Austin City Limits Festival 2024 Guide

This story has been updated to correct a punctuation mistake in a headline.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival kicks off in Zilker Park on Friday at noon. Over three days, 147 acts will perform on eight music stages throughout the park. While you may already have a good idea of which headliners you want to see, what about the less-known acts? Your friends at Team Statesman have been combing through the ACL schedule in search of new favorite bands. Here are our hourly picks for each day of the festival.

What to see Friday at ACL Fest

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2 p.m. Sir Chloe (T-Mobile): Indie rock from Vermont that infuses angsty croons with electrifying hooks. Their 2020 album “Party Favors” is the quintessential soundtrack for pleading youth. The band transcends into radical acceptance on 2023's “I Am The Dog.”

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3:10 p.m. Mannequin Pussy (Miller Lite): Philly punk, four-piece Mannequin Pussy produces biting ballads with abrasive jabs softened by moments of mellow. Their fourth studio album “I Got Heaven” was released in May 2024 to critical praise. The album was the first release on the band’s own label, Romantic Records, after they regained rights to master tracks from previous label Tiny Engines in 2023.

5:10 p.m. Dexter and the Moonrocks (BMI): Hailing from Abilene, the quartet falls heavy into the alt-rock category, but inflections in singer James Tuffs' voice are distinctly southern country. The band’s Spotify tagline? “Our entire lives we dreamed of being pool cleaners, but we guess this will work.”

6:10 p.m. Foster the People (Honda): It feels like Foster the People has been around forever, but really, the band formed in 2009. They shot into the mainstream one year later with debut single, “Pumped Up Kicks," written by lead Mark Foster, who was working as a commercial jingle writer. Four albums later, their most recent project “Paradise State of Mind” came out in August 2024. Foster is the only original member of the band left, but the magic remains strong in this nostalgic streak of indie pop.

7:30 p.m. The Marías (T-Mobile): This will be an interesting watch, not just for the spellbinding music, but the recent breakup (not of, but within the band). Singer Maria Zardoya and drummer Josh Conway founded the group as a couple. They recently broke up romantically, yet are still making music together. According to a May 2024 NPR interview, the pair are going for a Gwen and Tony from No Doubt type of dynamic, using the split to spur the next creative chapter in their musical journey. Their 2024 album, “Submarine," is a therapy-informed testament to this transition, dripping with dream pop for the senses.

8:10 p.m. blink-182 (Honda): From classic 1999 album “Enema of the State," to their 2003 self-titled work featuring “I Miss You,” blink-182's fast-paced pop-punk defined a generation at the turn of the millennium. The trio of Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker are bound to blast your face off. Their most recent release was the Sep. 6th deluxe version of their 2023 reunion album “One More Time... .” Prompted by Hoppus’ lymphoma diagnosis in 2021, DeLonge rejoined the band in 2022, seven years after his departure. Back together and stronger than ever, blink-182’s live set is going to be like a reunion with your long-time best friend. The young ones won’t get it, but it will be really special for those who do.

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1:15 p.m. Midnight Navy (Tito’s): My ACL Friday mornings are sacrosanct. Burn the full day of PTO, compete for my secret parking spot, pregame with a lavender latte from the Carpenter Hotel, and watch local legends Asleep At the Wheel christen the weekend. This year I’m incorporating local saxophonist and producer Francisco Jose Rosales into the routine. His woodwind-infused, psych-tinged, deeply groovy ballads are delicately crafted and built to transcend the “background vibes for shopping on South Congress” genre.

1:40 p.m. Katie Pruitt (Miller Lite): The Nashville songwriter is a relative newcomer—debut record “Expectations” is from 2020, and she’s here touring April’s “Mantras”—but her writing is crisp as it is charming. She’ll brag about how she “moved away and unfriended the Jesus freaks” in one breath, then roast her secular friends for assigning meaning to tarot cards in the next.

