Friday more or less went off without a hitch despite the rain, but ACL Fest opened its gates two hours late on Saturday as construction crews attempted mud cleanup. Organizers fit almost everyone into the day’s new truncated schedule: UK dream pop act Night Tapes shuffled from an opening slot at the T-Mobile stage to Beatbox later in the day, and Austin producer Left Lucid crammed into the Hacienda Patrón Lounge for a last-minute DJ set after his Tito’s Tent performance was cut. Grey’s Anatomy star E.R. Fightmaster’s eponymous indie pop project didn’t see the light of day, though.
Backhoe loaders, plots of turf, and mounds of muck and woodchips prompted Austin City Council member Ryan Alter to denounce “unacceptable” damage to Zilker Park in an online statement. Yet, if the C3-defending comment section was any indication, lower humidity, little rain, and a breeze in the air swept a positive spirit over day two of the festival.
Editor’s note: Lorde allowed only select photography at her performance. This post will be updated as approved photographs of her set become available.
Rising Folk Rocker Emma Ogier Shares Debut Album Sneak Peek
Gloomy skies and a lightly mud-delayed start time set a fitting scene for Emma Ogier’s cerebral, country-twilled Southern rock storytelling, though bleeding pop dance tracks from Temper City across the swampy field proved a challenging distraction for the folk-inspired act’s quiet-loud arrangements. Amps cranked and a little crunchy, the Houston-raised, Nashville-based songwriter and her backing band persevered much to the delight of a crowd packed with family, friends, and burgeoning fans.
Clutching her acoustic guitar, Ogier had the humble posture and incisive songwriting chops of a young Gillian Welch, with her increasingly complex sound growing louder as the November 11 release of her debut album, Fly 1111, nears. Enthusiastic cheers welcomed the distortion-infused chorus of the record’s unreleased title track and a ballad-esque ode to complicated love on the road promised the record contains more catnip for fans of Wednesday and MJ Lenderman. A healthy handful of the steadily growing afternoon crowd had already learned the words to September single “Keep You” and February breakout hit “Baby Don’t Hurt Me.”
Ogier received the endorsement of Dominic Fike a month ago, when the singer-songwriter shared a concert video titled “This is Emma Ogier” – just as Texas-born rap collective BROCKHAMPTON did for him in 2019 – thus catapulting her still-developing discography to new audiences. The cornerstones of Ogier’s genre foundation feel under development, but the young songwriter is quickly gaining recognition for her evocative lyricism and precisely paced, lilting melodies, laced with classic country harmonies and emo grit. – Caroline Drew
Rochelle Jordan Brings the Grooves
“Y’all ready for a disco in the daytime?”
Grey skies, 78 degrees, and a genuine breeze surely lifted their spirits, but the girls and gays who turned up to the Snapchat stage for a 2:45pm house set were destined to do anything Rochelle Jordan said from the moment she stepped out in a floor-length fur coat. With a similarly chic DJ Chrysalis behind her, the British-born, Toronto-raised singer delivered a shortened but not demoralized set of lush dance music to an adoring audience ready to cheer on every coy pose and self-assured dance move.
