Four big rooms all book the same Friday, and the students come back Monday.

Tonight the university lights the Tower for Gone to Texas, and tomorrow morning fall classes start, which is the moment every August in Austin has been building toward. Guadalupe gets its traffic back, West Campus fills up, and the city quietly stops being a summer town. Then Friday happens: Buddy Guy at ACL Live, Social Distortion and Descendents at Moody Amphitheater, and Olivia Dean at Moody Center, all on the same night within a mile of each other. Le Garage Sale takes over Palmer next weekend, and the Summer Classic Film Series plays its last week before the State goes dark on the series. Pick one Friday room and commit, because you are not doing two.

The marquee

• Fri Aug 28, 8:00 PM · From $65
  Buddy Guy with Ally Venable
  ACL Live at the Moody Theater, 310 W Willie Nelson Blvd
  Guy is ninety this year and still playing a room this size, which is not something that happens twice. Ally Venable opens, a Texas guitar player who earned the slot rather than inherited it. If you have been telling yourself you will catch him next tour, we would treat this as the tour.
• Fri Aug 28, 7:00 PM · From $45
  Social Distortion and Descendents
  Moody Amphitheater, 1401 Trinity St
  Two bands that have been at this since the early eighties, outdoors at Waterloo Park on a night that will still be in the nineties at doors. The lawn is the right call over the reserved seats here. Get in early enough for the openers, because the 7 PM start means the headliner is done before eleven.
• Sat Aug 29 and Sun Aug 30 · Around $8 at the door
  Le Garage Sale
  Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Rd
  Austin's independent boutiques clear out their racks in one air conditioned hall, twice a year, and this is the summer edition. Saturday morning is picked over by noon and Sunday is where the desperate markdowns live. Bring a tote and cash, and park in the Palmer garage rather than circling Barton Springs Road.

Sunday · Tonight

• 8:00 PM · Free
  Gone to Texas
  UT Main Mall, 110 Inner Campus Dr
  Convocation for the incoming class on the Main Mall with the Tower lit orange. Open to the public, and the last quiet night on campus until finals. Walk in from Guadalupe, do not try to park on Speedway.
• 3:30 PM and 7:00 PM · $15 each
  Labyrinth, then Drive
  State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave
  A Bowie matinee and a Refn night drive on the same Sunday. The series has one week left after tonight, so this is roughly the last easy chance.
• Afternoon · From $25
  PBR Gambler Days, final day
  Moody Center, 2001 Robert Dedman Dr
  Championship day of the team series, which is the one where the scores actually matter. Shorter than the Friday and Saturday cards and you are home by dinner.
• 4:00 PM · Free
  Chicken Shit Bingo
  Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon, Brentwood
  A numbered square, a cold Lone Star, and a chicken deciding your afternoon. Inside by 3:30 if you want a seat.

Monday–Wednesday

• Mon Aug 24 · Free, unfortunately
  UT fall classes begin
  Forty Acres, West Campus, and the Drag
  Guadalupe goes back to student hours, the Dobie garage fills, and every lunch spot between 21st and 26th gets a line again. Budget an extra fifteen minutes on anything north of the river between 8 and 10 AM.
• Mon Aug 24, evening · Free, lottery only
  Austin City Limits Season 52 taping
  ACL Live at the Moody Theater, 310 W Willie Nelson Blvd
  Tapings are not sold, they are drawn. Sign up for the Austin PBS taping list now so you are in the pool for the rest of the season, because the announcement window is usually about a week.
• Mon Aug 24, 8:00 PM · $20
  Bob Schneider's Lonelyland
  Saxon Pub, 1320 S Lamar Blvd
  Approaching its third decade as the longest-running Monday residency in town. Arrive by 7:30 for sightlines.
• Mon Aug 24 and Tue Aug 25 · Ticketed at the door
  Austin Area Quilt Guild QuiltFest
  Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Rd
  Hundreds of quilts hung in a convention hall, which sounds sleepy and is quietly one of the better craft shows in the state. Air conditioned, which counts for a lot this week.
• Tue Aug 25, 8:00 PM · No cover
  Two-step lessons at the White Horse
  500 Comal St, East Austin
  Free lesson, no partner required, band on right after. Still the best cheap night on the east side, and it gets younger the week school starts.
• Nightly, 9:30 PM · $10 or less
  Jazz at the Elephant Room
  315 Congress Ave, Downtown
  The basement weeknight sets remain the underrated version. Cooler, emptier, same players.