3:10 p.m. Mannequin Pussy (Miller Lite): The Philadelphia punk band is an excellent Spotify act. Where the algorithm serves up a few tracks and you keep them with you for years across your regular playlists. Then you Shazam “Drunk II” and you’re like “Oh right, I know this song.” Been happening for a while. For me, since 2019’s “Patience,” a fight-or-flight, spark plug of an album. And on this year’s “I Got Heaven,” singer Marisa Dabice finds arresting interiority on ponderous ballads like “I Don’t Know You.”

4:10 p.m. Norah Jones (Honda): Is this Dallas multi-instrumentalist the GOAT Starbucks artist? No diggity. Few have it like Jones, who sold 27 million copies of a jazzy CD that won album of the year and stockpiled Grammys like drive-thru ketchup packets. See you in the pit.

4:30 p.m. Carín León (American Express): Ever since hundreds of kids lined up downtown to watch regional Mexican artists like Christian Nodal and Peso Pluma during SXSW, Austin’s become a trusted hotspot for live Latinx music. Rampant gentrification notwithstanding, our fair city remains 35% Hispanic, so it’s about time. Sonora’s Carín León is a chameleon who specializes in brass-fused corridos and accordion-drenched norteño. He also dabbles in Latin dance subgenres and American pop. Psyched to watch what’s on the menu.

8:10 p.m. Blink-182 (American Express): Mall punk is forever. And the American suburbs are so monolithic and massive that Mark, Tom, and Travis can play the hits in perpetuity now that they’re back. For those who weren’t 16 years old when “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket” hit the Best Buy shelves, this headlining set is a miracle. Tom left and became a frequent podcast guest who’d proselytize about UFOs. Mark faced stage four Lymphoma in 2021. (Travis never deviated from being a once-in-a-generation drummer whose frenetic pace and innate melody elevates Blink beyond sophomoric jokes about grandpa eating too many hot dogs.) Tickets to the 2023 reunion tour at Moody were so in-demand that it was cheaper for me to fly to Edmonton, Canada in order to see it. And yes, it rules; from the opening battle cry of “Anthem Pt. 2” till the final “Well, I guess this is growing up” refrain from “Dammit.”

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12:55 p.m. Asleep at the Wheel (Honda): Real talk: The Austin-iest, Austin City Limits-iest way to start your fest is right here with our local kings of western swing. Not only has the band played every single fest but one (a storm and the birth of a grandbaby contributed to the absence), they appeared on the first episode of the first season of the fest’s namesake TV show. The band will celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Austin City Limits,” the longest-running music television show in history, with Willie Nelson at the Long Center a few days after weekend two of the fest wraps.

1:40 p.m. Mon Rovia (BMI): Afro-Appalachian folk songs about pastoral countrysides, long winding roads to redemption and love so deep it might break you in two hit differently when delivered by a man who was born into war. Once a child soldier in his country’s brutal civil war, the Liberian native has spent his adult life leaning into the healing power of music.

2:45 p.m. Dasha (American Express): I really hope my old colleague Michael Corcoran got to hear the delicious capital city takedown “Austin” before he died. Every time the Nashville-based, Cali native sings the chorus of the undeniable earworm, delirious UT grads and Westlake moms will scream like she just threw us a gratuitous “I love you, Austin” line instead of a hooky sneer at the couch-surfing, loser ex-boyfriend capital of the world. The man who coined the term “Mediocre, Texas” would have chortled.

4:10 p.m. Norah Jones (Honda): As a fellow half-Indian, I’ve always felt culturally obligated to love Norah, even if her jazzy grooves veer perilously close to easy listening. But the way she flexed her piano chops like an honest-to-God, generational talent when she paid tribute to Bobbie Nelson at Willie’s 90th birthday last year gave me a new level of respect for her artistic depth.

6:30 p.m. Leon Bridges (American Express): Soulful sounds that play well on adult contemporary radio are this festival’s bread and butter. Does anyone do that better than the golden-voiced singer from Fort Worth who crooned his way into the national consciousness with heartfelt lyricism drenched in sepia-toned nostalgia? Bridges has passed through many evolutions in his career and his latest release “Leon” is an autobiographical journey through the “streets he knows best” produced by Kacey Musgraves and Maggie Rogers collaborators.

