Weekend one of Austin City Limits 2023 was filled with exciting performances from both veterans and up-and-coming artists, combined with the very comfortable weather throughout the event. The festival also was highlighted by some surprises like Shania Twain showing up towards the end of the Foo Fighters set after she had finished her own show a little earlier across Zilker Park. In the middle of “Best of You”, Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl welcomed Twain to the stage who proceeded to growl and belt out the lyrics for the rest of the song as the crowd went into a frenzy. On a low point that was out of the control of festival organizers, Kendrick Lamar was unable to make it to the festival on time as the jumbo screens informed fans he would be delayed “due to plane issues”. When Lamar arrived, he could only perform a few songs for about a 30 minute set, shortly after his original end time. The compromised set was an unexpected disappointment that followed the event’s previous announcement that Kali Uchis was not going to perform and Major Lazer would take her place.
The event was filled with outstanding performances throughout the weekend that made for a great recap of the year in music. Nessa Barrett had a huge crowd early on Friday, even though issues delayed her start time by twenty minutes. It was the first time she performed her new single “Club Heaven” that had just been released the very same day, which was a highlightt of her set. The Mars Volta put on an exciting set that had the crowd dancing and active as they tore through many of their classics like “Cicatriz ESP” and “L’Via L’Viaquez”. Okalahoma City-based band Husbands were tight and fun to watch, as was UK artist Declan McKenna, whose set was filled with catchy and insightful songs from his discography. Up-and-coming local artist Jane Leo was exciting and thoroughly engaging in their early Sunday set, giving vibes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Kills. American singer-songwriter Ivan Cornejo had a huge crowd to see his set that was filled with vibey alternative Spanish songs that have gone viral on TikTok.
Crowds were aplenty for Suki Waterhouse, whose voice and outfit were on-point, as was the spectacle of Thirty Seconds to Mars and Jared Leto in particular. The lead singer made his entrance to the set high atop the stage structure and bungee-jumped down to the stage, igniting cheers from fans. Leto was very interactive as he made his way into the crowd on numerous occasions to lead the singalongs. Noah Kahan had an audience that was overflowing and singing along to nearly every single song, especially towards the end as he performed “Dial Drunk” and “Stick Season”.
ACL 2023 was an incredible event stacked with the artists who soundtracked the year balanced with those who created songs that were some part of everyone’s lives. The emerging artists infused a level of excitement for the future of music while planting a foundation for them to build upon and garner new fans in the process. As the “live music capital of the world”, Austin once again delivered a world-class music festival that should be a staple in everyone’s calendars.
