In the spirit of getting a bunch of artists together in a field, Saturday of Austin City Limits Music Festival generated notable crossovers.
After Jared Leto bungee jumped onstage to start his Thirty Seconds to Mars set, he invited out Matthew McConaughey as well as young Texas country act Calder Allen. And after Shania Twain wrapped her own Honda Stage slot, the headliner sped across the park to sing “Best of You” with the co-headlining Foo Fighters. Sadly, we didn’t get to experience much of Brooklyn singer-songwriter Yaya Bey, who was unexpectedly escorted offstage by medics after her second song. Find our standout moments from Saturday below.
BigXthaPlug Extols Lone Star Culture
In the inevitable role of being the first act of the day on the biggest stage at a festival, BigXthaPlug thrived. A large, undulating mass of poofy-hair-on-top Caucasian high school kids absolutely went off in a Saturday morning mosh pit that intensified everytime the rapper’s DJ yelled “3-2-1,” which happened at least twice per song. The shirtless Dallas lyricist – with the 214 area code tattooed on his sizable belly – appeared amused by the action during a set ready-made for this kind of environment. Thematically it was largely switches and street life, but in terms of vibe, it was smiles and strutting. When the hype man yelled “Do your dance BigX!” he wiggled delightfully with index fingers extended. Plastic production mixed the studio vocal tracks so loud that the deep-voiced rapper could miss a line and it was barely noticeable, but that mattered little in this feel-good scene. “This is my favorite part of the show,” he said of sourcing two cowboy hats from the audience and singing his 2023 hit “Texas,” where he pantomimed riding a hobby horse while extolling Lone Star culture and shouted out Z-Ro, Beyoncé, Trae tha Truth, Devin the Dude, and Luka Doncic. – Kevin Curtin
Rina Sawayama Emboldens Her Avant-Garde Pop
Rina Sawayama’s 56-minute production on the Honda stage embodied a coming-of-age dichotomy, mourning and comforting her younger self in a white dress one moment (“Hold the Girl”) and releasing a rush of nü metal rage the next (“STFU!”). Enhanced by numerous outfit and set changes, the Japanese British artiste crystallized her avant-garde universe within 12 songs, screaming over a slew of hyperpop that teetered between dreams and reality (“Imagining”). When she sang “Elevate your vision when you put me on the cover,” the screen flashed her image on British Vogue in all black with gravity-defying hair and elongated fingernails (“Comme Des Garçons [Like the Boys]”). Despite choreography throughout, the songwriter’s sharp vocals remained unscathed, and her fearless, towering ad-libs illustrated control and range with “XS.” Donning a crimson bodysuit, cowboy hat, and boots for “This Hell,” the 33-year-old John Wick 4 actress lassoed the crowd with an Austin, Texas-exclusive call and response competition. “This song is for the queers, and we’re gonna give it to them good,” she smirked. Leading up to an exhilarating guitar solo, festivalgoers echoed the bridge, sinfully eager to accelerate into “eternal damnation.” – Angela Lim
Die Spitz’s Morning Mosh Pit
Likely the earliest time Austin punks Die Spitz had ever set fire to a stage, the quartet kicked off under the Tito’s tent at 11:45am sharp. Usually reserved for dark dives like Hole in the Wall, the ACL first-timers caffeinated a mishmash crowd of families, teenage techno-goths, and elder hippies at the barricade. Alongside mosh-inducing fare like “Hair of Dog” and the vampiric death march of “Groping Dogs Gushing Blood,” drummer and vocalist Chloe Andrews took the reins (via acoustic guitar) for a ghostly ballad with wincing inflection, before erupting again into ear-crunching grunge. A share of tech issues – most notably a broken guitar strap – threw minor wrenches, but as guitarist, vocalist, and part-time drummer Ava Schrobilgen reminded, “It wouldn’t be a Die Spitz show without a technical difficulty.” Trudging forward, unreleased track “Animal House” debuted after vocalist/guitarist Ellie Livingston dedicated it to Black Flag’s Keith Morris, who brought the band on tour with his supergroup OFF! earlier this year. The singer’s primal groans welcomed further chaos as bug-eyed bassist Kate Halter patted her instrument like a gorilla. Livingston traversed the gaping photo pit like an obstacle course during final act “Evangeline,” monkeying up and dangling from the stage’s metal scaffolding. Regardless of fest complications, Die Spitz always rallies a riot. – Laiken Neumann
Arya’s Pop-R&B Relationship Synthesis