8:30 p.m. Chris Stapleton (Honda): Dust off your “Broken Halos.” It might be hard to come by "Tennessee Whiskey" in Zilker, but no matter. A million karaoke nights have primed your pipes to “Roll the Dice” at the biggest honky tonk singalong in the park.

What to see Saturday at ACL Fest

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12:40 p.m. The Criticals (Honda): Take a chance on the Nashville-based alt-pop duo. Their music is ripe with slick guitar licks and ultra-danceable, funk-infused rhythms. Go listen to “Treat Ya Better” to cement this act as your best choice to start Saturday right.

2:10 p.m. Something Corporate (Honda): Early-2000s rock band Something Corporate announced their first tour in over 20 years in a Feb. 2024 exclusive with Rolling Stone. Vocalist and pianist Andrew McMahon found success with his four solo albums in the band’s hiatus periods, while finding his personal strength as a leukemia survivor who was diagnosed at age 22. He founded the Dear Jack Foundation in 2006, supporting young adult cancer patients and survivors.

2:20 p.m. Eyedress (American Express): Eyedress is Idris Ennolandy Vicuñ

a from the Philippines. Distortion-drenched, soft indie songs “Jealous” and “Romantic Lover” embody the Gen Z sensibility of repressed emotion atop wistful beats. This is a safe bet for stellar tunes. A real sure-fire swing.

5:20 p.m. wave to earth (IHG): Indie rock trio from South Korea, enough said!

6:20 p.m. Kenny Beats (Tito’s): Kenny Beats is an acclaimed hip-hop producer for major artists like Rico Nasty, JPEGMAFIA, Key Glock, IDLES, Joji, FKA Twigs, and Ski Mask the Slump God. In 2022, the 33-year-old dropped his first solo album “Louie” as a tribute to his father who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The album hosts guest vocals from Vince Staples, JPEG MAFIA, Thundercat and Remi Wolf. It led to a feature on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert in 2023.

7:20 p.m. Vince Staples (IHG): Starting off in Tyler, the Creator’s hip hop syndicate Odd Future, Vince Staples (yes, that’s his real name) has forged a successful rap career through his collaborations with Earl Sweatshirt, Mac Miller, and Schoolboy Q. In Feb. 2024, “The Vince Staples Show” premiered as a limited series on Netflix and three months later his sixth album “Dark Times” came out as his final release on Def Jam Records, following his 10-year run with the label.

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11:55 a.m. Godly the Ruler (Miller Lite): “You come from paper. I come from razor blades” this Nigerian-born Chicagoan whispers with aplomb on a techno banger. He’ll sing-rap with nasally, emo intonation like Juice WRLD. He finds sorrowful falsetto on “Call and I’ll Answer.” He raps OK, too. The scouting report on Godly is he’s an internet age weirdo here for an early meltdown.

3:10 p.m. Telescreens (BMI): Twenty years after the Strokes ripped off Lou Reed and became extremely famous, there are scenesters with guitars in the East Village again. You always have to be wary of guys who want to rock by way of old-timey revival. Some of them are very uncool but ultimately harmless like Greta Van Fleet. Others are daring, like Telescreens, in that their idea of rock is more about cool moments and nonchalant cigarette smoking. In order for the music to work, the songs require slick production and memorable choruses, which they have in spades.

3:20 p.m. The Beaches (T-Mobile): With apologies to my co-worker Phil, who Slacked me a live YouTube video by the prog-band Geese, I’m not going to watch a prog-band called Geese this weekend. That’s more of a weekend two wave for me. In fact, I won’t recognize the T-Mobile stage until this slick Toronto rock quartet, think Haim — crisp vocals and perfectly dialed-in new wave production, gets up there and sings oddly specific breakup songs about muses who made their therapist cry.

6:10 p.m. Benson Boone (Honda): I’d like to think I’m an outlaw, much like Benson Boone. Guys like us see the world differently. It’s a frontier. And coloring inside the lines? Sorry partner, I literally cannot. Oh, we’ll love you hard—but only if you let us wander. So will this 22-year-old Cancer, fresh off a big set at the MTV Video Music Awards, wield the moment and its pyrotechnics and deliver a cornerstone set? Taylor Swift called him “ so legit” this summer, after all. The kid was plucked from TikTok onto American Idol, and then turned “Beautiful Things” into a viral snippet on TikTok. Those are two astonishing feats that require talent and charisma. While his extremely basic pop balladry makes Noah Kahan seem like Malcolm X, I can’t wait to see him rise to the occasion.

