Austin's biggest music festival returns to Zilker Park on the first two weekends in October. It's ACL's 23rd year drawing music lovers from across the world deep into the heart of Texas for two consecutive weekends of live music and lifelong memories. This year, 20 Austin acts will perform on the great lawn of Zilker Park. Below, you'll find all of the local artists performing Oct. 4-6 and Oct. 11-13.
- Diego Artea
Asleep at the Wheel
Friday, Oct. 4, at 12:55 p.m. (Honda Stage)
When you talk about the Austin music scene, you can’t leave out Asleep at the Wheel. The traditional ACL openers return to their old stomping grounds once again for you to dosey-doe and toss your hats to the ACL flags.
– “Fresh” Knight
Barton Hills Choir
Director Gavin Tabone has been guiding elementary kids to sing and perform their guileless music for so long that some of his original students are now grown. (I know this because they showed up at his recent surprise birthday party.) His choirs have been a regular feature of ACL Fest since 2004, and this year they will feature the music of past headliners like the Cure and Paul McCartney. Most young kids have a certain look of terror onstage, yet the Barton Hills Choir not only knows how to do the music right, they know how to have a great time. You will, too.
– Jeff McCord
Being Dead
Saturday, Oct. 12, at 12:05 p.m. (IHG Stage)
In July last year, when we last checked in on the adventures of Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy (what happened to "Gumball"??), they were hard at work seriously crafting absurdist, kaleidoscopic pop for their debut album, When Horses Would Run. A year later they have another album, Eels, in the can and have already released a video of the hyperdriven “Firefighters,” featuring scooters and multicolored jumpsuits. All in a day’s work. On the ACL stage, be ready for … well, anything.
- Jeff McCord
Bob Schneider
Saturday, Oct. 12 at 2:05 p.m. (Tito's Stage)
With an innate talent for music passed down to him by his father, Bob Schneider has fronted many bands. The success of his 2000 album, Lonelyland, led him toward national fame. Schneider draws inspiration from the ’70s with a modern twist. His playful lyrics tackle tough subjects about alienation, addiction and lost romance. With more than a dozen albums (and a new one on the way), Schneider is also a published author and an avid painter and collage artist. He does all this while playing over 100 shows a year, and he doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
– Diego Artea
Chief Cleopatra
Sunday, Oct. 6, at 12:30 p.m. (IHG Stage)
From the beginning, Corsicana’s Chief Cleopatra has enjoyed an upward career arc, immersing the Austin scene with her compelling blues/rock/soul hybrid and wowing audiences with a wide array of gigs and recordings. This year alone, the former KUTX Artist of the Month has enjoyed an official city proclamation of Chief Cleopatra Day, and now, she’s about to make her first ACL Fest appearance. Catch her while you can.
– Jeff McCord
DAIISTAR
Sunday, Oct. 13, at 12:10 p.m. (Miller Lite Stage)
It’s been nearly six decades since Roky Erickson dropped The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, and Austin is still home to the best psych rock in the world. The next era of ATX psych has already begun and they’re called DAIISTAR. Produced by Alex Maas of the Black Angels and engineered by James Petralli of White Denim, DAIISTAR’s debut LP Good Time is both a masterclass and reinvention of neo-psychedelic’s greatest moments.
– Ryan Wen
Hudson Ingram
Sunday, Oct. 13, at 12:10 p.m. (BMI Stage)
In 2006, Taylor Swift sent a handwritten letter to one of her idols, country singer Jack Ingram. The pair would eventually co-headline shows. The letter congratulated him on the birth of his new baby, named Hudson. Seventeen years later, Hudson Ingram is a singer-songwriter on the rise, cutting his teeth in the diverse music city of Austin. Inspired by the likes of Swift herself, Harry Styles and The 1975, Ingram is making music completely outside the realm of his dad, but he has inherited his father’s pure, natural tone.
– Diego Artea
Huston-Tillotson Jazz Collective
Friday, Oct. 11, at 1:15 p.m. (BMI Stage)
Jazz has always been an emphasis at Huston-Tillotson; the late Dr. James Polk was among their distinguished faculty. The university is the oldest learning institution in the city, yet its renowned Jazz Collective is modern and exciting. The Jazz Collective recently came away from Nashville with First Place in the Louis Armstrong HBCU Jazz competition and is proud to be returning to the ACL stage.
– Jeff McCord
Jon Muq
Saturday, Oct. 12, at 1:25 p.m. (BMI Stage)
Jon Muq had always wanted to play music in America and thankfully, the universe conspired to bring him to Austin. Knowing nothing about Texas or even that Austin was a music town, he just happened to volunteer to sing at a refugee fundraiser during some festival called South by Southwest. Then, three years after it posted, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys commented on one of Jon Muq’s YouTube videos. Muq had also never heard of the Black Keys, but suffice it to say Muq’s talents are enough for one of the world’s most successful producers to come to him.
