After a few early switcheroos – namely, the last-minute dropout of Kali Uchis from both weekends and major delays to Kendrick Lamar’s set – the first weekend of ACL Fest rolled on. Biggest takeaway? The rare instance of pleasant fall weather. Read up on the Chronicle team’s standout performances below, most of which return for round two this Friday through Sunday. While the 1975 sub in for Shania Twain’s headlining spot, ACL’s second weekend adds Ethel Cain, M83, Tegan & Sara, and Sudan Archives. Find all of our highlights, and full versions of the Kendrick Lamar and Shania Twain reviews, at austinchronicle.com/acl.
Kendrick Lamar’s Perfect ACL Decade Snags
Kendrick Lamar has been the defining artist of ACL Fest’s past decade. In 2013, back when hip-hop was scarcely represented in Zilker Park, the young Compton rapper stole the show on a side stage – drawing a headliner-sized crowd as he stoically performed cuts from the previous year’s instant classic good kid, m.A.A.d city. At the end of that breakout performance, he stared at the audience and repeated: “I will be back. I will be back. I. Will. Be. Back.”
That proved true as he returned to headline the festival in 2016 on the heels of his rap/jazz/funk/poetry masterwork To Pimp a Butterfly. By that time, his stage presence was so commanding that I imagined it akin to witnessing Bob Marley in the Seventies. Between songs, he’d speak his mind on something then say, “Do you agree?” and the audience would affirm their asses off. My wrap of that week risked hyperbole: “Kendrick Lamar will go down alongside Al Green (2006) and Stevie Wonder (2011) as one of the best headliners in ACL history.”
So, with Lamar set for a third triumphant appearance at the festival on Friday, what could possibly go wrong? The answer: “Plane issues.”
The 65-minute delay only primed the tens of thousands of spectators for a momentous release when Lamar’s voice came over the speakers, singing the childlike intro of “N95” from 2022’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. After explaining that there had been an emergency issue with the plane he was flying on, Lamar addressed the elephant in the park: “I heard y’all have a curfew … I told them they’d have to shut off my mic.” That drew huge applause, though it also proved prescient when eventually organizers did exactly that.
In short time, though, Lamar delivered. He was unrattled and on point in an outpouring of 11 truncated songs over 31 minutes that was generally satisfying as a condensed, hit-heavy version of his festival set. “King Kunta,” “DNA.,” and “Humble.” all resonated. Meanwhile, there was a strange thrill in seeing the big red numbers of a digital clock tick behind him onstage, knowing the plug could be pulled at any moment and any song could be the last.
That time came at 10:15pm. He was already a minute into standard closer “Alright” when the volume in the main speakers abruptly faded, though he still had sound in his monitors so he kept performing – eventually realizing no one could hear him. After many fans booed or chanted, “Fuck ACL,” they eventually sang along loudly to the anthem’s refrain: “We gon’ be alright! We gon’ be alright! We gon’ be alright!” – Kevin Curtin
Maggie Rogers’ Every-Age Dance Confessional
Maggie Rogers can’t stop singing. A songwriter skipping her way to the top with every dance confessional, her bottomless bag of ooo‘s and woo‘s and who‘s proved the glue to the former Maryland prodigy’s hourlong lasso on the headlining Honda stage Friday at dusk. Ricocheting in and out of the dozen songs pulled from her major label conversions, 2019’s Heard It in a Past Life and 2022 repeater Surrender, her wordless vocalizing pinged and popped at every point. The 29-year-old phenom played Downtown churches in a buzzing South by Southwest 2017 but returned an every-age dancing queen, sporting a beachy bleaching and nape-of-the-neck shag complimenting hoop earrings straight off of Linda Ronstadt in 1978. Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Stevie Nicks: She emoted bright bouncy hooks and crying melodies like Christine McVie leading Daisy Jones & the Six. “I’m so excited to be at ACL,” she gushed. “I came here as a sophomore in college and saw Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards, who completely changed my life.” Hear the connection in the metallic live bomp of second delivery “Want Want” and New Wave banger “Shatter,” both Surrender workouts. “I don’t know about you, but I came here to dance,” she announced, lighting into Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me).” Wallflowers welcome. – Raoul Hernandez
Spitting Greatness With Little Simz
“ACL, I need you to understand that you’re witnessing greatness. I don’t say that with arrogance, I say that with confidence,” Little Simz announced halfway through her uplifting Friday golden hour set. “And if I’m great, you’re great.” Embodying that message, she stepped onto the T-Mobile stage in an oversized Men in Black outfit, sunglasses included. The London wordsmith’s incomparable flow drew its own path through the gospel-inspired “Silhouette,” while she became the preacher with “Introvert,” spitting stately while talking with her hands. Music frequently cut out to give Simz’s annunciation the space to shine a capella. Hardly breaking – save for an interlude musical conversation between the guitarist and bassist – she returned to the stage somehow even more revived to glide into the deceptively simple “Gorilla” and wiggle through the Afrobeat groove of “Point and Kill.” During the latter, the rapper pulled out a stark white guitar, fingerpicking alongside her nonstop vocals. Simz’s entrancing skills were never really in question, but her live demonstration dispelled any contesters and likely sparked a few converts. – Laiken Neumann
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 on Saturday, 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
Shania Twain Has a Little Fun, Joins Foo Fighters Onstage
Matching her auspiciously titled sixth studio album, Shania Twain’s Queen of Me tour finally galloped through Austin and into Zilker Park. The singer’s boisterous Saturday night ACL crowd donned bedazzled boots, oversized fans, and pink cowboy hats in celebration of the pop-country queen’s Honda stage headline. Rising from a dense cloud of lavender mist, Twain emerged in a Little Mermaid-esque wig and a rhinestoned silver two-piece to ear-splitting applause.
The sing-and-dance-alongs arrived in head-spinning succession. The instantly recognizable opening rockabilly guitar riff for “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!” reaffirmed the chart-topper’s country chops, while the stomp-and-holler backbeat of “Any Man of Mine” shook the few nonmoving pairs of feet to action. Performing hip-shaking choreography against a backdrop of neon-tinted desertscapes, Twain leaned heavily into contemporary country aesthetics also utilized by Texan superstars like Beyoncé and Kacey Musgraves – and clearly beloved by queer fans.
The latter half of Twain’s set was sent topsy-turvy when the performer inexplicably disappeared offstage for large portions of 2023 Queen of Me track “Number One,” revealing the presence of a strong backing track. Despite vocal miscues, Twain’s audience remained loyal. As one of my neighbors succinctly summarized: “She is lip-syncing, but I don’t even care!”
Descending from a raised pop star platform to a front-and-center seat, Twain quickly regained control with dreamy ballad “Forever and for Always,” strumming sweet chords on her six-string amidst a sea of phone flashlights. Along with enduring acoustic anthem “You’re Still the One,” Twain’s stripped-down moments best showcased her timeless yearning vocals.