6:20 p.m. Khruangbin (American Express): You know you’re old when you read the ACL lineup and you’re like “These cats are headliners now? I just saw them at that brewery 12 years ago.” This Houston jam trio has ascended from the drum circle circuit and now boasts enough cache to play at sundown. That’s in part due to the ever-present pop single “Texas Sun” and a relatable chorus from guest singer Leon Bridges. But I think it’s more to do with 2020’s Mordecai, a psychedelic and starry-eyed record that dropped mid-pandemic, when we needed something richly textured on repeat.

8:20 p.m. Dua Lipa (American Express): Twenty years ago, jam nerd Trey Anastasio was an ACL headliner. Without Phish. The festival catered to boomers and college-educated elites whose iPods virtue-signaled their (extremely uniformed) deviation from the mainstream. Today, ACL is a pop-first festival and Dua Lipa is one of the biggest stars in the world. She’s a globetrotter whose myriad hits work everywhere. You’ll be surprised how many of them you’ve internalized.

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11:55 a.m. Obed Padilla (BMI): I get it. An artist you’ve never heard of playing one of ACL’s smallest stages a bleary 55 minutes after gate time is a hard sell. But the Cali lowrider packs a trunk full of horn-laced, Chicano rap bravado (“your girl’s favorite shade of brown” is one of my favorite boasts of the summer), classic hip-hop confessionals and wavy surfside singalongs.

2:05 p.m. Brittany Davis (Tito’s): The keyboardist for Stone Gossard’s Pearl Jam side project Painted Shields describes themself as a “vessel” of sound. Raised in the church, Davis’s soulful debut “Image Issues” draws on gospel, hard funk and cosmic jazz. Davis breaks down the struggles of being Black, non-binary, blind and poor in America with world-weary insight and brutal candor.

3:10 p.m. Say She She (Honda): This year’s mid-afternoon disco break comes equipped with a brand new cover of the Jackson Sisters’ 1976 classic “I Believe in Miracles,” paired with a b-side of the French pop song “C’est Si Bon.” The transatlantic trio weaves tight harmonies into joyous siren songs.

6:20 p.m. Khruangbin (American Express): Chair people rejoice! While it feels lovely to spin in slow circles to the Houston trio’s easy sunset jams, it will feel just as nice to sit down, close your eyes and let your mind follow the sound.

7:10 p.m. Jungle (Miller Light) or 7:20 p.m. Renée Rapp (T Mobile): While I will likely join the crowd of newly-minted Tik-Tok fans breaking it down to “Back On ‘74” with U.K. groove machine Jungle, I am contractually obligated to tell you that the biggest breakout pop star of 2024 who is not named Chappell Roan is playing on the other side of the park.

8:20 p.m. Dua Lipa (American Express): “Training Season” is officially over. It’s been five months since the Albanian- British pop phenom celebrated the release “Radical Optimism” with a double duty host/musical guest gig on “Saturday Night Live,” three and a half months since she left Glastonbury breathless, and a week since she added a new slate of dates to the 2025 Radical Optimism Tour, many of which promptly sold out. If “These Walls” (and our Spotify algorithms) could talk, they’d say we’ve been ready.

What to see Sunday at ACL Fest

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1:30 p.m. West 22nd (Tito’s): Interested in hearing the new young sound coming out of UT Austin’s West Campus? Check out fledgling student band West-22nd, who are making waves among college kids with fresh-faced, boy band indie rock.

2:45 p.m. Flipturn (American Express): Flipturn sounds like the lovechild of The Lumineers’ soft-folk sensibilities and 2010’s indie rock melodies. Vocalist Dillon Basse is a powerhouse of emotional range throughout the band's three EPs which culminated in the powerful album “Shadowglow,” with an accompanying Audiotree Live session, in 2022.

