There was sun, there was rain and there were some damn fine unforgettable performances. As Austin City Limits Music Festival closes the gates on its 11th annual weekend of music, CultureMap's staff and contributors look back at the performances — headliners and up-and-comers — that shaped our 2012 ACL Fest experience.

Florence + The Machine

Hands down, the best show for me was Florence + The Machine. Florence looked like the spookiest Gaelic sea witch posing against the harp on stage and then jumping around the stage in her old-timey dress. Her singing voice sounds exactly the same live as it does on the radio, which is always astounding and completely satisfying. In between songs, she'd start giggling and flirting with the audience, and then, boom, right back into wailing like a banshee. Awesome.

- Michael Graupmann, Senior Editor

Iggy and The Stooges

I've been saying it since the lineup was leaked in June: The chance to see Iggy would be the highlight of my festival experience. Sunday's early evening performance had all the makings of the rowdy, raunchy live show I expected: a shirtless legend, sweat-drenched crowd, unmatched stage antics. There was more energy and debauchery seeping out of Iggy than any other aged rocker I've seen in a decade. (Sorry, Neil.)

"I Wanna Be Your Dog," "Funhouse" and "Raw Power" were grungy and guttural in all the right ways — and I can't argue with a show that got thousands of Texans on their feet to "Dance with The Stooges." Iggy left ACL Fest — and Austin — as he should: with a peace sign, a middle finger, and a raw, sweaty taste of the brashness that created a subculture.

- Arden Ward, Managing Editor

Neil Young and Crazy Horse

The highlight of ACL for me was the sheer not-giving-a-fuck-itude of the set from Crazy Horse and Neil Young. The band definitely gets top billing there, because the set was all about the band — not the songs, not the singer, but the joy those old dudes take in making really loud noise together. The band opened with a 17-minute version of "Love And Only Love," a deep-cut from their 1990 album Ragged Glory, and Neil Young didn't even open his mouth to sing the first line for six minutes.

He did not play "Heart Of Gold." He did not play "Old Man." He did not play "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," or "Like A Hurricane," or "Mr. Soul," or "Rockin' In The Free World," or "Harvest Moon," or "Long May You Run." In the end, he played 12 songs in a full two-hour set. Mostly this was a set by one of rock's most inscrutable and idiosyncratic legends intended to please only himself and his band. Neil Young is just himself, as he's always been, and I hope he never changes.

- Dan Solomon, Contributor

The Civil Wars

The Civil Wars headlining a major stage with no supplemental musicians was a sight to see. It was interesting to watch how the crowd actually quieted down and paid attention because it was so stark. The set inclusion of their covers of "Billie Jean," and especially Portishead's wonderful "Sour Times," was a highlight. On a weekend when you hear so much that is new, it was a treat to hear a favorite re-interpreted.

- Tom Thornton, Contributor

The Lumineers

My favorite moment of ACL is a tie between Florence + The Machine and The Lumineers. Florence gave an amazing performance (very theatrical) and getting to hear her voice in person was amazing — it really is that good. The Lumineers were very soulfull, they played awesome and you could really tell how much fun they were having and how excited they were to be playing ACL.

- Jessica Pages, Photo Editor

Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club performed an incredible show with a perfect mix of fan favorites and new songs. I loved how much they loved on Austin and their fans throughout the show. It was clear how grateful they were to be playing the Bud Light Stage to a sea of fans — a huge step up from the Austin Ventures Stage where they played in 2010. It's a true testimony to how far they've come in just two years.

- Veronica Castelo, Director of Marketing

Steve Earle took to the Austin Ventures stage Saturday evening — all denim, beard and hat — to challenge the reverb-heavy sounds of Bassnectar on the stage next door. It felt familiar, kind of like an ACL 2011 scheduling misstep that had an acoustic Gillian Welch playing at the same time as (and on the stage nearest) Skrillex.

But Steve Earle ain’t scared of some bass. And with the help of his full band and rebel ways, Earle played a country/bluegrass-laden set against the background of previously-pouring skies that let up just in time to welcome this songwriting legend back to the Texas stage.

