These are our reporters’ favorite moments out of ACL Fest – Austin American-Statesman
Six days. Hundreds of bands. Thousands of fans. Austin City Limits Music Festival made its grand return to an in-person event at Zilker Park on Oct. 1-3 and 8-10, after a virtual year in 2020 because of the pandemic.
We didn’t cover it all, but hey, just about. What was the best of the fest? Our writers and editors recap their top highlights from the fest. And a bonus: Our fashion photographer clues us into a couple style trends, too.
Eric Webb, Austin360 editor
Dayglow: I first wrote about Austin indie-pop prodigy Sloan Struble in a 2020 profile, and since then, his career has become incandescent. Every time I see him perform, the growth is a joy to behold. With a full band, new moves and a neon set, his sundown Saturday set on Weekend 2 was the bright light I needed after a long fest.
Nané: Really, it’s so gratifying to watch the locals rise up and hold their own with the big names at ACL Fest. Daniel Sahad and company got cheated out of their Weekend 1 set by a rain delay, but their Sunday soul-shaker on Weekend 2 was a true arrival for a force of nature. Tell you friends, tell your coworkers, tell your Aunt Carol.
Read the review:Uno mas! The final day of ACL Fest 2021 is here, and Nané has arrived, too
Trixie Mattel: When the iconic drag queen assembled a big gay army on Sunday of the second weekend for a history-making set, the vibes at the Tito’s Handmade Vodka tent were simply immaculate. The dark zingers in her stage banter were unlike anything else at the fest, and show me another artist who does two separate costume reveals in the first song. I was smiling ear to ear the whole time.
Read the review:The ballad of Trixie Mattel, ACL Fest’s first singing drag queen
Doja Cat: I remain furious at Ms. Cat for being too talented! Leave some for the rest of us. As a pop devotee, I thrill every time ACL Fest diverts from rock, rap and EDM and into choreography and earworms. Doja delivered a quintuple threat: singing, rapping, dancing, aesthetics and charisma.
Read the review:I am mad at Doja Cat for being so good at everything at ACL Fest
Machine Gun Kelly: When a man tells his Weekend 2 audience that he read your review of his performance from the previous weekend and that you taught him the word “perfunctory,” you call it a highlight. And the show was freakin’ killer, too.
Read the review:Machine Gun Kelly’s ACL set was a middle finger-thrustin’, pill bottle-poppin’, pop-punk party
Deborah Sengupta Stith, music writer
Jon Batiste. The 34-year-old musician, band leader and television personality did not come to ACL Fest to play music (although he did so, brilliantly). A minister of rhythm, melody and positive vibes, he came to lead a spiritual experience that would heal our hearts, soothe our souls and raise the frequency of love. We danced, we sang, we laid our burdens down and we left the ecstatic communion buzzing with joy.
Read the review:ACL Fest delivers one last shooting star with Jon Batiste’s brilliant Sunday set
The female ACL takeover. From Megan Thee Stallion’s hot girl pep rally to Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus’ headline sets to fantastic up-and-comers like Remi Wolf and Amber Mark, women were all over this year’s festival. Watching them support each other was a beautiful thing. When Miley ran onto the stage during Megan’s set while Billie watched from the wings, my heart soared.
Read the review:Billie Eilish at ACL Fest: middle fingers to ‘dirty old men’ and connection to a cricket
Doja Cat. Every aspect of the set was polished to perfection and expertly executed. Doja Cat brought Beyoncé-esque attention to detail to a glorious performance.
Austin artists shining bright. Nané was explosive, Blk Odyssy was emotionally raw, Superfónicos hosted one of the fest’s best afternoon dance parties and Riders Against the Storm converted casual listeners into devotees with charisma and chops. These artists put the Austin in ACL Fest and they represented. ATX stand up!
Miley’s Sinead O’Connor mashup. Her takes on Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and Janis Joplin’s “Maybe” were also incredible, but when she mixed “Wrecking Ball” with the Prince-penned “Nothing Compares 2 U,” I almost cried.
Read the review:Miley Cyrus, rock goddess, communes with Janis Joplin’s spirit in Austin City Limits debut
Peter Blackstock, music writer
Joy Oladokun: The very first performance I saw at ACL Fest this year stuck with me till the end. Having not heard Oladokun previously — this was her first visit to Austin — I was unprepared for the sharp vision and rich musicality of her songs. Onstage, she speaks with honesty and candor, drawing everyone in. Catch her again in Austin early next year; she just announced a national tour that kicks off April 7 at Antone’s.
Read the review:First show in Austin: Joy Oladokun wins over ACL Fest crowd
Jon Batiste: Fitting, then, that the last thing I saw at ACL Fest this year was also one of the best. This one was no surprise: Batiste’s July taping of the “Austin City Limits” TV show, which premieres on PBS stations nationwide Oct. 16, had prepared me for his New Orleans-centric tour-de-force of American music. He delivered big-time on the fest’s final Sunday.