After a showstopping encore of “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” Twain exited the ACL stage in a hurry. After some initial groans of disappointment, her audience hustled across Zilker to the American Express stage, where Twain joined co-headliners Foo Fighters for a rousing performance of “Best of You.” – Genevieve Wood
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 tour, 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 Morissette’s 49-year-old peers stood a vast horde of tweenage 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 redlined 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 the Beatles on “Nothing at All,” and even the Beastie Boys (“Sabotage”). B&W screenshots 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
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Leave Heads Rolling
Donning a Technicolor jumpsuit engulfed by a shimmering red cape like an Elton John angel, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O elevated the theatrics that put the New York City avant-punk-turned-electronic rockers on the map 20 years ago. Starry synth apocalypse “Spitting off the Edge of the World,” from the trio’s 2022 return Cool It Down, warmed up the Honda stage before the bandleader shot water into the air in literal spit takes on Sunday. Following her own lyrical directions on “Cheated Hearts,” the vocalist removed her reflective sunglasses and cape before going full daredevil and swallowing the microphone. Massive inflatable eyeballs stage-dived for the leather-laden electro-pop of “Zero,” waking a relatively dull audience (save for die-hards sprinkled throughout). Still, Karen O declared, “Love is in the air tonight, Austin,” ahead of “Lovebomb.” When she softly cooed, “Come close,” an entranced crowd obliged. Fever to Tell favorite “Y Control” injected guitarist Nick Zinner’s rhythm into sonic shrill, while the singer dedicated “Maps” to crisp drummer Brian Chase’s family, who happened to be in the audience. Ultimately standing statuesque at the stage’s closest possible edge, she brandished the mic with tinsel-fringed red gloves as a natural extension of her body. “Heads Will Roll” closed the 11-song set, somehow morphing 7pm Zilker Park into a dance club as soon as O screeched, “UH-OH!” God is a woman, and her name is Karen O. – Laiken Neumann
Kevin Kaarl Brings Paris Texas to ACL
On an every-hundred-years weekend of unheard-of Texas weather, Kevin Kaarl transfixed for the full 60 minutes on the American Express stage. As did the Mexican troubadour’s twin brother, Bryan, on keyboards and the rest of his backing quartet, all dressed in matching Fifties chic on Sunday – save for the bandleader in a bright red shirt. Kaarl delivered on that accent, too. Plying the Spanish dream-folk of last year’s sophomore home run Paris Texas, about a man suspiciously like both Kaarl and Harry Dean Stanton who ventures existentially on a journey of self-rediscovery, the bandleader strummed an acoustic as his sibling sang and blew trumpet, the guitarist pulled out an occasional banjo, and the rhythm section set a sun-kissed tempo: clip-clop, clip-clop. “Que te Vas,” “Abrazado a Ti” from 2019’s San Lucas, and “On My Mood” (“I wrote it in English so I wouldn’t have to translate it”) all romanced low and authentic, almost Leonard Cohen-esque in their disarming directness and relative monotone. Simple and effective synth leads helped nudge Paris Texas opener “Como me Encanta” into a slight tempo uptick that landed just south of Beck. I suggest a double bill of Kaarl & Ko. with haunting Swiss Latin SXSW sibling duo Hermanos Gutiérrez. – Raoul Hernandez
The Breeders’ Casual Cool Wins the Crowd
The (newly renamed) IHG stage found Kim Deal repping Star Trek‘s Jean-Luc Picard on her shirt, twin Kelley matching in jeans and a tee, and bassist Josephine Wiggs under a trucker hat. With genuine admiration for 58-year-old Shania Twain’s metallics last night, it felt rare to see sixtysomething women playing ACL Fest without glamour as a central element. Kim Deal contextualized the refreshing alt-rock blast, part of Last Splash 30th anniversary celebrations: “We came from Ohio.” An hour slot didn’t allow for the tour’s full-album run, but the live fivepiece hit nine Last Splash songs in a charismatic, catalog-spanning set. Drummer Jim Macpherson and techs worked out sound kinks in the “New Year” kickoff, while an added violinist/third guitarist stepped up for the swoony strings of “Drivin’ on 9.” As Kim started an upbeat sugar-rush run with “Saints,” her sister Kelley yelled out, “Oh! Wrong song,” and clomped on a pedal. Such whimsical near-misses, generally caused by the lead guitarist waving to fans, pushed tweaks on Kim’s end, too, like a casual dash through “Catch him if you can” on “Invisible Man.” Kelley’s crowd interplay will take the Nineties essentials far on upcoming dates opening for 20-year-old phenom Olivia Rodrigo, sure to unlock next-gen listeners. While bassist Wiggs’ steely cool stood apart from the hijinks, as the rest of the band walked off, she already had a front-rower picked out for her set list. – Rachel Rascoe
This article appears in October 13 • 2023.
