Austin City Limits Music Festival 2024: Weekend Two, Friday Highlights

Day one of weekend two of Austin City Limits Music Festival 2024 is underway. Artists performing this Friday who weren't with us last week include country artist Mickey Guyton, old school ATL rapper Jeezy, and electro-pop sensation Santigold.

Here are the six best things we saw at ACL Fest on Friday of weekend one that will be back this week.

Chris Stapleton

Chris Stapleton transformed ACL into Stagecoach with enormous, twangy hooks and a powerful southern voice reminiscent of Trent Lott. He sings with the intensity of a wolf picking apart a carcass—and with striking interiority. "If you want a cowboy on a white horse baby, well, ‘I ain’t there yet. No, I ain’t there yet.'" — Ramon Ramirez

Country titan Chris Stapleton brought Stagecoach sass, soulful barnburners to ACL Fest

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Blink-182

The pop-punk powerhouse trio brought the house down with fireworks, fireballs, aliens, and a celebrity sighting. The crowd went wild for new songs and bonafide classics, a set so good that Tom DeLonge teared up at the end. — Mars Salazar

At ACL Fest, ever bratty blink-182 partied with Jared Padalecki, joked about sex and UFOS

Foster the People

Mark Foster brought swagger to the Honda stage at sunset. Clad in ethereal off-white, every robotic plea Foster breathed into the mic was a sermon to the pulsing crowd. “It’s so good to be here, it’s been seven years. There were many mountains we climbed to get here, and I’m sure you have climbed many mountains too,” Foster said. Playing old hits and tracks off 2024 album “Paradise State of Mind,” Foster the People cultivated a groovy, hip-swaying vibe. “Sit Next to Me” and “Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)” were familiar crowd favorites, and beach balls flew through the air.

“Being up here, I think about how lucky we are. I think about all the artists just getting a start,” Foster said to the crowd. “Support your local artists, support your local venues. It’s important that we maintain hope, kindness, love, and stay together through all of this.”

The set concluded with “Pumped Up Kicks.” Voices echoed the lyrics back to the stage in a moment of beautiful unity juxtaposed with the song’s violent themes. — Mars Salazar

Carín León

Carín León feels right at home in Texas. The Mexican regional star is known for her soulful and vast vocal range blended with choppy guitars and booming horns. León’s distinctive vocal sound is heavy and smooth, similar to American R&B, soul, and country, rather than norteño or banda. She’s a master of the “come closer, nah go away” ballad (“Ojos Cerrados,” “El Tóxico”), getting a crowd excited, then dancing, then moody. Plus, she ended her Mexican-flag waving, Victoria-sipping set with “Tennessee Whiskey.” Pero bien Country ese primo sonorense. Man, does he fit in. — Emiliano Tahui Gomez

Dasha

The backstabbing bestie kiss-off "Ain't No Friend of Mine" was a high point in the country upstart’s set, but "Austin," — "the song that changed my life," Dasha said — was a real ACL Fest moment for the books. As the Nashville singer-songwriter stomped the stage in statement boots, nearly a dozen muscle-bound dancers took the stage behind her to recreate her viral TikTok dance. Halfway through the set, the dancers ripped off their shirts Chippendale-style.

The ladies in the crowd screamed wildly. Somewhere across the country in Nashville—Dasha told the Statesman backstage that the deadbeat ex in the song was actually from Tennessee, not Texas—an unmotivated guitar-slinger on a dirty futon curled up in shame. — Deborah Sengupta Stith

Stephen Sanchez

Stephen Sanchez began his set Friday like he was on a 1950s variety show, complete with an introduction that called the crowd a “live studio audience.”

His velvety voice and smooth delivery turned up the energy for fans as he blended rock and jazzy sounds with his signature vintage style. Sanchez maintained high showmanship throughout, including his spiffy appearance. “It is very hot and we are wearing suits,” he remarked. Before the final song, he tossed his guitar to a bandmate and left the crowd dancing to a swinging number. — Keri Heath

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