Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come again.
This weekend marks the return of Austin City Limits Music Festival. Texas’s biggest major multi-genre music festival. For six days, across two weekends, 75,000 will enter Zilker Park each day for tons of great music, tons of great food and art, and a day that will live on in their memory forever. For the sixth year in a row, I cannot wait to be back in Zilker Park surrounded by friends, family, and escape from reality that is three days in Zilker Park.
For three days every year, I get to cut loose and dance and act like a fool and just have an absolute blast. It’s my favorite weekend of every year and so long as they keep having the festival I will probably keep returning. Whether I recognize one or one hundred names, I’ve long said that if there’s live music in Zilker Park, I’ll attend ACL Fest.
Luckily for me, this genuinely may be the strongest ACL lineup since 2019. The full lineup is linked below:
I absolutely love it. Does the undercard go as deep for me as it did last year? Not really, but it doesn’t matter because the heavy hitters up top and down to about the middle point of the poster make it all completely worth it. And I’ll admit, there’s always gripes to be had, this year is no exception. Mine in particular this year is that it feels light on strong female names at the top. The addition of Lana Del Rey as a headliner and artists like Sabrina Carpenter, St. Vincent, and Laufey in the undercard would’ve gone a long way for me.
Also, there’s been a handful of artists drop out of the fest which is nothing out of the ordinary but for some reason, this year’s drops and replacements seemed to sting a little more. Losing Caamp erases the mid-day main-stage indie band slot that I look forward to every year. Losing Dominic Fike isn’t the worst drop in the world and Chappell Roan filling his slot is very deserved, but Mike. filling in opposite to her is a head-scratcher.
However, I can’t deny how incredible some of the pulls for the fest this year are. Dua Lipa’s headlining set will be her first show in Austin since 2016 as well as her only headline show in the US this year, it’s refreshing not to miss the boat on a great and upward-trending Latino artist like Carin León, and Norah Jones is a name I never expected to play this festival in a million years.
As long as we’re talking about the lineup, we might as well. Here are my top 10 most anticipated sets for the 2024 festival in no particular order:
Porter Robinson
One of the most ahead-of-the-curve producers and best songwriters in EDM currently, I have been dying to be able to see Porter Robinson since the first time I listened to Nurture in my freshman dorm at Stangel Hall. I want to make sure I make a good point of his songwriting though because, in a way, Porter reminds me of an artist like Bon Iver where the production and the wildness of the songs sometimes overshadow just how great the writing is. Whether it’s the incredibly smart musings on fame and celebrity and stan culture on Cheerleader and Knock Yourself Out XD, the struggles of being a creative for a living on Musician, or the beautiful “keep looking up” mantra of Look at the Sky. Along with that, his visuals and his live shows have always been fantastic and I cannot wait to see what the next era of shows looks like for him and I’m stoked to finally get the chance to see him.
Where & When: Miller Lite Stage on Friday, 7:10 – 8:10 PM
Check Out: Shelter (ft. Madeon), Sad Machine, Goodbye to a World, Look at the Sky, Cheerleader
Foster the People
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s official. Foster the People is back. While the band never officially announced a hiatus or a break, it’s been seven years since Sacred Hearts Club released and six years since the last time they toured. They did drop a small EP in 2020 as well as a select few shows in 2021 to celebrate the tenth birthday of their debut album, Torches. It was radio silence until this year with a brand new album, Paradise State of Mind, and an appearance at this festival. Among the crop of early 2010’s indie, Foster the People has always been the cream of it for me. Mark Foster’s knack for hooks and catchy melodies along with just how tight the grooves of most of their songs are have always been a knockout punch for me. I cannot wait to finally see them and I hope that a lengthier tour is on the way soon.
Where & When: Honda Stage on Friday, 6:10 – 7:10 PM
Check Out: Helena Beat, Houdini, Coming of Age, Pay the Man, Sit Next to Me, Lotus Eater
Jungle
Jungle played the very first ACL I ever went to in 2018 and I skipped the set because I had no idea who they were and also because I got into the park right as their set finished. Then, in 2021, their song Keep Moving popped up in a random Spotify playlist and I’ve been hooked ever since. Every year there’s a set that’s just primed for me to move and groove to and in 2024, that title belongs to Jungle. I’ve Been In Love, Busy Earnin’, Casio, there are few artists on the lineup that pump grooves as fantastic as Jungle consistently find a way to. The last time they played this festival, they played right before Father John Misty on the Barton Springs stage, tucked away in a corner of the park surrounded by trees on all four sides. This time around, they’re closing down the Miller Lite stage at sunset. I will be dancing like an idiot somewhere in the crowd and possibly doing the same at their Moody Amphitheater night show as well.
