The best 25 performances we saw during ACL Fest 2025, weekend 1

These are the 25 best sets we saw:

Weary, north-of-30 festival attendees found their safe space at the BeatBox stage — at least on Friday, as guitar hero MJ Lenderman played conspiracy crank and jammed on “Hangover Game,” a skeptical look at Michael Jordan’s infamous flu game. (In which the Chicago Bull transcended space and dominated while sick as a dog.) In the recent “Last Dance” documentary, Jordan said that an apparent Utah Jazz fan and pizza delivery guy poisoned him in his hotel.

But Jordan was also known for his unrivaled love of partying on school nights, so…

“It wasn’t a pizza that poisoned him in Utah,” the other MJ, Lenderman, howled at patrons while possibly defaming His Airness.

 Hozier put on a sublime headline performance Friday night. Songs such as “Francesca,” “Take Me to Church” and “De Selby (Part 2)” reverberated with irresistible rhythm. The raucous crowd fell silent as he sang “Cherry Wine,” his guitar and husky voice echoing through the grounds.

But peel back the folk and soul in Hozier’s songs, and his beliefs stand starkly in the lyrics. He went a step further at ACL. Inspired by musicians who advocated for social justice during the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, he spoke about supporting the rights of workers, migrants, women, transgender people and gay people. The crowd responded with cheers of affirmation each time he took a breath.

The heart of his impassioned speech was a simple message.

“At the core of it, I believe it’s so (expletive) simple,” Hozier said. “I believe that people are good.”

Debuting a new iteration of his band, Passion Pit singer Michael Angelakos seemed nervous, at one point restarting a song and apologizing to the Tito’s tent fans on Sunday. “We’re recording this. Let’s try that one again,” he said. They had canceled a string of shows last month leading up to this tour, which officially kicked off Friday in Houston. The millennial band peaked commercially in 2012, and hasn’t released a new album since 2017.

So here we are: a big name on a small stage, and T-Pain’s set is booming outside the sardine-crammed tent, sounding mighty inviting.

That’s when the Cambridge, Massachusetts band known for pensive electronic pop dipped into its bag of tricks. Hits like “Carried Away” got curious, nostalgia-minded peers bursting with enthusiasm. Old friends sang into each other’s phones. I mean, entire friend groups, recognizing one synth line after another, rushed in for a closer look.

K-pop, one of the world’s most popular genres, finally had some representation at the ACL Fest on Saturday. Seoul’s Riize debuted at the BeatBox stage, becoming the first K-pop group to play the festival. 

I’m disappointed in this young man. You’re a buzzy indie-rock heartthrob who performed on “Saturday Night Live,” playing a coveted night slot with thousands of new potential fans walking by your stage after T-Pain and before the Killers, and you go full dark mode?

“Honestly, it’s hard to connect with what’s going on here because I can’t see him,” a friend of mine who had never heard of Mk.Gee, told me a few songs into his Lady Bird stage set.

Indeed, it was a silhouette set full of dark lighting where you’d see a guitar player and some dude on a computer. And then you’d hear a ton of guitar feedback and too many songs without a beat. The set felt like a rehearsal where your buddy spaces out and tries to take a chord progression somewhere different but gives up after 10 minutes, while the bass player stares into space, eating Cheerios. 

The technically proficient studio wizard, born Michael Todd Gordon, writes catchy yacht rock that he runs through several layers of pedals and samples. Think Bon Iver meets Frank Ocean, with a little Phil Collins flair baked into the ethos. It’s exceptional. And when he tapped into his best grooves, like on “Rockman” or the set-closing “Alesis,” his soulful voice lit up the park.

Let’s tighten the set, though, fellas.

Before John Summit came on, the stage went pitch black — no lights, no projections, just anticipation from a crowd that looked straight out of a frat party. Then: beat drop. Fire. Dancers behind cage doors. 

He remixed everything from Kesha’s “Die Young” to “Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious)” to “Hollaback Girl” (yes, seriously), and somehow it felt like something you’d hear at Latchkey? The crowd loved it. Light-up balloons bounced through laser beams, kids chanted “Free Palestine” over the drop.

