Another year, another successful Austin City Limits Festival. Official estimates for this year’s ticket sales stand at around 75,000, meaning that everyone from college students to hippies to suburbanites descended in droves upon Zilker Park to see the festival’s 100-plus bands.

It’s no secret that these festivals have done wonders for the Austin economy. Just ask any hotel manager or bartender on 6th Street and they will tell you that the influx of people to the city brings a ton of business.

In addition, festivals have established the city as one of the most important music markets in the country. If you can make it in Austin, you can make it almost anywhere. However, there are many drawbacks to these extravaganzas that make me uneasy as both a genuine music fan and as an Austin resident.

One of the problems with festivals is that you don’t get to experience the bands in their full element. With the exception of headlining acts, most of these groups only get to play 30 to 40 minute sets, if that, because they are on a rigid schedule to make sure things don’t fall behind. This sort of rushed environment forces bands to play condensed set lists and gives them little time to interact with the crowd.

They also have the added burden of competing with groups on other stages and, as a result, only the group’s biggest fans will stay around for the entire set. While these festivals are a good opportunity for bands to make money, these bands are inhibited from performing to their full potential.

Another problem that arises is that, for a concert attendee, the festival experience is far less intimate and personal than seeing a band at an established venue. The open spaces and gigantic crowds can make it hard for people to hear, let alone see, the groups that they paid an exorbitant amount of money to watch.

Often times, getting close to the stage for a band that you really want to see means claiming your spot early at the expense of seeing another group’s set at a different stage. Much of the atmosphere created by a venue, like the easy-going vibe of the Mohawk or the old-time feel of the Parish, is absent at outdoor festivals like ACL. The experience is more likely defined by the weather or your tolerance for Dillo Dirt than the music.

Perhaps the most distressing thing about the culture of festivals that surrounds Austin is that they keep many bands from coming to Austin at different times of the year. While some bands will play shows independent of the festivals around the same time, most groups use festivals as the single Austin stop in their tours. For example, The National gave a full show at Houston’s House of Blues two nights before they played ACL this year. Their festival appearance was their only performance in Austin in 2010, and there is no doubt that many of the fans who have waited since 2008 or longer to see the group will have to pray that they come back next year. That is, of course, assuming they don’t choose to do South by Southwest. Not having $85 laying around for a Sunday ticket to see one of your favorite bands is extremely frustrating and disheartening.

When a city bills itself as the Live Music Capital of the World, one would assume that quality bands would be coming at all times of the year. However, cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are more common tour stops for many of these bands, and the bands’ only interaction with Austinites will be at festivals like ACL and SXSW.

These festivals are murder for the pocketbook and do not provide the same experience as seeing a band at a smaller, more intimate venue. Besides, it is better to hear a drunken person tell everyone how much they love The XX than a loud, obnoxious guy in a neon polo.