As an overcast afternoon turned to grey Texas dusk, Earle spent an hour trading mandolin for banjo for acoustic guitar, running through a snapshot of his career that balanced a modern catalog with the signature sounds that made him a songwriting force in Tennessee, Texas and beyond.

He opened with “Waitin’ on the Sky” (from 2011’s I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive): a sentiment that was surely shared among Saturday's crowd of muddy, drenched festival goers.

After a short hiccup between songs one and two — “This shit’s tore up,” Earle matter-of-factly told the crowd — he launched into “Little Emperor,” a tune that the troubador dedicated to “W and his fuckin’ horse.”

With that, the Van Zandt/Clark protege planted leftist political roots that would remain a subtle theme of his ACL show, one that was met with nothing but cheers from a crowd that lightly grasped onto each political undertone.

From “Little Emperor,” Earle and his band rolled into 1995's “Train A Comin'" issuing in the rowdiness that Steve Earle is known for, with enough speed and depth to drown the droning bass from next door’s electronic show. Of course, there were the obligatory nods to Earle’s early roots. “Guitar Town” and “Copperhead Road” were played back-to-back for a crowd that fell into the nostalgia of the first and the rebel rousing of the latter.

As the end of the set grew nigh and bodies started traversing the park to reach Neil Young, Earle took a few moments to "set the record straight" on “three lies you’ll be told this election cycle.”

For Earle, it all boils down to one simple truth: trade unions, teachers and immigration don't "have anything to do with the trouble in this country." To drive it home, Earle segued into 2007’s “City of Immigrants,” from Washington Square Serenade.

It was a fitting tribute to Steve Earle’s troubadour past, and to an ACL spotlight that walked the line of subtle politics without ever losing sight of the heart of the song or his rebel roots.

Any list of the tightest bands in the world would be incomplete if it didn't include The Roots.

The endlessly versatile Philadelphia-based hip hop crew are equally at home going on extended jazz runs — as was heard to notable effect during "Mellow My Man" early on in the ACL set on Saturday evening — or in the day job serving as the house band for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, or backing seemingly everybody from Jay-Z to John Legend when they want some live-band cred for a record, or recording a nigh-endless string of essential albums of their own.

In any case, there weren't a lot of tubas on stage at ACL, but it's guaranteed that none were funkier than the one featured in The Roots' set. Which is the point: It takes a band whose tightness is unquestioned, and whose versatility can be taken for granted, to pull off what The Roots accomplished onstage on Saturday.

AustinKidsDance.com recommends grown-up live music in kid-friendly venues year-round, but it doesn't especially recommend the Austin City Limits Music Festival as a kid-friendly festival.

I might have been biased when I wrote that, due to my hazy memories of near heat stroke when the festival was in 100 degree weather for several years in a row, when I would drink gallons of water and never need to pee because by body was sweating so much. But, I have fully recovered now and the festival has since moved to October, so it is time to reconsider.

I'm going to ACL with my five-year-old daughter. Kids 10 and under are free with a paying adult. Check out the ACL website for details.

Here is our plan. Maybe these ideas will help, if you are going with your kids too.

1. Bring One Kid Per Adult

I'm the only adult, so I'm bringing only one kid. For me, a one-kid-per-adult ratio is more fun and less work. Also, I'm bringing the 5-year-old, not the toddler. Babies are immobile and manageable and five-year-olds have a reasonable attention span and the ability to reason. I'm not ready to try ACL with a toddler.

2. Pack Light

I'm bringing a backpack with sunscreen, two unopened water bottles (unopened is a festival rule), wipes, camera, wallet (you need cash for many vendors) and a cell phone. I'm also bringing a blanket instead of chairs or a stroller (wagons are not allowed), so we'll be more mobile.

3. Arrive Early

My kids don't let me sleep late anyway, so we'll head out early and beat the crowds for parking and shuttle buses

4. Tag Your Kid

We'll do this first, so if we get separated later, festival staff can help us get reconnected

5. Ditch the Schedule

If you were a big music fan when you were young and childless, this might be difficult. But if I try to get my daughter to follow a specific schedule of bands she might not like, it won't go very well. That sounds like all work, when is the fun going to start? Here it is...