Where & When: Miller Lite Stage on Saturday, 7:10 – 8:10 PM
Check Out: Busy Earnin’, Beat 54 (All Good Now), Casio, Keep Moving, Romeo (ft. Bas), Back on ’74
West 22nd
Back in August, I had the pleasure of interviewing a legend and a buddy, Dalton Domino, for the show I had on air. In it, he mentioned a pop band from Austin that he was really digging and had opening a handful of shows for Jacob Stelly, an artist he managed at the time. That band was West 22nd and these guys are seriously damn good. I wore their music out over the summer. It’s pretty standard chorus pedal-driven indie tunes, not reinventing the wheel by any means. Something about their sound though is just so addicting and I cannot get enough of it. The hook on Sunburns, the gritty punch of Sleeping Alone, the slow build of Sweet!, I cannot get enough of these guys and above all else, I’m just stoked to see smaller local bands like them get onto the bill.
Where & When: Tito’s Handmade Vodka Tent on Sunday, 1:30 – 2:30 PM
Check Out: Sunburns, Sleeping Alone, Sweet!, Sunny Jones, Let Down
Kevin Abstract
Once the founder and leader of the world’s greatest boyband, Brockhampton, Kevin Abstract has forged on and continued with a solo career that is just as fun and exciting as Brockhampton was. His latest solo project, Blanket, had an indie almost sleaze feel to it, and his latest singles, Tennessee and Glue, have been equally as great. I honestly don’t know if you could draw up a better scenario for me to finally get him. Playing near the end of the weekend on my favorite stage is a match made in heaven. Additionally, it feels like I’m finally righting a wrong I made a long time ago. During my very first ACL Fest, I walked past the Miller Lite stage as Brockhampton started playing, and rather than staying and watching, I decided to keep on walking. This feels like a chance at redemption.
Where & When: IHG Hotels & Resorts Stage on Sunday, 5:45 – 6:45 PM
Check Out: Peach, Tennessee, Madonna, Baby Boy
I Don’t Know How But They Found Me
When I was in middle school, around the same time I discovered Foster the People, I was also getting into a lot of alternative music that was popping around the time, mainly Twenty One Pilots, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! at the Disco. At that time, Dallon Weekes was the bass player and a songwriter for Panic! but in 2017, he announced his departure to focus on a solo project. That solo project was I Don’t Know How But They Found Me and it is absolutely fantastic. The best thing about the project, in my opinion, is that it proves just how critical Weekes was to those great Panic! records that came out while I was first discovering them. His songwriting is always super playful but sharp as well and the production on so many of these songs is fantastic. Their debut album, Razzmatazz, can go toe to toe with any alternative album released in 2020 and probably win. I don’t think the group has ever put out a bad song and I’m stoked to finally get to catch them, even though I’m shocked to see how low they are on the poster.
Where & When: Miller Lite Stage on Saturday, 1:25 – 2:10 PM
Check Out: Choke, Do It All The Time, Leave Me Alone, Clusterhug, Razzmatazz, GLOOMTOWN BRATS
Khruangbin
This is another set I’ve been praying for for a long long time. Khruangbin at Golden Hour? That is genuinely worth the price of admission alone. Hailing from Houston, Khruangbin is the trio of bassist Laura Lee, guitarist Mark Speer, and drummer DJ Johnson. Together, the three of them are crafting some of the best grooves in modern psych rock. To me, Khruangbin is the sound of watching the sun melt the world away in the heat of the summer. There’s a certain desert and spaghetti western feel to it but at the same time, it makes you want to shake your ass. You won’t truly get the hype by streaming their music on Spotify, though. Just like a jam band, the true magic is in the live show.
Where & When: American Express Stage on Saturday, 6:20 – 7:20 PM
Check Out: Maria Tambien, People Everywhere (Still Alive), So We Won’t Forget, Dern Kala, Texas Sun (ft. Leon Bridges)
Chappell Roan
Come on. Chappell Roan is playing a festival and you don’t expect me to hype her up. You’re stupid if you didn’t think I’d include her on this little article. Every year, ACL manages to grab someone that is having a massive year in terms of growing popularity and mass appeal. In years post-COVID, artists like Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan, Jack Harlow, and Ethel Cain have played mid-afternoon sets or closed small stages due to how far in advance they were booked. This year, that artist is Chappell Roan. Your favorite artists favorite artists. One of the newest, biggest, and most refreshing pop stars to break into the mainstream. An artist that has absolutely exploded this year and drawn in some pretty insane sized festival crowds. The best part about it, she’s incredibly good. The world is catching up to the fact that her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, is fantastic and her follow-up single, Good Luck, Babe! is just as great. There’s a really high chance that ACL is the last time she doesn’t headline a festival she’s playing and I can’t wait to see her in the midst of her explosion.
