Austin City Limits Music Festival returned another year at Zilker Park to provide attendees two incredible weekends full of music, art and food – there is something for every attendee to do!
The first act of the day that we caught was Nessa Barrett. Her soothing voice enchanted those in attendance, she performed songs such as “club heaven”, “die first” and “i hope ur miserable until ur dead”. The next act of the day was the one and only Ethel Cain at the IHG stage. Ethel performed songs from “American Teenager” to “Crush”. During a moment in her set she came down into the crowd and sang amongst fans, the joy in their faces showed how much the singer meant to them, it’s going to be a moment they will remember for the rest of their lives. Attendees could also be found watching Abraham Alexander or Breland during this time – there were so many great sets early in the day.
As we walked to the next set we could see attendees enjoying a variation of activities. There were fans lined up at the Hulu House and Coke Studio, some were taking pictures at the iconic ACL flags and others were at ACL eats getting food and snacks. We arrived at the Honda stage to catch English singer Raye perform – and she was amazing. The screens on the stage displayed blue curtains followed by the singers name across the screens, slowly the band started coming out on stage followed by Raye. The set opened with “Oscar Winning Tears.” and her vocals blew everyone away. She touched on subjects such as addiction, abuse and even what goes on in the music industry behind the scenes, she had everyone captivated. Songs performed included “The Thrill Is Gone.”, “Ice Cream Man.” and “Escapism.”. During the next block of artists attendees had to choose between four incredible sets, which included: D4VD, The Moss, The Teskey Brothers and Glorilla, ACL truly has one of the most diverse lineups.
We returned to the Honda stage to watch the one and only Maggie Rogers. The set opened with “Overdrive” followed by “Want Want” and “Love You for a Long Time”. Seeing Rogers live is a magical experience, she puts her all into her set, from her vocals to her incredible guitar skills – she is a force to be reckoned with. She performed many fan favorite songs such as “Say It” and “Alaska” – she even covered “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” by Whitney Houston! We went over to the Miller Lite stage to watch Portugal The Man. Before their set started they allowed a group of indigenous students from UT to come on stage and talk about the indigenous community and the land in Austin, giving them a voice to be heard. The band then took the stage and performed for the crowd.
We finished the night with two incredible acts. We first caught The Lumineers at the Honda stage. The band came on stage and fans cheered in excitement – one of the first songs in the set was fan favorite “Ho Hey”, everyone immediately sang in unison and gave attendees an idea of how great their set was going to be. We walked over to the American Express stage where we watched Kendrick Lamar take over. Everyone in the crowd was rapping along as he performed “Swimming Pools (Drank)”,“LOYALTY”, and “HUMBLE”. These two acts were a great way to end the first day of the festival.
THE LUMINEERS
MAGGIE ROGERS
RAYE
ETHEL CAIN
ABRAHAM ALEXANDER
NESSA BARRETT
Photos + Review by Michael Perea | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!