6. Check out Austin Kiddie Limits

This is a space built with kids in mind. There is the music stage with kids' bands, but there is so much more: a sandy beach, video karaoke, drum workshops, action painting, a theater project, hair coloring and temporary tattoos.

7. Check out Grown-up Music

This is our non-schedule approach — we are going to walk around and stay when something sounds good. It isn't completely random, we'll spend more time walking around the stages that are more kid-friendly. The Zilker Stage has gospel music, seating and shade and the BMI stage is small enough that you can see the bands up close without fighting crowds. We'll avoid the largest stages — AMD and Bud Light — because people tend to stand and kids can't see, unless you are far away from the stage.

8. Eat Something Fun

ACL does a great job of having local, interesting, tasty food vendors. They are more adult-friendly (crispy artichokes, spinach and mushroom pie, jalapeno brisket tacos) than kid-friendly sometimes, but they have pizza, hamburgers and lemonade, too. I'm going to see if my daughter will try something new, she probably will, if she can have Amy's Ice Cream for dessert.

9. Dance

My daughter dances in circles with her arms wide open, mixing in jumping, gymnastics and ballet moves. She's really fun to watch. I'll dance with her too, in that way that is crazy fun but I hope doesn't show up on YouTube.

10. Leave Early

Leaving early will not be easy. I will have gotten the ticket and arrived at the venue, then left on purpose, before seeing Jack White. But my daughter doesn't have the stamina for an all-day music festival and the huge crowds in the dark would be hard to navigate. That's how it is with families some times. You can have it all, but not all at the same time, and leaving early is better than not going at all.

The good news is that we will get to avoid the super long lines for shuttle buses at the end of the day and we'll get some much-needed sleep.

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Originally posted at GrowingUpAustin.com, a blog and set of websites that encourages Austin family experiences with hiking, live music and art.

Avicii's ascent to stardom is perhaps the biggest music success story of 2012. While the 23-year-old from Sweden had already made his mark in DJ culture (placing 6th in the 2011 DJ Magazine Top 100 poll), his rise from a low-key Monday night gig in January at Austin Music Hall to playing to tens of thousands at Zilker Park on Friday night has been truly remarkable.

The young DJ has found buzz everywhere he travels this year: Madonna appeared during his set at Miami's Ultra Festival, Forbes recently named him one of the world's top earning DJ's and he was chosen as the face of Ralph Lauren's new casual line Denim and Supply.

As EDM continues to dominate pop airwaves and gain favor among young music fans, it wasn't that surprising that C3 went ahead and booked a DJ act as a headliner. To be fair, they've been working EDM in for a couple of years, and the huge crowds at last year's Skrillex and Pretty Lights sets likely gave them the mental green-light to continue the trend.

For his set, Avicii DJed in a booth atop a giant porcelain face that displayed 3D images across its surfaces that were synced to his music cues. Starting from a sample of The Who's "Baba O'Riley," Avicii moved through a sleek and well-honed 75-minute set.

The "hits" were included on a regular schedule: "Fade Into Darkness" came first, "Silhouettes" about 20 minutes later, "My Feelings For You" (a bit of it, anyhow) soon after, and the massive "Le7els" not long before the close.

Lasers, screens and projections actually de-emphasized the DJ — the spotlight rarely shone on him — but he seemed content to direct the crowd with his breaks, a frequently raised arm, and knowing nods to the crowd. His signature soul samples turned up — not just the ubiquitous Etta James hook from "Le7els," but "Tracks Of My Tears" as well. He also nodded to other EDM acts, as snippets of Swedish House Mafia's "Antidote" were worked into the often bombastic show.

While Avicii's pretty piano lines were heard often, this live show was built for crowd-pleasing and was inherently less subtle than his records. It was build, build, drop — and the crowd seemed fine with that.

The park on Friday night still felt like a venue of rock fans: the crowd broke about 70/30 (or more) toward The Black Keys show, and even the Avicii audience up front didn't dance much; the go-to move seemed to be a fist pump or a polite pogo.

But young ticket buyers have spoken and EDM looks to be a fixture of ACL for years to come.