The 17 tracks on last year’s Polaris prize-shortlisted Through the Wall offered more than enough material for the songwriter’s 30 minutes, though she pulled from projects across her 15-year career. “Close 2 Me” and 2021 Play With the Changes track “Dancing Elephants” showcased the artist’s silky vocals – as did the R&B runs she improvised over the recorded chorus of pop gem “The Boy” – while the three-syllable refrain of “Ladida” naturally invited a crowd sing-along. Even the harsher production of “Bite the Bait” and “Follow Me,” the latter a bit dated by 2014 trap-inflected production, softened under Jordan’s delicate croon. As the crowd devoured each groove, the singer’s smirk proved well-deserved. – Carys Anderson
Finn Wolfhard Completes the Reel Life-Real Live Loop
We saw Stranger Things: The First Shadow in New York this summer. Consider it essential theatre here in the Upside Down. Similarly improbable, perhaps, the Netflix persona of Mike Wheeler transitioning from reel life actor to real live musician in Finn Wolfhard proved equally satisfying Saturday at ACL Fest. Despite late gates and TSA-glacial entry, enough warm bodies squeaked into Zilker and through the mud wasteland approach to the headlining AmEx stage to witness the 23-year-old Canadian and his backing quartet deliver a convincing 40-minute kick. “Thank you for being here in the mud,” acknowledged Wolfhard, attired in a green ball cap and Kermit the Frog T-shirt. Strapped in a Rickenbacker guitar and singing up into the mic Lemmy- style, the frontman sounded positively Tweedy-esque leading the group’s jangle rock. In a rising, expressive tenor, he rollicked through breezy material – pleasingly upbeat on a downcast day with nowhere to walk or stand in the park’s disaster site. Clearly enjoying himself, Wolfhard strapped on a harmonica for Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” a bit slow and low- energy but later balanced out with acoustic and almost a cappella turns even featuring a scary falsetto (“ladies and gentlemen, the Finn Wolfhard children’s choir”). Hooks, choruses, and party tempos all worked. From Keanu Reeves to Taylor Momsen, big screen Hollywood stars continue shooting across Austin’s best stages. Finn Wolfhard repped completely legit, enough so this one viewer suddenly but very deeply regretted not catching Bruce “Die Hard” Willis once at Antone’s. – Raoul Hernandez
The Suave Throwback Country of Coleman Jennings
Coleman Jennings’ sixpiece band took the BMI stage Saturday afternoon looking like they’d just tumbled out of a Seventies Texas roadhouse, and their sound wasn’t too far removed either. Jennings’ brand of Telecaster country kicks with a throwback honky-tonk ease, but never falls into an anachronistic homage as he sweeps through styles.
Opening with “Flyin’” from this year’s Dave Cobb-produced debut LP Lead You Home, the local songwriter leaned into his heavy, quaking drawl that cut as sharp as his jawline. “Good While It Lasted” licked with a touch of Dale Watson’s dance floor heartache, and his cover of John Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind” hit with a sweet afternoon nostalgia, though Jennings also leaned frequently into an early Merle Haggard Bakersfield sound with his fiddle, keys, and steel guitar combo.
Jennings worked a number of unreleased tunes into the 11-song, 45-minute set, most notably the ripping “Rhinestone L.A. Cowboy,” but his closing triptych brought the biggest crowd reaction: the more contemporary indie country flair of “Head Spinning,” the powerful pull of “I Will Lead You Home,” and closing whistling range ballad “Ride On.” It all made for a compelling case that ACL Fest still has a place for both kinds of music: Country and Western. – Doug Freeman
Welcome to Suki Waterhouse’s Loveland
British starlet Suki Waterhouse graduated to the T-Mobile stage after her last ACL appearance in 2023 and proved well beyond measure that the slot was hers for the taking. She commanded the stage with the vibrant prowess of a retro rock-pop femme fatale. Theatricality coursed through the 50-minute set, which kicked off with a voicemail from the songstress as she frantically rummaged through her wardrobe backstage, finally pulling out a gold arrow and holding it up with a relieved grin. When she finally emerged, she plunged the arrow into her chest, then proudly raised it overhead. From there, the siren bounded across the stage in a tiger-print leotard and plaid puff sleeves, bringing an infectious fervor to songs like the brass-heavy “OMG” and “Back in Love.” Before the latter, she welcomed the crowd to “Loveland,” asking if ACL was ready to “fall back in love.” Her cover of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” offered her Eighties fantasy another moment to shine, and “Dream Woman” gave her crystalline vocals room to build toward a towering crescendo. For all the spectacle, Waterhouse still managed to make the stage feel intimate. She brought “Good Looking” to the barricade, singing directly to fans before dropping to her knees during “Weirdo” to serenade a laptop. She closed by climbing her platform and falling backward into the arms of a stagehand, ending her Loveland fantasy with one final dramatic flourish. – Miranda Garza
Young Miko Cements Her Star Power
Thousands of hips were stirred into action the second Young Miko stepped onto the American Express stage. From the barricade to the back of the crowd, fans went word-for-word with the Puerto Rican rapper, proclaiming her bad girl type on “Likey Likey” and expanding that definition to all women of every hair color and body type on “Lisa,” and other favorites.