(A bonus memorable moment: After Batiste’s set, I headed west toward the press area to pack up my gear and head out. Hordes of fest-goers were streaming in the other direction, toward Tyler, the Creator on the Lady Bird Stage. But Duran Duran had just kicked off their set on the Honda Stage with “Hungry Like the Wolf,” and all those folks heading to Tyler’s show were singing along with Simon Le Bon. Viva la ACL Fest.)
Dayglow: ACL Fest felt like a coming-out party for pop singer-songwriter Sloan Struble’s five-piece band. They’d drawn hundreds to a BMI Stage performance in 2019, but this year he played to thousands, and he still can’t quite believe it. That didn’t keep Dayglow from playing a fabulous hourlong set, the best I saw from any Austin act at the festival.
Read the review:Dayglow burns brightly at night after Surfaces floats on a sunny breeze at ACL Fest
Sharon Chapman, executive features editor
Jon Batiste: I’ll say it again. Jon Batiste! Jon Batiste! He said it was not a concert but a spiritual experience, and it was. Crying, praying, healing, celebrating, dancing, his set was an hour of joy and community and the perfect way to mark the end of our first ACL Fest since 2019 and everything that happened in between.
Dayglow: My team has been raving about Austin’s Sloan Struble since that 2019 fest, and this was my first time seeing a full live set. What a balm and a blast. More dancing and swaying and the best vibes of the weekend from this Austin star on the rise.
Nané: I have been waiting to see them live for 18 months! Deborah Sengupta Stith turned to me after and said, “That was a star-making set.” Listen to the music and catch this bombastic, feel-good, delightful band live as soon as you can.
Brené Brown and Brett Goldstein: I have a decade-old Post-It that says, “Watch Brené Brown’s TED Talk” from my dear friend Lisa, whose recommendations you always take. I have been a Brené-head since. My “Ted Lasso” love is more recent, of course, but almost as intense. Goldstein is a show writer, producer and recent Emmy winner for playing Roy Kent. What a treat to see them record an episode of Brown’s “Unlocking Us” podcast live.
Kelsey Bradshaw, staff writer
Trixie Mattel: If you weren’t in the Tito’s tent Sunday evening during Weekend 2, well, you missed the greatest hour of your life. Trixie had me jumping and keeled over laughing, and she almost made me cry. (It helps that I was getting to see Trixie with my best friend, but still.) If I were writing a review of her performance it would just say: “AHHHHHHH!”
Doja Cat: Doja Cat was everything. My mouth was agape her whole performance as I simply could not believe I was watching something so good. The singing, the rapping, the dancing and the banter were all perfection
Key Lime Pie Freeze from Tiny Pies: I typically come away from ACL Fest with new artists to add to my Spotify playlists, but this year I’m doing something new. I’m adding the Key Lime Pie Freeze from Tiny Pies, served in the ACL Eats food court, to my dessert lineup.
Read the review:The best things Austin City Lunch Bunch ate at ACL Fest
Dayglow: I can’t wait for Dayglow to have its day on a headliner stage at ACL. They were an awesome way to close out a long Saturday at the fest.
Miley Cyrus: I lost my voice at Miley. Screaming songs from my youth at top volume is always a good time.
Ramon Ramirez, correspondent
Deezie Brown: The Bastrop rapper and his backing band turned out the Miller Lite Stage with a soulful edge that you couldn’t help but stop and watch. His self-described “blue collar” rap is rooted in ‘90s Southern influences like UGK, yes, but his “5th Wheel Fairytales” borrow those touchstones to speak truth to power — now.
Miley Cyrus: ACL Fest ’21 will be remembered by its Mount Rushmore of giant gets: Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion and Miley Cyrus. They hung out IRL. They changed migration patterns. But Miley, a color-changing icon, did better than returning big: She carefully tricked out a lifetime of whatever pop singles with the most soaring vocal showcase the big ACL Fest stages have seen. Didn’t like those Mike Will Made-It rap songs? As her ad-libbed lyric on “We Can’t Stop” hurled back: “It’s my song and I’ll sing what I want to.”
Read the review:She’s just being Miley, no apologies: Cyrus’ ACL Fest Weekend 2 set is one for the books
White Reaper: Just ask the people who run Nickel City, that sweet bar on East 11th Street: If you want to repurpose a classic façade, at least make it cool. Louisville rockers White Reaper pop drums like Green Day in the ‘90s, and it adds brisk pace to their whole deal: Nonstop twin guitar solos in the vein of “Get Outta Here” by Thin Lizzy. They proved that yes, dudes can rock, too.
Katherine Fan, fashion photographer
Some festival outfit trends I noticed this year:
Bubble ponytails: Dozens of festival-goers rocked this new trendy look. To replicate it, pull a strand of hair into a ponytail, then tie on tiny rubber bands at evenly spaced intervals. Gently pull each section out to the sides to create a “poof,” and voila.
Rave-inspired outfits: Festival fashions this year reflected the growing popularity of electronic dance music. Hundreds of attendees rocked psychedelic-inspired looks — some as subtle as iridescent, see-through fanny packs, some full-out futuristic in holographic cut-out chaps over metallic swimsuits.
Optimism: Everyone seemed so happy and enthusiastic at this year’s festival, no doubt because we’re all so glad to be back out in the world. Also, I must be aging: Everyone seemed so young this year.