– Ryan Wen
Kalu & The Electric Joint
Sunday, Oct. 13, at 1:30 p.m. (Tito's Stage)
Even before his humble solo acoustic gigs at the Cactus Cafe, it was clear Kalu James had something special going on. He has the polyrhythmic sensibilities of Fela Kuti and a voice that is among the few who can deservedly be compared to Jeff Buckley. In the decade since, he has continued to evolve. Forming the Electric Joint with the blues stylings of JT Holt, Kalu has among the most uniquely beautiful sounds coming out of ATX.
– Ryan Wen
Midnight Navy
Friday, Oct. 4, at 1:15 p.m. (Tito's Stage)
In Austin, you never just get one thing. Take Midnight Navy, a singer, songwriter, saxophone-playing Mexican artist who mixes Chicano soul, alternative R&B and psychedelic pop. Midnight Navy is bringing all that for his ACL Fest debut. It’s sure to have you feeling your emotions and grooving all the same time.
– ”Fresh” Knight
Molecular Steve
Sunday, Oct. 13, at 12:30 p.m. (T-Mobile Stage)
Don’t go in expecting a petite Steven. Naw, Molecular Steve is a stage-filling family affair, whose 14-track, genre-bending, eponymous album from late July will make for a pleasant picnic Sunday #2 at the T-Mobile stage.
– Jack Anderson
Penny & Sparrow
Friday, Oct. 4, at 3:30 p.m. (IHG Stage)
Formed by Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke, the duo first began making music as a hobby here during UT grad school, with Jahnke as a gifted guitarist and Baxter as a lyricist with mesmerizing vocals and a falsetto clear as crystal. NPR praised the band’s songwriting as a “delicate dance between heartache and resolve,” and Rolling Stone hailed their catalog as “folk music for Sunday mornings, quiet evenings, and all the fragile moments in between.”
– Diego Artea
promqueen
Saturday, Oct. 5, at 12:05 p.m. (IHG Stage)
We’ve been witnessing a big moment for promqueen. And we feel like we’re probably going to say that again in 2025. This Vietnamese American has shown a voracious appetite over the past year and a half, and bringing their engaging production (chock full of choreography, props, and other ecstatic theatrics) to a stage as big as IHG’s is gonna be a huge game changer, especially for those who haven’t seen the queen in person yet.
– Jack Anderson
Rickshaw's Billie Burger Patrol
Sunday, Oct. 13 at 12:30 p.m. (IHG Stage)
If you’re hungry for that extra heavy stuff (and right at lunch time to boot), RBBP at the IHG stage is the weekend warrior way to kick off the second Sunday. Between a bubbly beer, a fatty patty, and volume-11 renditions from this March’s Big Dumb Riffs, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol will give you the boost you need to make it through ACL 2024’s final day. Just make sure your surroundings are clear before you go accidentally slinging suds and sirloins while windmilling near the pit.
– Jack Anderson
The Moriah Sisters
Sunday, Oct. 13, at 12:15 p.m. (Tito's Stage)
If you’re looking to hear some great soul music and worship all at the same time, The Moriah Sisters have you covered. Their gospel stylings hang with any soul/funk/R&B act this side of the Colorado River. Don’t miss them taking the ACL stage once again. They’ll have you jumping, shouting and praising His name.
– ”Fresh” Knight
The Tiarras
Saturday, Oct. 12, at 12:05 p.m. (Tito's Stage)
Few local bands capture the diverse flavor of the Austin music scene as well as The Tiarras. For sisters Sophia, Tori and Tiffany Baltierra, the city’s varied music culture served as the crucible for their own adventures as a family band. Last year’s single, “La Negra Tomasa,” turned the traditional Cuban folk song into a boozy cumbia that is equally at home on the dance floor as it is at a backyard cookout.
– Peter Babb
Theo Lawrence
Friday, Oct. 11, at 2 p.m. (IHG Stage)
Paris, France, might sound like an odd place to discover a passion for classic country music, but for Theo Lawrence, American culture has always been the center of his universe. His 2023 album, Chérie, sounds as if it were plucked straight out of a 1950s Bakerfield time capsule. The album landed him on the February 2023 cover of French Rolling Stone. This time last year, Lawrence and band mates packed up the Chevy and hopped the pond to live and play in the “live music capital of the world.”
– Peter Babb
West 22nd
Sunday, Oct. 6, at 1:30 p.m. (Tito's Stage)
ACL has been an awesome avenue for turn-of-the-millennium indie rock. If you want to relive the decades-old glory of Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, or Phoenix, slide into the Tito’s tent for a fresh take on those iconic sounds, courtesy of these beyond-capable UT campus creatives.
– Jack Anderson
WhooKilledKenny
Friday, Oct. 11, at 5:10 p.m. (BMI Stage)
You see the name Whookilledkenny and immediately think of South Park — though this Austin native isn’t dying repeatedly. Instead, he’s killing song after song. Return from being out west, Kenny is making his ACL Fest debut. Guaranteed to bring the energy, coolness, Whookilledkenny will have you hyped after his performance.
– ”Fresh” Knight