Backed by a live band and a roving crew of dancers, the songwriter took on rock star status when racing guitars and thundering drums amplified her blend of trap and reggaeton, and adopted a rap princess attitude when expertly performing extensive choreography alongside her dancer posse. Near the end of the 50-minute set, shortened by mud delays, the group reenacted the opening sequence of the “BIAF <3” music video on a white bench, though the clouds overhead didn’t burst to recreate the short’s ending. Taking the stage solo for tracks like “Chulo pt. 2” and “Esa nena,” the former football player and tattoo artist proved to have more than enough charisma to hold the crowd’s attention all on her own. She closed with “WASSUP,” a swaggering Hey Mamas anthem that samples Lil Wayne and Static Major’s “Lollipop.”
The biggest and latest-scheduled rapper on this year’s lineup, Young Miko delivered a headliner-caliber performance with a pre-5pm start time. Fans weren’t duped by the move – many who ran to the stage early in the day breathlessly relayed their excitement for the artist – but newcomers will soon be wishing for a reprise. – Caroline Drew
Rodrigo y Gabriela’s Six-String Serenades
When Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero broke out in 2006 with their eponymous third album, the CDMX acoustic guitar duo crystalized certain six-string truths. Apocalyptica proved Metallica’s universality across genres, but Rodrigo y Gabriela wrote that same material into a bigger book. Late Saturday afternoon in a brimming Tito’s Tent, the fire-n-ice dyad marked two expansive decades serenading A-town. A little grayer (him) but bouncier even (her), R&G did what they do singularly: tame rowdy audiences with 12 strings of expansive boundary pushing.
The flamenco strums, finger picking, and percussive beating on wood layered into a veritable flurry of styles and modalities. Last month’s winner OurHome beats (and claps) out a modern classicism not unlike the Gipsy Kings before them, both acts blazing proof that axes chop a greater efficiency sans singers. “Muchas gracias,” from Quintero, made for most of the set’s small talk, with new stunner “Somos Como Tú” stripped of its studio counterpart’s gripping vocalizations yet hearty nonetheless. “Akatsuki,” “Monster,” and the title track alternated between a Jekyll & Hyde duality both crushing and caressing. Seldom is so much said wordlessly.
Side by side, Quintero sawing her fretboard and Sanchez pounding on his instrument as if making kindling, Rodrigo y Gabriela ended with improv rather than their introductory practice of turning Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” into a House of Rock hymnal. Just as well, since ACL demonstrated they, too, now dwell there amongst the gods. – Raoul Hernandez
Bleachers Race Down E Street
A few weeks ago, Bruce Springsteen joined Bleachers onstage at Asbury Park in New Jersey to play their 2020 collaboration “Chinatown.” If Saturday evening’s ACL set is any indication, the Boss should have felt right at home with Jack Antonoff’s crew. The sextet ripped with all the energy of the E Street Band as Bleachers rallied the T-Mobile stage into a frenzy, braced most notably by the dual sax blast of Evan Smith and Zem Audu.
Opening with the pulsing fuzz of “sideways” from this year’s everyone for ten minutes LP, Antonoff climbed around the stage setup like a madcap recording studio, immediately setting the anthemic tone that the outfit maintained through their hourlong, 14-song set. The super producer dripped sweat ripping with a rabid, chaotic energy through “Jesus Is Dead” and “dirty wedding dress,” while the saxmen faced off for “Don’t Go Dark.”
