The second weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival had a frosty start, with temperatures dropping as low as 47 degrees Friday, Oct. 11. Festivalgoers braving the cold arrived in all forms of cold weather wear, including onesies, blankets and pajamas.
At pop singer Madison Beer’s 2:15 p.m. set at the Honda stage, she announced to her fans she would be donating $10,000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ youths. She also described the difficult year she’s had with “depression and horrible anxiety.” Songs that Beer featured included “Hurts Like Hell,” “Dead” and “Dear Society.”
Multi-instrumentalistVKing Princess stunned at her 4 p.m. set at the Honda stage, where she engaged the crowd with her celebration of queer attraction. Songs from her set list included “P—- Is God,” “Tough On Myself” and “1950.” Later that evening, Tame Impala’s psychedelic sound wowed listeners while their accompanying laser show held a captive audience in a trance as “Let It Happen” played through air filled with artificial fog.
Headliner Guns N’ Roses closed out the evening with “Nightrain,” “Patience” and “Paradise City.” The legendary hard rockers threw in a special intro from band member Melissa Reese as their audience huddled together for warmth.
Day two of the festival had a warmer start, but it came up a little short for fans of Megan Thee Stallion. The Texas native never showed up for her 1:15 p.m. set. According to a tweet from Megan Thee Stallion, she missed her set because she was still on her way back to Austin from a show in Oklahoma the night before. She promised her “Austin hotties” she would be scheduling a “makeup show,” which still has yet to be announced.
Denzel Curry, Brittany Howard and Kali Uchis played through light rain showers while their audiences donned raincoats and ponchos. Their performances were followed by Billie Eilish, who drew a crowd with members of all ages. Eilish danced around on stage while wearing an orthopedic boot, encouraging her fans to join in. The crowd drawn by Eilish stretched from the Honda stage all the way back to the eastern crop of flags at the festival.
At the end of the night, Childish Gambino stunned his audience at the American Express stage with a bare chested performance that ended with “This is America” in the initial set. Gambino’s encore included his hit “Sober” and absolute banger “Redbone.”
The last day of ACL Weekend Two was the warmest and the outfits of attendees reflected it. Neon shorts and bikini tops as shirts dominated Zilker Park on Sunday.
The Lizzo hype was real on Sunday — so real that people started making their way to the Miller Lite stage at 1 p.m. for her 7 p.m. performance. In the meantime, Bea Miller gave a high-energy and emotional performance, where she described the personal meaning behind several of her songs. Alt-R&B artist BANKS followed with a sexualized performance including some songs from her new album, III, such as “Godless” and “Gimme,” as well as classic “Beggin for Thread.”
Kacey Musgraves drew fans in cowboy hats to a performance that was pretty par for the course as far as a Musgraves concert goes. She included songs such as “Slow Burn,” “Rainbow” and “Wonder Woman.”
An hour before Lizzo’s performance, the crowd had already surpassed the general limits of the Miller Lite stage. This prompted additional broadcast screens and speakers so more of the crowd would be able to see and hear her. Lizzo drew a crowd that seemed to be the entirety of the festival, which the singer said made her feel so loved and supported. Her set included the current number one song in America, “Truth Hurts,” as well as “Juice” and “Cuz I Love You.”
Across the park at American Express, Mumford & Sons closed out the festival with a set of their most popular songs, such as “Little Lion Man,” “Blind Leading the Blind” and “I Will Wait.”
