Austin City Limits Music Festival
annual music festival held in Texas
Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, on two consecutive three-day weekends and is inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series Austin City Limits. The festival is produced by Austin-based company C3 Presents, which also produces Chicago’s Lollapalooza.
The ACL Music Festival has eight stages where musical groups from genres including rock, indie, country, folk, electronic, and hip hop perform. The concert starts at 11am and ends 10pm on each day during the festival at various stages spread out in the park. In 2025, the festival drew 75,000 attendees per day for six days, for a total attendance of 450,000. In addition to the music performances, there are food and drinks, an art market, a kids area for families and other activities for attendees.
History
Founded in 2002, the festival began as a one-weekend event and remained as such through until 2012. On August 16, 2012, Austin City Council members voted unanimously to allow the Austin City Limits Music Festival to expand to two consecutive weekends beginning in 2013. Artists who have played at the festival include Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weeknd, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses, Tame Impala, Robyn, Arcade Fire, Muse, The Strokes, Vampire Weekend, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, Oasis, Austin native Gary Clark Jr., Willie Nelson, Kendrick Lamar, and more.
In July 2020, the festival was called off due to the COVID-19 crisis.
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