The high point may have come in contrast though, as the band sat down behind Antonoff for an acoustic version of his first single, 2014’s “I Wanna Get Better,” bringing the crowd to a hush except for the soft singing along. Likewise, the songwriter’s father joined on guitar for “How Dare You Want More,” and “Rollercoaster” and “Don’t Take the Money” reignited with a touch of the National’s darker brooding edge.
By the time the band reprised “I Wanna Get Better” with the full kinetic production and cathartic closer “Stop Making This Hurt,” Bleachers had transformed the muddy field into a sweaty Saturday night New Jersey club that Springsteen would appreciate. – Doug Freeman
Lykke Li’s Mystic Art-Pop Shines
Lykke Li may have marketed May’s The Afterparty as her final album, but “I said that when I was drunk at my own listening party,” she admitted to Wonderland Magazine recently. “I can assure you that it’s not.” Spiritual and shrouded in light mystery, Saturday night’s tour through the Swedish songwriter’s catalog took on the air of a career retrospective anyway.
Openers “I Never Learn” and “No Rest for the Wicked” mirrored Li’s 2014 effort I Never Learn before “Lucky Again” and “Happy Now” shot us back to this year’s glistening, melancholy Afterparty. “If you have some weed, this is the time,” said the lilting vocalist, before bittersweet 2022 ballad “HIGHWAY TO YOUR HEART.” Somewhere along the way, perhaps between cheeky early hit “Little Bit” and iconic Twilight: New Moon depression soundtrack “Possibility,” the artist threw a comically oversized poncho over her hooded leotard, twirling in the smoke and white lights like a more practically caped Stevie Nicks. Just as Li seemingly instructed ACL’s camera crews to avoid close-up shots, the hood stayed on – this was a set of art-pop songcraft (and yes, dancing), not spectacle.
The Snapchat crowd dispersed as Lorde’s headlining performance loomed, but those who stuck around were rewarded with a killer closing trio: “Sadness Is a Blessing,” “Get Some,” and “I Follow Rivers,” all from breakout sophomore LP Wounded Rhymes. Li wrapped five minutes early at 8:25pm, but the bass-booming, tambourine-shaking “Rivers” outro rendered the performance wholly, mystically complete. – Carys Anderson
Lorde, Layer by Layer
When Lorde first played ACL at 17, she was still figuring out how to inhabit the strange, lonely world she had built around herself. Thirteen years later, she returned with Virgin and a live show devoted to pulling that world apart.
She began her 83-minute performance by fastening EKG monitors to her chest and hooking herself up to a heart monitor, immediately turning her body into part of the production. Two box-like platforms became stages, enclosures, and screens; two dancers moved around her with an expressive physicality that felt closer to emotional counterpoint than backup choreography.
Rather than presenting Virgin as a clean break, Lorde folded it into a full arc of her catalog. “Royals,” “Buzzcut Season,” and “The Louvre” shed light on her earlier work, while “Girl, So Confusing” brought her recent Charli xcx collaboration to the stage, offering a splash of playfulness amid an otherwise introspective night.
The set’s most affecting imagery came when past and present versions of the New Zealand artist seemed to occupy the same space. During the aching “Hard Feelings,” a bullseye appeared across her back as her heartbeat pulsed behind her. “Liability” projected footage of her younger self across her body. On “Shapeshifter,” she crouched atop a platform, looking down at the camera below. Each image seemed to ask what remained of the person she was and what it had made of her.
Between cuts, the headliner reflected on the 13 years since she first played the festival, remembering how Austin embraced her when she was an “awkward freak from really far away.” She described the years since as a process of “breaking down the layers, trying to find myself.” That process came into sharp focus during “David,” when a massive flag unfurled over the crowd, its center reading “I DON’T BELONG TO ANYONE” and its edges marked “2013” and “2026.” The singer tore the monitors from her chest before launching into “Ribs,” descending to the barricade to sing among front-row devotees. Fireworks erupted overhead, a fittingly grand finale to a production that found its power in intimacy. – Miranda Garza