Someone next to me said he was “spiritually grounding” himself before the set. Between the people clearly on mood enhancers and the laser-lit set, it was the least-phones-out crowds at ACL weekend one. Just vibes and woot-woots.

Dr. Dog opened their sunset ACL Fest set with “Shadow People,” as predicted. The band may be from Pennsylvania, but they sound and feel so Austin. Maybe it’s the authenticity and wholesome messages in their songwriting? Maybe it’s the curveballs they throw our way every so often — like with “Midi Swamp” (2013). Listen to ‘Shadow People,’ and tell me it doesn’t sound so Austin.

Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman are two of my favorite sentimental songwriters. The highlight was “That Old Black Hole.” The song was a top live moment in a set packed with standout power ballads. And just when things couldn’t get better, they brought out a marimba — for good fortune and good measure. 

I think great music really boils down to friends having fun together and Joey Valence & Brae exemplify that. They quickly took control of their mid-sized crowd just by dancing and working off each other’s energy. I believe that these two could be performing at the MTV VMAs in three to five years.

Their live presence and dance moves match the old-school style and flow that they are bringing back to the mainstream. No background dancers or filler are really needed — they can hold down the fort just goofing off as a pair. Besides the big headliners, I didn’t see an audience as engaged with a show during weekend one than I did during this set. Go see Joey Valence & Brae if you’re heading to weekend two of the fest. Out of all the acts I saw this weekend, they were by far my favorite.

One of ACL’s unexpected delights came early Sunday. This L.A. duo’s dance-pop hit “Shy Girl” was their set closer. But the backing track went out on the American Express stage. So Haute, one half of a band that makes Madonna-grade pop anthems, got creative.

The Chappell Roan-like front-woman belted “Shy Girl” a cappella, since her microphone was still on. It has an enormous, singalong-friendly chorus which helped. And at the end Freddy joined on drums, and it was so in sync you’d think for a second they planned the audio malfunction. 

On Saturday, the Lady Bird stage felt like a TikTok feed come to life. College kids and teens — decked in ruffled microshorts, long jorts and scuffed slip-on Converse — crowded in for Magdalena Bay, the hyperpop duo that’s mastered the art of going viral. As Marina’s “How to Be a Heartbreaker” drifted over from another stage, it felt like Tumblr 2014 had reloaded itself in 4K.

Mica Tenenbaum — half of the duo, alongside Matthew Lewin — opened “Image” with a blue-painted face and a synth-fueled grin before shredding a keytar like it was 1986. Fans finger-clapped — a ballroom-born gesture turned TikTok trend — as the celestial stage pulsed like a cosmic Windows 1.0 desktop screensaver. Songs like “Secrets” and “Vampire in the Corner” built from slow-burn yearning to euphoric release. In that crowd, the internet wasn’t a void; it was breathing and dancing back. — A.G.

“It feels like a honky tonk in here,” Luke Combs told the festival faithful Friday night at the American Express stage. Given the multitude of cowboy boots, hats and frilly white skirts, the 35-year-old singer wasn’t wrong. 

The show was a retrospective. Combs mentioned his first tour in Texas, which he said coincided with when he began dating his now-wife. He played early hit “Hurricane” and the Tracy Chapman cover, “Fast Car.” 

That’s the key to Combs’ appeal. He doesn’t hide behind pyrotechnics — though yes — there were onstage fireballs. He’s an optimistic populist. One who likes “Whiskey River” on the jukebox and still believes in a thing called love.

“They say nothing lasts forever but they ain’t seen us together,” he opines on “Forever After All.” 

You believe him every time. 

Lead singer Matt Shultz exploded onto the American Express stage like an atomic bomb on Friday, defying the Texas heat in a long-sleeve, chocolate brown turtleneck. The band delivered a well-balanced setlist of new material and old favorites, all performed with Shultz’s trademark conviction — so intense it looked as if a blood vessel in his neck might burst at any moment. It’s one thing to have the manic charisma and onstage intensity that make him a perfect front man but Shultz also has songwriting chops in spades. What’s remarkable is how steady he keeps his voice despite his wildly dynamic stage presence. And we can’t overlook the importance of Brad Shultz, whose inventive guitar work mirrors his younger brother’s intensity with unconventional flourishes executed perfectly.

