Zilker Park served as host again for the 22nd edition of the Austin City Limits Festival – two weekends of up-and-comers such as local hip hop artist Grace Sorensen along with festival favorites like Portugal. The Man, and stadium rockers the Foo Fighters. Unlike the pandemic years, this year’s fest appeared to be on solid footing with a strong lineup, bountiful ticket sales, and the bonus of great weather expected for each weekend. A wicked hail storm a week earlier produced golf ball-sized hail causing citywide damage, but fortunately the rain barely affected the impeccably cared-for lawn aside from a smattering of mulch in the regular low parts of the park. Since the fest’s establishment in the early aughts scores of new downtown skyscrapers have risen adding a dynamic backdrop for weekend revelers donned in bucket hats, Hawaiian shirts, and cowboy boots.
Three years have passed since Austin and most of the world were isolated due to pandemic lockdowns. Being forced to stay home seems like a lifetime ago after seeing how densely populated the city of Austin and the Austin City Limits Festival have become in October 2023. Indeed, the festival’s increased footprint anticipates a return to record numbers of attendees, especially given the city’s explosive population of young tech professionals eager to take in a prominent festival that’s just a scooter or pedicab ride away. Seeing a larger percentage of families at the festival is also notable and indicative of a return to the kind of normalcy that the public desires.
One of the best parts of ACL Fest is seeing rising stars and the BMI Stage is a great place to catch some of the newer acts such as Austin-based neo-soul/R&B singer Grace Sorensen. The 20-year-old played her first festival show on Sunday dressed in baggy beige Jordan attire and swirled around and whipped her hair around while her young fans danced along. A Fleetwood Mac cover of “Dreams” capped off her breezy looks and soulful singing before she was joined on stage by another Austin R&B artist, Megz Kelli from Magna Carda, for her song “Digits”. Sorensen graced the cover of the local alt weekly the Austin Chronicle during their 2023 ACL Fest issue and is definitely an artist to follow.
The Tito’s Stage is a nice place to take a respite from the sun and the tent gives concertgoers more of a Red River club feel to those more intimate shows. Early on Sunday, the tented stage welcomed Austin duo Jane Leo, made up of Jane Ellen Bryant and Daniel Leopold. When Leopold, known for leading the rockers Leopold and His Fiction, met Bryant, an emerging singer/songwriter, they both were in a funk and were taking creative writing classes through Black Fret, now known as Sonic Guild. After that experience, the two decided to join musical forces to form an ‘80s-style synth-forward chill-wave duo. Fresh off The Heartbeat Highway Tour that had Jane Leo traveling along the east and west coasts, the soothing guitar and warm vintage synthesizer playing were well seasoned and made for a nice starting point for the day.
Australian soul singer/songwriter Angus Stone, a.k.a. Dope Lemon, with his Stevie Ray Vaughn-style flat brim and silver buttoned guitar strap got the concertgoers shimmying at the Honda Stage early on Sunday afternoon. Surrounded by the logo from the Lemonheads candy floating around the video screens, the Sydney-based musician kicked off the set with the moody guitar song Stonecutters from their 2016 album Honey Bones that showcased Stone’s Kurt Vile-esque crooning. After playing several more songs from that album such as Coyote, the energy built up until crescendo-ing with the song “Kemosabe” from this year’s record of the same name.
Following Dope Lemon at the Honda Stage was Australian singer-songwriter Tash Sultana, immediately displaying her mastery as a multi-instrumentalist from the start of her set, seamlessly jumping from one to another on stage. Sultana was a much spoken about act having played Stubbs in Austin the evening before. She has been traveling the U.S. practically non-stop since her 29-date tour kicked off in San Diego in late August. The crowd perked up when she performed “Pretty Lady” from her 2021 album Terra Firma and closed out with her 2016 song, “Jungle”. Meanwhile over at the Tito’s Stage French-born, Nigerian artist Charlotte Adigery and Belgian-based beat maker Bolis Pupul provided an avant-garde electronic pop flare to an afternoon brimming with international artists.
Sunday not only featured a slew of foreign-born artists but also served as the backdrop from African-American artists. Memphis-based trap/hip-hop artist GloRilla, who describes her music as “crunk and dominant” has become popular since her duo with Cardi B on their 2021 song “Tomorrow 2”. Her young screaming fans had to be lifted up by security and pulled into the photo pit after the crowd began surging forward. Flanked by her dancers dressed in purple fatigues, the tatted-up GloRilla had to stop her set too early on to scold a fan who threw a shoe on stage, barely missing the long-haired artist. Over at the IHG Stage, The Breeders put on a lively set with Star Trek: The Next Generation t-shirt-wearing frontwoman Kim Deal praising the crowd throughout their 17-song set that leaned heavily on their ‘90s hit album Last Splash.
One of the most surprising additions to the festival and arguably the best sets was by Death Grips, who followed The Breeders on the IHG Stage. While Kendrick Lamar doesn’t have a reputation of being late or missing shows, no one was quite sure if Death Grips would fulfill their slot having served as no-shows in the past. The hard-to-describe Sacramento, California trio vacillates between post-punk, industrial, and spoken word, but is all adrenaline and thankfully very present as Sunday turned to night. Fronted by African-American vocalist Stefan Burnett, whose ripped physique, microphone cord whipping, and convulsing dance moves kept the energy high all set, as the sign language translator practically gave up following the lyrics and just started throwing up middle fingers and making strained faces. “I’ve Seen Footage”, “Get Got”, and “Giving Good People Bad Ideas” were some of the highlights of their performance that ended with “The Fever (Aye Aye)” before Burnett dropped his mic and followed drummer Zach Hill and guitarist Nick Rheinhart off the stage without murmuring a word to the overstimulated crowd.
To close out Weekend One, folks had the choice between two very different adventures, taking a journey with British folk-rock band Mumford & Sons or an electronic dance party with Washington state-based electronic duo ODESZA. Those who chose the latter were not disappointed as ODESZA’s live stage performance included a marching army of drummers and at least a dozen other instruments to complement the beats. The Grammy Award-nominated electronic act has hit the festival circuit hard in recent years snatching headliner status for their uplifting dance grooves – the addition of live performers and wicked light give the fans a lot of bang for their buck. Their whopping 27-song set list largely leaned on their album A Moment Apart, with standout songs such as “Sun Models” and their latest release “In the Rain” that had fans dancing like they were having seizures. The Las Vegas-style spectacle was rounded out by “Last Goodbye”, which served as a fitting end to their show as fans exited the park concluding a pleasant and relaxing weekend.
-words: Alex Freeman
-photos: Alex Freeman & Sam Wilkinson
