Beneath a gleaming “50,” the audience clapped in time with “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” The crowd, barely settled from their standing ovation, erupted again as another performer graced ACL’s 50th anniversary stage.
ACL Live and PBS shot the show’s 50th anniversary special on Thursday. As the last of the season, the show featured a total of 13 artists, including Lyle Lovett, Leon Bridges and Rufus Wainwright. Hosted by actors Jared and Genevieve Padalecki, the special honored ACL traditions and highlights various genres and diverse styles. The primetime special airs on April 4, 2025.
“What (we shot) on Thursday is the live performances that will be part of it, but there will be a lot more added to the broadcast,” UT journalism alumna Emily Bolf, marketing director and associate producer at ACL, said. “We’ll be able to feature not only the artists that (performed) on Thursday but a lot of the other really iconic and legendary artists that have been on Austin City Limits in the last 50 years.”
Besides including new and seasoned artists, the special highlights long-standing ACL traditions. Season 11 introduced the first all-female songwriter special, where Emmylou Harris performed alongside four other female artists. Paying homage to that, Indigo Girls and Brandy Clark each performed two of their original songs.
“(The first songwriter special) was actually based on these parties that Darrell Royal would have at his house,” Bolf said. “He would invite Willie Nelson and all the songwriters from the 70s … He created this culture of a crowd that listens and that’s really paying attention.”
That celebration of music keeps volunteers returning to the venue year after year. Architecture alumnus Philip Keil has volunteered at ACL yearly since the program moved to Moody Theater in 2011.
“(ACL Live) truly is one of the things that made Austin, Austin,” Keil said. “Fifty years is a long time in a city’s culture, and (ACL has) been this constant. To see those people coming up the stairs (its) like (a) slice of life for Austin.”
That reward of seeing Austinites walk into the theater comes after nearly two years of work. Kayla Thompson, a journalism and advertising alumna and junior art director at PBS, said it’s a bittersweet moment since the season is ending but that also means the extensive work is too.
“It didn’t hit me until the Willie Nelson taping on Oct. 17,” Thompson said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. We’re actually doing something. It’s part of history.’”
Bolf said the special targets broadening the ACL audience while simultaneously reflecting on the past.
“We certainly want to celebrate all of the things that have happened,” Bolf said. “But in my mind, the most important goal was ‘How are we setting ourselves up for the future?’ because we want to keep doing this. We want to keep growing our audience. We want artists to come and want to play Austin City Limits.”