It turns out people born in the ‘90s can still have nostalgia for rock ‘n’ roll. Rainbow Kitten Surprise, a charismatic North Carolina indie band, sang passionate love songs on Sunday. And across Zilker Park, half-tuned-in viewers collectively went, “Oh I know this one” before tracks like “Goodnight Chicago” from a decade ago,and “Painkillers” from 2018, when the band was at its biggest.

It’s like how every romantic relationship has three components: Person No. 1, Person No. 2, and the relationship itself. So is a good ACL set bolstered by the passion it elicits from sun-fried travelers. And here it was more than nostalgia —  it was a visceral feeling that served as an instant reminder of how resonant Rainbow Kitten Surprise’s songs are. How classy they still sound.

The band made headlines in 2022 when singer Ela Melo came out as a trans woman. She left T-Mobile stage patrons with sage advice at the end, too: “Live and let live,” she told Zilker.

They opened with a heartfelt homage to Texas music as frontman Brandon Flowers broke into a rock-infused rendition of “Whiskey River” — the traditional set opener of Austin icon Willie Nelson — complete with an electrifying harmonica solo.

Flowers’ showmanship stole the night. He’s a perfect frontman — charismatic and magnetic, harnessing the energy of Liberace with the self-assured swagger of a contemporary rock star.

He blossomed while revisiting the band’s hits like “All These Things That I’ve Done” and “When You Were Young.” His vocal tone and inflections recalled David Bowie or David Byrne, packaged in the powerhouse delivery of Tom Jones.

Just when you thought the performance couldn’t get more meaningful, Flowers launched into a stunning rendition of Willie’s “Always on My Mind.” It was a moment tailored just for us — intimate, soulful, and deeply Texan.

Flowers’ passion and conviction exceeded every expectation, and he constantly expressed thanks to the audience, flashing a grin that never left his face.

The band’s synergy onstage was undeniable but a special mention goes to guitarist Ted Sablay, whose precision and skill were on full display throughout the performance.

The encore brought “Spaceman” and, of course, “Mr. Brightside.” Even in the final moments, Flowers made sure to connect with fans on every side of the stage. 

Olivia Dean exudes effortless grace and genuine warmth — rare qualities among singers today. In her ACL debut, she attracted thousands of festival-goers to the American Express stage, where she danced as she sang with vibrant depth.

Performing with a full band, her music brings to mind the classically inspired Laufey and the raw soul of legend Amy Winehouse, paired with true joy that transcends both. 

The set’s sweetest moment was “Carmen,” an ode to her grandmother — an immigrant from the Caribbean, whose bravery, Dean said, inspires her to this day.

“The only place I want to stand is holding on to grandma’s hand,” she sang, before saying all immigrants should be celebrated — to a loud cheer from the audience. As fan Dean Domingo, 26, said, “She’s like Dua Lipa’s little sister, (and) she’s on her way up.” –Lily Kepner

Rising country singer-songwriter Dylan Gossett could easily become the next Morgan Wallen.

Born and raised in Austin, Gossett has only been performing for about five years yet has already landed a midday slot on the biggest stage of Austin’s biggest music festival — a rare feat, as most local acts are typically relegated to sparsely attended morning performances. It feels like Austin is experiencing a new country revival, fitting given the city’s deep roots in the genre through legends like Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker and, of course, Willie Nelson. Gossett leans a bit more rock and Americana, but check out his July 2025 release “Westward,” and look for him on more big stages soon. 

Panda Bear got the Beatbox stage singing in color on Friday. Finally! After a morning of watching embryonic stars-in-waiting like Spill Tab and Jensen McRae, Panda Bear showed that when your flirtation with pop success comes 27 years into a career of making heralded experimental records, your muscle memory is a mismatch — especially when you’ve got a taste for “Pet Sounds” and a shiny Telecaster.