Thursday–Friday

• Thu Aug 27 and Fri Aug 28, 7:00 PM · $15
  Summer Classic Film Series, closing week
  State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave
  The last full week of the series before it wraps on Aug 30. Check the Paramount and State listings the morning of, because the closing week schedule shuffles.
• Fri Aug 28, 8:00 PM · From $50
  Olivia Dean with Baby Rose
  Moody Center, 2001 Robert Dedman Dr
  An arena show for a singer who was playing clubs two years ago, and the room she has grown into suits the voice. Baby Rose opening is a real undercard, not a warmup act.
• Fri Aug 28, 8:00 PM · From $65
  Buddy Guy with Ally Venable
  ACL Live at the Moody Theater
  See the marquee. If you are choosing between Friday shows, this is the one with the shortest shelf life.
• Fri Aug 28, 7:00 PM · From $45
  Social Distortion and Descendents
  Moody Amphitheater, Waterloo Park
  See the marquee. Lawn tickets, water bottle, and leave the car at a garage on Red River rather than Trinity.
• Fri Aug 28, 9:00 PM · No cover
  Friday honky tonk at the White Horse
  500 Comal St
  Three bands, no cover, taco window out back open later than you will be. The correct free answer to an expensive Friday.

Next Saturday

• Sat Aug 29, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM · Around $8
  Le Garage Sale, day one
  Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Rd
  See the marquee. First two hours are the good racks, and the line outside is longest between 10 and 11.
• Sat Aug 29, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM · Free
  SFC Farmers Market at Republic Square
  422 Guadalupe St, Downtown
  Late summer tomatoes and the first of the fall greens. Go before eleven, when the shade runs out.
• Sat Aug 29, afternoon and evening · $15 each
  Summer Classic Film Series
  State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave
  Second to last day of the series. The late show is always the emptier room, and the balcony is the coldest seat downtown.
• Sat Aug 29, from 3:30 PM · Varies, often free early
  Continental Club, Saturday sets
  1315 S Congress Ave
  The early happy hour set is the one locals actually go to, and you can walk out into South Congress before the tourist crowd builds.
• Open until 10:00 PM · $5
  Evening swim at Barton Springs
  Zilker Park
  Sixty-eight degrees no matter what the forecast says. After 7 PM is still the shortest line of the day.

Next Sunday

• Sun Aug 30 · $15
  Summer Classic Film Series, closing day
  State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave
  The last day of the summer run. If you have been meaning to see one thing on a big screen this year, this is the deadline.
• Sun Aug 30 · Around $8
  Le Garage Sale, day two
  Palmer Events Center
  Thinner racks, better prices. Sunday afternoon is when vendors start bundling to avoid packing things back up.
• Sun Aug 30, 4:00 PM · Free
  Chicken Shit Bingo
  Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon, Brentwood

What we're drinking this week

• · $5
  Hi, How Are You
  Nickel City, 1133 E 11th St
  A Lone Star and a shot of Jameson, named for the mural, and still the best five dollars in East Austin. The kitchen window keeps going late if Friday runs long.
• · $6
  Pearl-Snap Pils
  Austin Beerworks, 3009 Industrial Terrace
  A clean German-style pilsner and the most reliable can in town in August. The taproom is calm on weeknights now that summer crowds have thinned.
• · $18
  Mezcal flight upstairs at Whisler's
  1816 E 6th St
  Mezcalería Tobalá is the small room above the bar, about twenty seats, and it opens at seven. Go on a Tuesday, because on a Friday you will wait an hour on the stairs.
• · $5
  Iced coffee at Radio Coffee and Beer
  4204 Menchaca Rd
  Coffee until it becomes a beer garden, with Veracruz out front all day. The best place in South Austin to sit outside without committing to a plan.

Free this week

• Tonight, 8:00 PM · Free
  Gone to Texas
  UT Main Mall
• Tue Aug 25, 8:00 PM · No cover
  Two-step lessons at the White Horse
  500 Comal St
• 5:00 to 8:00 AM and 9:00 to 10:00 PM daily · Free
  Barton Springs free hours
  Zilker Park

From the archive

About fifty thousand people are unpacking boxes in this city right now, and a good share of them have never had an Austin August before. Our guide to a transplant's first weekend covers where to eat the first night, which grocery store to pick, how to get a pool day right, and the handful of neighborhood rules nobody tells you. Send it to whoever just moved into West Campus.

Looking ahead

• Sep 5 to 7 · Varies
  Labor Day weekend
  Everywhere, and the lake in particular
• Early September · From $60
  College football returns to DKR
  Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium
• Week of Sep 7 · Free to look
  Fall patio season, the first honest attempt
  South Congress and East Cesar Chavez

ATX Weekly tip

Friday night puts three big rooms inside a mile of each other, and the parking math does not work. ACL Live sits in the middle of the 2nd Street garages, Moody Amphitheater backs onto Waterloo Park off Red River, and Moody Center is on campus during the first week of classes, which is the worst driving week of the year on that side of I-35. Park once and walk: a garage between 3rd and 5th east of Congress puts you within ten minutes of ACL Live and fifteen of Waterloo Park, and it lets you leave without waiting out a garage exit line. For Moody Center, skip the campus lots entirely, park south of the river, and take a rideshare from a pin on Dean Keeton rather than the arena address.

The students are back, the film series is almost done, and Friday is asking you to choose. We would take Buddy Guy and regret nothing. See you out there. — The ATX Weekly Editors