4:25 p.m. Orville Peck (Honda): South African country musician Orville Peck plans to never to show his face publicly, luchador style. Originally the drummer of Canadian punk band Nü Sensae, Peck recently released a cover of Ned Sublette’s “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” with Willie Nelson. This marked the lead single of his 2024 third album “Stampede,” composed of duets from Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Teddy Swims (performing at ACL Fest on Saturday at the Honda stage), and Dripping Springs-formed Midland.

5:45 p.m. Kevin Abstract (IHG): Born in Corpus Christi, Clifford Ian Simpson a.k.a. Kevin Abstract is a rapper and founding member of the acclaimed San Marcos-founded rap collective BROCKHAMPTON, which disbanded in 2022. Since then, he was a consultant on Season 2 of HBO’s “Euphoria” and released his fourth studio album “Blanket” in 2023 through RCA Records.

6:45 p.m. Chappell Roan (American Express): Obviously. Chappell Roan has been cemented as the rising star of the moment. She's gone viral many times over. With the “HOT TO GO!” dance sweeping social media, she pulled the largest daytime crowd at Lollapalooza in early August. Hype surrounds what onstage outfit she will choose for her Lone Star State performance, with hopes that it’s western themed. Hype also surrounds the performance itself. My advice: get a spot early and plan to stay a while. That crowd will be as thick as a Dairy Queen blizzard and won’t budge for hours as Chappell preludes the headline rapper.

8:45 p.m. Tyler, the Creator (American Express): Tyler, the Creator is a bona fide entertainment mogul: the Cali-born rapper founded his own clothing brand (GOLF WANG) in 2011, starred in his own TV show (Loiter Squad) with his crew from 2012 to 2014, and created his own rap ensemble (Odd Future) in 2011, that morphed into a record label. He is about to make his silver screen debut in a Safdie-directed A24 film alongside Timothée Chalamet and Gwenyth Paltrow. Oh yeah—and he also makes music: six critically acclaimed studio albums, one EP, one mixtape, and 32 singles. At 33 years old, @feliciathegoat is a cultural phenomenon, shaping the style and sound of this generation. This is a coveted chance to catch Tyler, the Creator live, considering his performances at Chicago’s Lollapalooza and San Francisco’s Outside Lands were canceled due to a busy schedule.

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3:25 p.m. Vlad Holiday (BMI): The veteran New York songwriter and former singer of indie band Born Cages is thriving in solo mode. His new forlorn single “I Don’t Wanna Party Anymore” features former ACL headliner, Kacey Musgraves. He can croon over reverb better than most indie sleaze frontmen.

3:45 p.m. Bakar (T-Mobile): I read a blog in late 2023 about Bakar single “Right Here, For Now.” When I shared year-end lists with friends, this London singer was the only throughline. The short guitar pop song is snappy, romantic, fuzzy. The cymbals are perfectly recorded. The lyrics are playful but stoic. And you’re telling me he’s got other songs? Let’s go watch him respond to the buzz.

5:45 p.m. That Mexican OT (T-Mobile): Let’s hear it for 25-year-old rapper Virgil René Gazca, here for a victory lap. The double-timing Texas original from Bay City isn’t just a Chingo Bling-esque character here to be outlandish in a cowboy hat and grill. He’s a tongue-twisting rapper who can go bar-for-bar with most Houston legends. And has.

6:45 p.m. Chappell Roan (American Express): The pop megastar weaves rock elements from Fleetwood Mac, mid-2000s emo, Toni Basil’s “Mickey,” Jack Antonoff’s synth work on Taylor Swift’s “Midnights,” and a gushing, bratty heart. This has made the 26-year-old artist born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz bigger than ACL. They play “HOT TO GO” at Longhorn football games now. Its infectious choreography and undeniable pop alchemy jolt UT’s lifeless September blowouts into action. And as I write this, people on the internet are mad at her for not endorsing a presidential candidate. It’s her moment, we’re just lucky to have a wristband.

8:25 p.m. Sturgill Simpson (Honda): I love that the outlaw country singer is vocal and thorny.