“Wait, I thought Panda Bear was a DJ?” an indie rock colleague who should know better asked me afterward. No dude, this is Brian Wilson playing The Who. Layered, sunny vocals and stripped-down-to-the-nuts-and-bolts guitar rock.

The Baltimore-raised singer, born Noah Benjamin Lennox, strummed textbook, familiar grooves like “Praise.” He accentuated them with four-part vocal harmonies, splashed with samplers. Reddit onlookers have clocked his backup singers performing with a Hologram Chroma Control, which produces all sorts of rad, vintage distortion.

Zilker Park looked more like Medellín when Feid hit the stage on Sunday. The crowd shimmered in yellow, blue and red sombreros vueltiaos — some even dyed Feid’s signature neon green. Colombia was loudly present. Everywhere you turned, someone was yelling “FERXXO!” (pronounced “fer-cho”) or waving a flag.

I met Briana Levario and Tonny Trocha Morelos, who plays for the Colombian national basketball team. They told me about his roots and her first visits to Colombia, swapping notes on food, slang and why Colombian Spanish just sounds sexier. Another guy, Derek Puerta, spotted me with my flag, and somehow we ended up forming a mini Colombian block party. People were groseros — loud-mouthed, in the best way — and totally lit.

Feid sprinted from one side of the stage to the other with wild breath control, rapping hits like “Perro Negro” (with Bad Bunny), “La Inocente,” and “Hey Mor.” Green flames shot up, sparkles rained down and a massive green face hovering above the stage grinned back at us. When he pointed at the moon, the crowd screamed “¡LUNA!” Honestly, same. Feid’s set wasn’t just a show; it was a love letter to Colombia. And everyone there knew the words.

When Role Model appeared on the T-Mobile stage Friday, fans let out the kind of scream usually reserved for pop superstars — or a Hinge match who actually texts back. Dressed in Miu Miu glasses, a white cowboy hat and a white tank that showed off tattooed arms, he looked every bit the self-declared internet alter ego “Saint Laurent cowboy.”

Beyond the peak excitement of a Hilary Duff cameo on “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out,” it was one of Friday’s most crowded sets. Fans twirled each other to “Slip Fast” and “The Longest Goodbye,” a song that sounds like Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” — if it had commitment issues. He even slipped in a cover of The 1975’s “Somebody Else,” announcing, “We’re the 1965” to a chorus of laughter. 

T-Pain admitted to the crowd Sunday evening that at 41 years old, he’s not as spry as he used to be. He said his knees ached simply seeing the size of the American Express stage. After a few songs, the Tallahassee, Florida native ditched his cowboy hat and his leather, Wild-West themed motorcycle jacket.

He said he’d made the mistake of designing his ACL Fest outfit in air-conditioned comfort.

But the artist’s energy was unmatched among the performers from this weekend. T-Pain glided across the stage, each body part moving as if it had a mind of its own. His hit songs had unique twists — from “Up Down” being played over the beat from Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” to mixing in Travis Scott’s “Fein” with “Kiss, Kiss.”

Unlike some other artists, T-Pain’s one-of-a-kind performance had his audience bumping from the moment he stepped out of his saloon set-piece. Not bad for a 20-year industry vet. 

When The Dare hit the stage Saturday, it wasn’t just a set — it was the party. And yes, everyone was invited.

His crowd started loose but by the end, you couldn’t move without bumping into someone dancing, jumping or hitting a vape. Noey DiFueia said he saw the artist, also known as Harrison Smith, perform at Coachella in the spring, where he spotted Charli XCX at the barricade. Honestly, makes sense. The Dare is that cool. Like, how-many-times-can-I-say-cool-before-it-loses-meaning cool.

He opened with “You’re Invited,” swung his mic like a weapon, sipped, spat, dropped to the floor and rose again — all while swapping between keys and soundboards. When his glasses fell off, the crowd cheered. When he said, “You look good,” they screamed. It’s indie sleaze 2.0 — sure, some might say LCD Soundsystem, but The Dare is 2025 energy: dirty, sexy, self-aware chaos.

