Music fans gather at Zilker Park for the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday. (AP Photo)

Austin City Limits (ACL) is a place for music lovers.

People don’t go to a festival with five headliners and more than forty bands per day if they just want to hear one artist. For some, it is an educational experience: a chance to listen to bands you’ve heard very little about. For others, it is about getting really close up and singing along with their favorite band.

Whatever the reason for attending ACL, more than 52,000 people headed to Zilker Park in Austin, Texas last weekend for one of the biggest concerts in the country.

There were many ups and downs through the weekend. There were surprises, and there were disappointments, as always when musicians perform live. Each of the headliners performed with a skilled, energetic presence, but throughout the days, there were moments worth acknowledging, applauding and pointing a judgmental finger.

Best all-around concert:

This designation will go to a headliner, and as such, will go to The Strokes. Perhaps it is because they make their fans hungry for their music, as we have to wait four years between albums and tours, but regardless, they are good performers. They play their songs without fault, they have smart quips and PacMan is part of their light show.

Surprise of the weekend:

A band that I’d never heard of that was able to immediately capture my allegiance was Those Darlins, a mixture of country, punk and rock with a whole lot of sass. From “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” to “Wild One,” their wide range of sound is a lot of fun.

Disappointment of the weekend:

My dissatisfaction is given to the Black Lips. Although I am not familiar with all of their songs, the few that I know, I like. There are bands that push boundaries with their skill, and there are bands who push the boundaries of their fans’ patience. Unfortunately, the latter limits were tested Saturday, and I joined the line of people leaving their stage.

Most energetic concert:

Hands down, this goes to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. The leader of this group of unhinged hippies, Alex Ebert, is one of the most eccentric and unrestrained performers to take the stage this weekend. He ran around on stage, jumped around, told improvised stories and did his version of crowd surfing, which was diving across the photo pit and rolling around on top of the crowd. Their music made the audience dance and sing along with a cathartic lack of inhibitions.

Most solid performance:

This is a tie between the two super-groups that took the stage Saturday. Broken Bells and Monsters of Folk are two groups comprised of stars of the indie music scene, either from other bands or solo acts. Broken Bells includes James Mercer from The Shins and Brian Burton, also known as Danger Mouse. Monsters of Folk includes Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes, Jim James from My Morning Jacket and M. Ward. The idea behind these groups is that they could come together as an even more powerful group – and boy, were they right. These performances packed talent, energy and stage presence at the same time.

Most enthusiastic audience:

Deadmau5 may look like a giant rodent on stage, but the way he spins his house music, grinding out the electronic beats, not only drew the biggest audience that the Zync Card stage saw all weekend, but kept everyone dancing as well. Even mothers with their children were breaking off into what people were calling “dance zones.”

Best moment in a concert:

Devendra Banhart and the Grogs played a solid show, even for playing early in the day. After playing some of their own work, they looked out at the audience and asked if anyone had a song they had written recently and would like to play. A young man was pulled up onto the stage in an overwhelming awe, and after he was done playing, Banhart pulled him in eye-to-eye in some sort of cosmic exchange of energy.

Best light show:

This would be a win for The Flaming Lips, except that when they played Sunday night, the sun was still shining. Because of this, MIA will take the prize as her light show attracted even more attention than the bold hip-hop star. There were videos of her, graphics, lights and just an all-around spectacle.

Best Cover:

This is a tie between Broken Bells’ cover of  The Black Keys’ “Everlasting Light” and Band of Horses cover of Cee Lo Green’s “Georgia.” Both of these covers not only felt completely natural, falling perfectly into the vocal and musical range of the band, but in the case of Broken Bells, it sounded better than the original. Both bands covered songs of their contemporaries, and both were met with extreme enthusiasm from the audience. Although Band of Horses was obviously nodding at the fact that Green recently covered their song, “No One’s Gonna Love You.”