The first day of the festival left us beyond excited to see what the rest of the weekend would hold, and Day 2 did not disappoint. The gates for Saturday opened at 11am and fans made sure they showed up early to catch some of the incredible acts at the beginning of the festival. Some of the earlier acts included Joe P, Jordy (who we had the opportunity to do portraits with), The Tiarras, Geese and even Nico Vega. There was someone for everyone to see no matter what their music taste was.
We continued visiting the festival amenities and always discovered something new to do. T-Mobile had an exclusive lounge to attendees who had the provided where they had a private bar, side stage viewing and even had the ability to make customized bandanas. American Express also had special card member experiences for the festival attendees. Those who had the American Express card were able to get special mystery merch, had a special cardmember line, had side stage access and a special experience curated by AMEX. ACL had plenty of special lounges that elevated the festival experience.
As the day went on, the artists got bigger and bigger. Teddy Swims took the Honda stage at 4:10pm and expressed his excitement in playing at the festival. He played some of his songs which included “911”, “Apple Juice” and even the hit song “Lose Control”. At 5pm attendees had to make a choice between which artists to see. Between Remi Wolf, Wave to Earth, Braxton Keith and Hermanos Gutierrez the choice was not easy, these are all incredible acts.
Benson Boone took the Honda stage at 6pm and his performance was beyond incredible. From backflips, to vocal ranges, to stage presence, Benson is the definition of a popstar. He had everyone’s attention on him at all times and made sure to interact with the crowd as much as possible. Some of the songs he performed included “Beautiful Things”, “Slow It Down” and even “Someone to Love”. Fans also managed to catch Houston trio Khruangbin at the AMEX stage where they performed to an incredible sized crowd.
7pm also had one of the toughest artists to choose from, between Jungle, Vince Staples and Reneé Rapp almost everyone had a hard time choosing who to go to. We managed to walk by each of their sets and their crowd sizes were beyond compare, our personal favorite was Reneé Rapp.
The last headliners of the night were Pretty Lights and Dua Lipa, each drawing some of the largest crowds I’ve seen at the main stages. We ended the night watching Dua Lipa perform one of her very few American shows of the year at the AMEX stage. Her set opened with “Training Season”, and as soon as she popped up on stage, the entire crowd cheered in excitement. She performed songs from her entire discography such as “One Kiss”, “Illusion”, and “Levitating”. During “Be the One” she put on a custom Texas Longhorns jersey following the team’s win earlier in the day, everyone was cheering her on. Her set finished with three of her most popular songs “Physical”, “Don’t Start Now” and “Houdini”, followed by fireworks displaying across the stage and that concluded the second day of the festival.
DUA LIPA
BENSON BOONE
RENEÉ RAPP
REMI WOLF
TEDDY SWIMS
EMEI
LOLA YOUNG
JORDY
Words by Michael Perea | Photos by Michael Perea and C3 Photographers