Somewhere between “Sex” and “I Can’t Escape Myself,” people began losing it. One person was even evacuated. The Dare didn’t miss a beat. Literal mic drop. The epitome of “hot people dancing at 3 p.m.”

They played ACL Fest in 2022, but Wet Leg have exploded in popularity since then. Rhian Teasdale came out with her guns blazing, flexing her toned biceps before launching into “catch these fists” from their new album “moisturizer,” released in July.

The other half of Wet Leg, Hester Chambers, struggles with social anxiety on stage. She shredded guitar riffs with her back turned to the crowd for most of the set. The duo played their hits early, then treated us to live versions of their newer songs, shipped all the way from the UK’s Isle of Wight.

Teasdale stole the show in a pink bikini top and silver ruffled hot pants, calf-high socks and sneakers with wings on the sides like Apollo. She wore silver Playboy bunny earrings, and a brace swaddled her left knee. Accompanied by Chambers’ masterful guitar work, Teasdale has all the raw dominance and unbridled sensuality to be the next Courtney Love. They are ushering a new wave of “hardened femininity” into the mainstream pop music landscape. 

Before the music even started, Doechii drew an eager roar from the audience simply saying her name into the mic. That energy never wavered, and the crowd howled as if watching a lion devour a warrior in the Roman Colosseum with every booty shake. The rapper also known as Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon, has mastered her flow, spitting smooth, intentional rhymes. She understood and appreciated the power she was wielding onstage and puppeteered the mass of concertgoers with a wag of her gold-braceleted wrist.

She commanded the crowd to scream “Alter Ego” to usher in her 2024 song of the same name that she made with JT. The track began with a house music structure, then built up an irresistible bounce as the heavy bass set in. At the peak of the song, Doechii leaned backwards, as if about to do a backbend, and paused upside down to soak in the moment: a sunset Saturday performance on ACL’s most coveted stage. Thousands of screaming fans cheered her on.

Tyler, the Creator held a similar space on ACL Fest’s big stage last year, but even his magnetism couldn’t fill out the space quite like Doechii, who’s only onstage company was a DJ. Her control of rhythm, presence and audience was all-encompassing. We were hers. Completely.  

Empire of the Sun turned ACL into a neon daydream — equal parts mystic ritual and Tumblr-era revival — on Friday night. Vocalist Luke Steele appeared in a bright red kimono and half-sun headpiece, framed by two massive sculpted faces and a stage scattered with bonsai trees and temple projections. Dancers shimmered behind masks, smoke curled at the edges and chimes transitioned songs.

By sunset, the Texas sky had gone full cinematic — egg-like red lamps pulsed as Steele bowed toward the crowd, then climbed back up to lead hits like “Walking on a Dream,” “We Are The People,” “The Spin” and “Alive.” Neon face paint, weed haze and joy filled the field. It was theatrical, nostalgic and a little unhinged.

When the lights dropped to usher in a special guest during Sabrina Carpenter’s Saturday set, the crowd roared with the kind of anticipation usually reserved for a Taylor Swift concert — only to see Shania Twain strut onstage instead. The two launched into “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” and just like that, Sabrina Carpenter turned surprise into supremacy. It wasn’t Taylor’s era anymore — it was hers.

Gone were the sparkles of “Short n’ Sweet.” In their place: cowgirl curls and gingham print.

She cracked jokes  — “Everything’s bigger in Texas” — line-danced through “Manchild,” and made fans scream back the words to “Good Graces.” Around her, girls gasped over texts and breakups. It was Sabrina’s world, in real time.

Shania’s cameo was the showstopper — with the crowd’s collective gasp, and a duet that bridged generations of pop-country power. From there, it was pure confidence—“Nonsense,” “Feather,” a steamy “Bed Chem” remix of Ginuwine’s “Pony” and a cheeky shoutout to Djo (Joe Keery) in the crowd.

By the time “Espresso” closed the night — fireworks, lights, and thousands singing every word — Sabrina Carpenter had done what few at ACL could: turned a festival set into a main-character moment. The year’s biggest pop star didn’t just headline the weekend. She owned it.