Austin’s annual festival blowout returns in October for two weekends of music spanning pop’s biggest names, bubbling under trendsetters, and, of course, killer DJ talent.
Austin, Texas – If it’s early Autumn in Central Texas, it’s time for hundreds of thousands of Austinites and cowboy boot-adorned visitors to descend upon Zilker Park for the city’s annual Austin City Limits festival, running October 3-5 and 10-12.
Produced by C3 Presents (the company behind Chicago’s Lollapalooza), the festival has expanded exponentially since its inaugural, single-weekend installment in 2002. It now offers two full weekends of programming across seven stages, with an eclectic lineup of artists that offers something for just about any music fan.
This year’s headliners represent a veritable grab bag of some of the biggest names in mainstream pop, rock, and rap, including Sabrina Carpenter, The Killers, T-Pain, The Strokes, and Doechii. Elsewhere, the undercard of this year’s lineup represents an intersection of millennial heroes (Rilo Kiley, Modest Mouse) and bubbling-under favorites (Japanese Breakfast, Magdalena Bay).
Meanwhile, the electronic portion of the card has expanded over the last few years, with the 2025 installment pillared by festival DJ stalwarts like John Summit and Disco Lines and flanked by clubland-adjacent acts such as The Dare, Confidence Man, and Polo & Pan. It’s a strong showing of international DJ talent for the Austin electronic music scene, which has been attracting bigger and bigger names over the past few years at venues like The Concourse Project and Kingdom Nightclub.
DJ LIFE has picked out the top DJs (and a few other highlights) to check out if you’re headed to the festival this year:
LP Giobbi
Where & When: Saturday, Oct. 4 & 11, 6:30 PM @ Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Hailing from Eugene, Ore., far, far away from your usual DJ’s nightclub dancefloors, LP Giobbi (the stage name of Leah Chisholm) is a DJ, producer, and classically trained jazz pianist. With a stunningly prolific production discography covering everything from stadium-ready piano house to remixes of Jerry Garcia and Taylor Swift, Chisholm has delivered no shortage of impeccable productions – including her pensive 2024 LP Dotr – for nearly a decade.
Outside the studio, Chisholm’s DJ sets have become just as essential as her productions. Even beyond the fact that she incorporates live keyboards into her DJ sets, she brings a very distinct musicality to her sets: think sweeping soundscapes, big vocals, and bouncing basslines.
You’re not going to see much like her set at ACL 2025: don’t miss it!
Sammy Virji
Where & When: Saturday, Oct. 4, 7:15 PM @ Miller Lite (Weekend 1 only)
Fresh off the release of his new LP Same Day Cleaning last month, the London-based DJ and producer is ready to bring the spirit of UK Garage to Zilker Park for an early evening set of slick basslines. Virji is a master mixer, able to quickly cycle through a high volume of tracks in a set without sacrificing smooth transitions or losing the groove. You can expect to hear some of his recent collaborations with big club and festival names like Skepta, Chris Lake, and MJ Cole, so if you’re attending Weekend 1, get your feet to Virji’s dancefloor.
The Dare
Where & When: Sunday, Oct. 5 & 12, 3:15 PM @ Miller Lite
With productions that deftly blur the line between authentic and ironic nostalgia of the dancefloors of the early aughts, The Dare never fails to make crowds dance with grooves bringing brash electroclash back en vogue while keeping things distinctly tongue in cheek.
Since the release of the blaring punk-influenced 2022 anthem “Girls” that bravely proclaimed, “I like the girls who do drugs,” the Brooklyn-based artist has released his debut LP (2024’s What’s Wrong with New York?) and nabbed a Grammy nomination in 2025 for his work on Charli XCX & Billie Eilish’s “Guess” remix. He released the Freakquencies: Volume 1 EP (named for his ongoing party series) in August, going far beyond the indie sleaze revival in favor of dipping through club-tested genres like acid house on “Kick” and “Equalizer” as well as the French Touch-inspired “Exhilaration.”
Try and get at least a little bit of sleep on Saturday: you’ll need it for The Dare’s set.
Disco Lines
Where & When: Sunday, Oct. 5 & 12, 5:15 PM @ Miller Lite
It was nearly impossible to go to any location with speakers this summer without hearing the undeniable earworm that is the chorus of Disco Lines’ remix of Tinashe’s “No Broke Boys.” Dropping in June, the track has taken over clubs, radio, and your TikTok algorithm with swift efficiency. The ACL crowd is sure to eat up this track when the Colorado-based DJ/producer drops it, but the rest of the set promises just as big of original productions with chunky basslines and radio-ready vocals.
Other Highlights:
Confidence Man
The Australia-born, UK-based group has been on a tear since the release of their third LP, 3 AM (La La La), in 2024, with raved out pop singles “I Can’t Lose You” and “Real Move Touch” providing a natural runway to their even more club-ready remix album, aptly titled 5 AM (La La La), seeing them collaborate with dance legends Orbital and The KLF and playing festivals all over the world. At ACL, you can expect to see vocalists Janet Planet and Sugar Bones spinning and flipping all over the stage while the signature black veiled members jam out for an hour-long set that provides very few breaks for you to stop dancing.
In town but not headed to the fest? Don’t miss their official ACL aftershow at Antone’s on Thursday, October 2. They’ll be supported by local Austin favorite DJ Bad Apple, who always delivers incredibly smooth house grooves that have gotten gigs with TSHA and DJ Holographic this year alone.
Polo & Pan
The phrase “French electronic music duo” may first conjure images of a certain helmet-wearing pair, but don’t let that distract you from catching Polo & Pan over on the Miller Lite stage on Sunday either weekend. Expect tracks from their latest LP 22:22 (released in March) as you dance to their sleek, subdued synth productions while the sun goes down on the final evening of the weekend. If you’re not headed to the fest, they’re also DJing an official afterparty at The Concourse Project on Sun, October 12.
For more information, head to ACLFestival.com.