drew a crowd to the Tito tent early Friday with a cumbia-forward saxophone jam. As Rosales switched between English and Spanish, his six-piece backing band switched from an upbeat dance groove to a lyrical indie-pop number dedicated to his newborn son.

His finances, which he described on stage as his biggest supporter, are taking down his wardrobe. He showed up in “this great green suit,” Creaney said.

It was “super fun” to photograph, and the green “just stands out so boldly against the black.” I think it works really well,” Creaney said.

Exclusive backstage looks at ACL Fest artists: Our ten top portraits

ByVanessa

Leon Bridges

Teddy swims

Be dead

Kalu and the electrical joint

Goldie Boutilier

Something corporate

Chaparelle

Royal Otis

Stephen Sanchez

Midnight Navy

By Vanessa

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