ACL Fest Highlights: Tyler, the Creator and More Thrill on Day 3

Was that tremor you felt heavy bass rumbling the Great Lawn at Zilker Party or the thumping of your ecstatic heart? Both. Tyler, the Creator made the EARFQUAKE on day three of Austin City Limits Music Festival after Chappell Roan shook the field with one of the biggest crowds we've ever seen at the fest.

Here are the 7 best things we saw at ACL Fest on Sunday.

Chappell Roan

White and red rhinestone chaps. Like Westward Expansion, half of Austin came out to see Chappell Roan in a great migration saddled up on pink ponies instead of mustangs. Pink cowboy hats galore, too. She teased a new song, everyone did the “HOT TO GO!” dance, and the set was a definite “femininomenon.” — Mars Salazar

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Sturgill Simpson

Sturgill Simpson proved he's the best guitar player at ACL. Ditto his side man, slide-guitar translator Laur Joamets.

The country guys delivered the best set at the festival by miles Sunday night at Zilker. A banter-free breakdown of overpowering craft — for everyone. Even his cover of ‘80s hit “The Promise” added twinkling keys and slide solos and boiled with emotion.

On a day where buzzy indie rock stars like Bakar sang karaoke with no band, and everyone pandered to this overrated city with fashion, Simpson just let that thang talk. His red Gretsch, that is. — Ramon Ramirez

Tyler, the Creator

All gas, no breaks for Tyler, the Creator’s booty-shaking headline set at the American Express stage. Landing on an enormous desert plateau set, the rapper ran through his hardcore rap hits with precision. A stark departure from the previous set, Chappell Roan, the vibe flipped to rap nasty real quick when the demons came out at night and the pink ponies went galloping away. — Mars Salazar

Kehlani

Real talk: I was a little worried about Kehlani. She was programmed on the opposite side of the field from both festival supernova Chappell Roan and the artist whose fan base was in most natural alignment with her own, Tyler, the Creator. An hour before go time, only a sparse scattering of fans gathered around her stage. But halfway through Chappell's set, a steady stream of melanated fest-goers abandoned the Pink Pony Club in search of steamy R&B.

How steamy was it? When Kehlani's dance team wasn't bringing the stage to life with acrobatic flair, they wound their bodies suggestively. On the track "8," which is about neither mathematics or culinary delights, the simulated seduction was so graphic your correspondent (who has seen some things) blushed.

But the set wasn't just about nasty dancing. Kehlani's live band rocked much harder than you'd expect an R&B/pop act to. On the bridge of "Distraction" she arched her back, leaning on her guitarist as he screeched under her crushed velvet vocal temptation. Friends, there was a guitar vs. keytar duel. Kehlani reminded us that the last time she played the fest was an early afternoon set in 2016. She's clearly matured into a late night act. — Deborah Sengupta Stith

That Mexican OT

Few were more interesting at ACL 2024 — a festival bill built on country and pop — than stellar Houston rapper That Mexican OT.

No one represented harder or exuded more irrational confidence. No one rapped about talking to “white girls from Austin” with more gusto. No one performed better: Rocking green Crocs, a mullet, and wild tats, the rapper born Virgil Gazca doubled-timed an ocean of word soup atop the T-Mobile stage on Sunday.

“I’ve been rapping since I was 4 years old. At this point I’m 25. I live and breathe this,” he said.

He came out to “O! T!” chants as his DJ spun “Man In the Box” by Alice In Chains, calling him the “Lone Star Luchador.”

He’d freestyle over classic rap beats with the Jedi touch of Lil Flip in his Swisha House era. His couplets were either super verbose (hence the “Texas Technician” nickname) or elegantly direct: “Smile on my face cuz I just beat my case:”

Or just drop some evocative and romantic lyrics: “She likes the way I roll my weed up.”

The rapper offered representation, too, for a weird class of Texans who grew up loving problematic lyrics and ditching class to freestyle into a Sonic slushy in the back of a Chevy Lumina. Where you had to carry your car stereo’s face in your pocket to avoid theft.

“Where my Mexicans at baby? If y’all brown and y’all proud to be Mexicans let me hear some noise?” he said.

Crockett High School stand up.  — Ramon Ramirez

Orville Peck

“He almost sounds like Johnny Cash. He’s got it down,” a shirtless dude said between Honda stage songs. He’s right—the country star opines with a golden baritone.

“What’s a boy to do? Hit the road with a dollar or two? Haunted by what he knows he can’t do?” he sang on “No Glory In the West.”

That’s great writing without the guy’s newsworthy backstory. Got me in my feelings, welling up. Intentional tears.

He told ACL that the first rule of an Orville Peck concert is, “If at any point you feel like crying, you have to cry.”

We took him up on that offer more than once. — Ramon Ramirez

Empress Of

“I see we got the Pink Pony Club here,” Honduran-American singer Lorely Rodriguez observed, christening Sunday’s American Express stage action.

She meant there were about three dozen pink hats camped early for Chappell Roan.

Rodriguez goes by Empress Of and is a longtime electro pop blog favorite who has sang on all sorts of cool songs by producers like Dom Dolla and Jungle.

“I want a Latine person to cook for me and take me to the movies,” she sang on “Femenine.” It’s a celebration of desires — and gender neutrality.

So fit right in, singing thumping club bangers and owning the catwalk.

“You guys are so cute. I need a pink hat,” she said. “I feel very warm and accepted.”

Consider the Chappell stans won over. — Ramon Ramirez