Before Arya’s ACL debut, two people in bear costumes walked around Zilker Park, holding up signs that framed her as some sort of conniving bear mangler. “She’s out of her mind,” one of the placards read. The strategic demonstration led some festivalgoers to the T-Mobile stage, where the Belgrade, Serbia-born musician performed for 45 minutes. “I’m here to share some stories with you,” declared the naturalized Texan, who moved to the Lone Star State to chase her musical dreams. The now Austin-based artist delivered a collection of mostly unreleased pop-R&B gems, elevated with fuller band arrangements. The voyager moved and gestured alongside four dancers to express her songs’ messages, swaying her hips to swanky, velvety instrumentals on “Choosy.” Syncopated beats (“Want You”) and cascading guitar solos (“Decide”) elicited cheers as the singer laced her feathery vocals with a touch of vibrato. The classically- and jazz-trained songwriter used songs as a conduit to synthesize her experiences – healing from everything and everyone who’s hurt her, including past relationships. “If you’re ever feeling lost, I’m right there with you,” she consoled her audience members. “I think if you’re feeling lost, that’s a good sign, right?” – Angela Lim
Calder Allen’s Smokey Southwestern Noir
Beanstalk tall and possibly still growing, Calder Allen still paled next to his backing sixpiece Saturday afternoon in the Tito’s tent. Austin wrecking crew led by Charlie Sexton on first guitar, Bill Cassis on second guitar, first uncle Bukka Allen on keyboards and organ, Conrad Choucroun at the kit, Richard Bowden fiddling, and John Michael Schoepf on bass, the lanky bandleader’s hired guns came packing and crackin’. Fireworks ensued, yet Allen towered above them easily. Bandstand left, a group of Austin‘s future elite studied him hard – dreamily some, hungrily others. In sunglasses like (honorary) uncle Sexton and ballcap, Allen will pull more such looks given his Southwestern noir – desert twang at a narrative gallop. “I grew up coming here my whole life,” he announced. “This is the best weather ever.” A little smokey, perhaps – his voice, especially on last summer’s The Game, a steely strum through ecstatic maturation. “I wrote this with my grandparents.” Allen didn’t say which side, but on his father Bale’s side, West Texas poet Terry Allen populates and “Give Me a Memory” did. “I’m incredibly grateful for this band,” he nodded late in the 45-minute induction. “Good Times” grooved Ryan Bingham grit and newbie “Floating Shoes” rumbled. Three hours later, the sight of Allen guesting on guitar and vocals with Thirty Seconds to Mars rang inversely surreal. – Raoul Hernandez
Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill Jumps Generations
For a few brief, beautiful hours on Saturday, an uncharacteristically autumnal mid-60s breeze made Zilker Park feel more like Canada than Austin. How very ironic, then, that temperatures only began to rise as Alanis Morissette, one of our northern neighbor’s best musical exports, took to the American Express stage to perform the post-grunge masterpiece Jagged Little Pill almost in its entirety. With her singular, snarling voice and harmonica in hand, Morissette beamed through the album’s top tracks – from the breezy “Hand in My Pocket” to the scorching sing-along “You Oughta Know,” and, of course, the bittersweet chart-topper “Ironic.” While Morissette’s ACL stop coincides with Jagged Little Pill’s 25th anniversary, the Ottawa-born singer-songwriter performed with as much energy and conviction as if her heartbreak and betrayal had transpired the day before. Her crowd presented another irony: Side by side with Morisette’s 49-year-old peers stood a vast horde of tweenaged fans, each of whom belted the album’s lyrics despite its release well before their birth. Apart from her crystal-clear vocal talent, Morissette’s set confirmed one thing: Generations to come will find catharsis in the singer’s time-transcendent lyricism and angst-fueled alt-rock sound. – Genevieve Wood
Foo Fighters Remain Classic Rock Heroes
Deep in the recesses of the headlining Honda stage to close Saturday night, black-and-white visuals on the big screen confirmed the status of Foo Fighters: classic rock. Definitely your daddy’s, judging from the millennial demographic – many with parents. And yet Dave Grohl’s instantaneous transcendence beyond band punchline (the last thing a drummer says in a band? “Let’s do one of my songs”) to earthly “My Hero” atomizes Seventies rock star bloat, Eighties cocaine-nosis, Nineties ego, and millennial hubris. Two-hour blitzkrieg red lined from go, “No Son of Mine” teased Metallica‘s “Enter Sandman” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” while the introduction to Taylor Hawkins replacement Josh Freese sampled his previous band Devo’s “Whip It” and a bracing slice of NIN’s “March of the Pigs.” Like Red Hot Chili Peppers on the same stage last ACL, Foo Fighters kneeled to the Ramones, then Beatles on “Nothing At All,” and even the Beastie Boys (“Sabotage”). B&W screen shots turned sepia then color. Calling for a field of phones to light Shania Twain on the opposite headlining slot, Grohl then hosted her in hot pink headwear during a penultimate “Best of You.” In 1995, upon Foo Fighters’ ATX bow at Liberty Lunch, Grohl, first lieutenants Pat Smear and Nate Mendel, and more ignited the same power and passion. Our heroes. – Raoul Hernandez
Shania Twain Has A Little Fun
Matching her auspiciously-titled sixth studio album, Shania Twain’s Queen of Me Tour finally galloped through Austin and into Zilker Park. Read Genevieve Wood’s review.
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This article appears in October 6 • 2023.