Where & When: American Express Stage on Sunday, 6:45 – 7:45 PM
Check Out: Red Wine Supernova, Good Luck, Babe!, Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl, HOTTOGO!
Dua Lipa
Do I need to say a whole lot here? One of the biggest pop stars in the world is playing her only two full North American headline shows of 2024 in Zilker Park at ACL Fest. This is going to be bliss. Skirting past the scrutiny of dancing like a pencil sharpener, Dua’s shows all throughout the Future Nostalgia tour were spectacles to behold. With her new album, Radical Optimism, the excellence seems like it’ll continue. It’s just as groovy and just as hooky as Future Nostalgia was and there are so many songs that I can’t wait to hear in Zilker Park from it. Songs like Houdini and Training Season are going to be huge dance parties and Happy For You feels perfect for a grand finale-type moment. Also, I mean come on, don’t act like you don’t want to hear Levitating and One Kiss live. This is one of the coolest bookings I think the fest has made in the past few years and I don’t know how much better of a Saturday night headliner you could grab.
When & Where: American Express Stage on Saturday, 8:20 PM
Check Out: Levitating, Don’t Start Now, Houdini, Training Season, New Rules
Sturgill Simpson
Alright. Look guys. In 2022, Paramore played ACL and I wrote multiple paragraphs about how insane that was for me and just how incredibly stoked I was to see them. When it came time to write the article for last year, I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again and that worked out until I saw Jessie Ware’s name on the poster and I folded, again. Coming into this article, I swore I would keep it objective and I wouldn’t just start fanboying over an artist on the lineup. At least, that was until the festival teased Sturgill Simpson being on the lineup through a payphone setup in Zilker Park. You would pick up the phone, you would get a response, it hinted towards an artist on the lineup. I absolutely melted hearing the words “Introducing metamodern sounds in country music” through a video on Twitter.
Simpson is one of country music’s few last true outlaws. For a decade, it’s been his way or the highway and he could not care less what fans or critics think. He’s always been extremely outspoken, whether it be his infamous CMA Awards protest or his absolutely insane profile by Uproxx, Simpson could wake up tomorrow and find out all of his fame, glory, and achievements were gone and be just as happy as he would be selling a bazillion records and playing to sold-out stadiums. Now, with a new moniker, Johnny Blue Skies, and a new album, Passage Du Desir, Sturgill is hell-bent on world domination again. His headline shows, on a short night, are two hours and 45 minutes. He and his band are insanely tight and sound absolutely incredible. Lastly, the setlists have been insane and ever-changing to the point where I’m somewhat considering returning to Austin on Sunday of W2 to get another dose. I won’t, but it’s very tempting. I understand that Tyler, the Creator is headlining the American Express stage that night and he’ll draw most of this station’s target demographic away and he’s great live too. Personally, though, I don’t think there’s a better way to end your weekend than by seeing Sturgill and Co. rip the Honda stage to shreds.
When & Where: Honda Stage on Sunday, 8:25 PM
Try Checking Out: Just watch this set and that should be all you need. If you still somehow need more, listen to Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
Obviously, these aren’t the only ten sets I’m excited for but if I sat here and talked about every set I was excited to see, we’d be here for hours. For the Weekend Two attendees, I want to real quick highlight the fact the Red Clay Strays are exclusively performing on your weekend and if you don’t plan on seeing them, you should change that.
There are some other miscellaneous tips and tricks I feel the need to share so I’ll do that here:
– Buy a reusable water bottle and take advantage of the free refill stations throughout the park. It’s gonna be a hot one so stay hydrated, bring a few Liquid IV or electrolyte packets with you.
– Dress for comfort, not solely for fashion.
– East Side King’s Asian Chicken Bites are the best quick bite you’ll find throughout the entire fest and there’s hardly ever a line to get food from them. I should’ve gatekept this but whatever.
– The frame picture is cool, but the best picture of the whole fest is right behind the frame at the top of the hill where you can see the entire American Express side of the park with the Austin skyline behind it.
Tickets for both weekends are long sold out so if you have yours, we’ll see you there! If not, you can keep up with me and Danny as we take you along for the ride on our Instagram story.
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