Since 2002, Austin City Limits has thrived bringing legendary artists to Austin for its Zilker Metropolitan Park weekend takeovers. Through the years, performances by renowned artists and unexpected events have solidified ACL as an assembly with historical value and surprises that bring excitement to the music loving community. The Daily Texan put together a timeline of these significant events in the festival’s past.
2008: Foo Fighters headline ACL for the first time. 2023 will mark the band’s third time at the Festival.
2012: Rock legends, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, roused the crowd Sunday before The Red Hot Chili Peppers closed out the festival. Pop invited 20 or so members of the audience to join him on stage, bringing a breath of Pop’s notorious wild and free-spirit attitude to Zilker Park. Attendees were privileged to see the band on one of their last tours together.
2013: Kendrick Lamar performs at ACL for the first time after his global success with good kid, mA.A.d city, an album that earned him seven Grammy nominations and debuted as number two on the U.S. Billboard 200. 2023 will mark Lamar’s third appearance at the fest following his 2022 release Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
2013: ACL fest was forced to cancel Sunday of weekend two due to heavy rainfall.
2014: St.Vincent performed an exhilarating set filled with theatrical choreography, sudden collapses to the floor and a wide range of experimental sounds. She ended the set by climbing half way up the towering metal scaffolding that supports the stage, taunting the audience as she dangled off with careless prowess.
2015: Austin native and Grammy award winner Gary Clark Jr. joins Foo Fighters as a special guest as they closed out Friday night of weekend one. The previous year, Foo Fighters collaborated with Clark on their “Sonic Highways” album and documentary, featuring a song and episode that paid homage to the legendary Austin Music scene.
2015: Saturday of weekend one, Drake brought out Future as a special guest. Less than a month before, the rappers released the collaborative mixtape, co-produced by Metro Boomin, titled What a Time to Be Alive that debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. The duo commanded the stage together while they played an assortment of highlights from the collaborative album and Future’s solo archive.
2017: Ice Cube takes the ACL Festival stage for the first and last time (so far) to remind his fans that even though he’d been out of the music game for a while to pursue other business ventures, he still gives a mean performance.
2017: To pay tribute to the then recent and untimely passing of Rock n’ Roll legend Tom Petty, the festival deployed three skydivers on Saturday afternoon of weekend one to Petty’s classic “Free Fallin’.” Unannounced, the spectacle created a memorable surprise to the masses of festival goers.
2019: Saturday of weekend two saw an unprecedented cold front with temperatures peaking at 65 degrees, setting the record low for the festival, according to KXAN. This created less than ideal weather for long planned festival outfits designed for Texas heat. Usually, attendees can expect temperatures between mid 80’s to high 90’s and often with clear skies.
2022: P!nk took flight above and around her Saturday night closing set crowd at the American Express stage. Suspended with secure high-tech acrobatic-like gear, the artist flipped, twirled and glided with the crowd below her, creating a captivating spectacle for the thousands of people in the audience.
