Texas Music Magazine

09/23/2025

We’re celebrating ACL Fest’s 100th performance day (Oct. 5) by looking back at some of the event’s iconic moments. Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

When they headlined ACL Fest — in 2009 — Pearl Jam blasted a greatest hits set guaranteed to enthrall its audience. Rather than repeat that performance during both weekends of 2014, the Seattle alt-rock staple dug deep into its catalog for sets that proved the band was more than just a classic rock throwback.

From vintage (“Why Go,” “Even Flow,” “Corduroy”) to contemporary (“Lightning Bolt,” “My Father’s Son”), the band ripped into its catalog with gusto, animating frontman Eddie Vetter and letting up only for the acoustic “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” and — during its first-weekend performance — a solo encore cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” by Vedder.

Dabbling in folk rock, roots rock, garage rock and punk, the band appeared intent on stretching its boundaries. But Pearl Jam is Pearl. The element of surprise may have been long gone, but the band clearly still felt the fire.

Photo by Chad Wadsworth for ACL Fest

09/17/2025

We’re celebrating ACL Fest’s 100th performance day (Oct. 5) by looking back at some of the event’s iconic moments. Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) 2026 is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

The most abbreviated headliner performance in ACL Fest history took place during the first weekend of 2023, when, because of plane issues, Kendrick Lamar’s set, which was scheduled to begin at 8:40 p.m., was delayed until 9:45 p.m. That posed a problem, not merely because of the delay but because of Austin’s strict noise curfew at Zilker Park (10 p.m. nightly).

“I heard y’all have a curfew,” Lamar announced when he took the stage. “I told them they’d have to shut off my mic.” And that they did, but not before Lamar was able to deliver 11 songs in 31 minutes (his mic was cut at around 10:15 p.m.). Though some of his best material had to be excised for time, Lamar nevertheless managed to deliver a focused, energetic set. During the second weekend of the festival, Lamar, who’d previously played the festival on a smaller stage in 2013, contributed a full set.

Photo by Alex Luevano for Texas Student Media/The Daily Texan. Used with permission.

09/16/2025

We’re celebrating ACL Fest’s 100th performance day (Oct. 5) by looking back at some of the event’s iconic moments. Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) 2026 is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

Norah Jones performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival both weekends in 2024, and despite being known for her mellow, soothing style — her signature blend of jazz, soul and folk — Jones delivered what was called "an electrifying performance," described as "equal parts fun, vibrant, and heartfelt."

Jones, who has Texas roots — she grew up in Grapevine and was educated in Dallas and Denton — expressed enthusiasm not merely for performing at ACL Fest but for returning to the Lone Star State. “Texas! I’m coming home!” she enthused in a Facebook post after she’d been booked for the festival.

The performance was part of her Visions Tour 2024, promoting her ninth solo studio album, Visions, and while in town she taped a performance for the Austin City Limits television show’s 50th season.

Photo by Charles Reagan for ACL Fest

09/11/2025

We’re celebrating ACL Fest’s 100th performance day (Oct. 5) by looking back at some of the event’s iconic moments. Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) 2026 is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

During his performance in 2006, Ben Kweller experienced an uncontrollable nosebleed that plagued him for the entirety of his set. He ended up covering his guitar, piano and microphone in blood while continuing to perform.

The performance has become part of ACL Fest folklore and Kweller himself later leaned into the legend, quipping on social media that he’d “try to keep the nosebleeds at a minimum” during his next ACL Fest performance. He attributed it to the dry conditions on tour buses, which he said exacerbated his allergies.

Photo by Chad Wadsworth for ACL Fest

09/05/2025

We're celebrating ACL Fest's 100th performance day (Oct. 5) by looking back at some of the event's iconic moments. Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) 2026 is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

Lizzo (2019)
Although billing placed her on the Miller Lite stage (smaller than ACL’s main stages), Lizzo drew a huge crowd — an estimated 40,000 fans — the first weekend of 2019, making it one of the biggest non-headlining performances in ACL history. Due to the unprecedented turnout, festival organizers added extra speakers and arranged for her Weekend Two performance to be simulcast on the Honda stage LED screens, widening visibility and easing crowd pressure.

Media outlets celebrated her as “the queen of ACL Fest 2019,” lauding her stage presence, vocal power and unmatched ability to connect with a generation of fans.

Photo by Chad Wadsworth

09/02/2025

In honor of ACL Fest's 100th performance day (Oct. 5), we look back at the event's iconic moments.

In 2015, Tyler Joseph of Twenty One Pilots surprised everyone, including the band’s management, by climbing to the top of the stage scaffolding — about three stories above the crowd — where a Texas flag stood. A dramatic, high-adrenaline highlight to the band’s performance. And he did so without a safety net.

Photographer Charles Reagan, who captured the moment, noticed Joseph climbing the truss adjacent to the jumbotron and immediately left the photographer’s pit to seek out a better perspective for the spontaneous gambit, which Joseph performed without any sort of protective gear. (Joseph had told the band’s management he planned to run into the audience and crowd surf.)

Reagan was concerned. “In my head, I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’m taking the last picture of him alive,” Reagan recalls. But after several minutes of singing — while holding onto the Texas flag — Joseph descended without incident.

Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

09/01/2025

In honor of Austin City Limits Music Festival’s 100th day of performances — taking place, by our calculation, on Sunday, Oct. 5 — Texas Music Magazine is revisiting some of the festival’s most iconic moments. Produced by C3 Presents, ACL Fest debuted in 2002 and took its name from the Austin City Limits PBS television show, the longest-running music series in TV history, now in its 50th season. The event launched at Zilker Park and has remained there throughout its history. It's one of the country's most successful and anticipated music events.

Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) 2026 takes place Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

Photo by Chad Wadsworth

07/25/2025

Don't miss Viva Big Bend 2025! 3 more days/nights of music in far West Texas (Alpine, Marfa, Marathon, Fort Davis, Terlingua and Presidio).

rocked last night! Day 3 of Viva Big Bend will kick off with shows in Marathon ( and ) as well as in Alpine. Go Viva!! Photo by Sarah Vasquez

07/20/2025

Attention Texas music fans: Viva Big Bend begins Wednesday, July 23 and runs through July 27. There are 65 shows in 22 venues in Marfa, Alpine, Fort Davis, Terlingua, Presidio and Marathon, including Bob Schneider Music, West Texas Exiles, Kat Hasty, Tomar and the FCs and many more. VBB is produced by the staff at Texas Music Magazine. Photos by Sarah Vasquez

07/10/2025

Viva Big Bend is almost here! This year's music festival (July 23-27) features 65 shows in more than 20 venues in Marfa, Alpine, Marathon, Fort Davis, Presidio and Terlingua. The full schedule is posted on the Viva website and wristbands are still available. If you need lodging recommendations, there's a list of options at www.vivabigbend.com. We hope to see you in far West Texas for the 14th annual Viva Big Bend, which is produced by the staff at Texas Music Magazine.

The 14th annual Viva Big Bend music festival will be July 23-27, 2025.Featuring 65+ shows in more than a dozen venues in Alpine, Marfa, Marathon, Terlingua, Presidio and Fort Davis. Tickets SPONSORS Marathon Chamber of Commerce MEDIA PARTNERS Become a Sponsor Sign up for the VIVA BIG BEND NEWSLETTER