Austin City Limits delivered two packed weekends full of heat, beats, and dust, with standout performances from LP Giobbi, Disco Lines, Confidence Man, and more.
Austin, TX – Austin City Limits returned to Zilker Park for another round of festival delights Oct. 3–5 and 10–12, delivering world-class music talent to Austin for the fest’s 23rd annual installment.
Broadly, ACL serves as a proverbial Swiss Army Knife sort of festival, offering a wide berth of bigger artists spanning a smorgasbord of genres. Big and bubbling under names across pop, country, rock, and hip hop have historically been the main draws of its sizable lineups, but the electronic contingent has been ticking up considerably in recent years. 2025’s edition boasted some big names for electronic music fans, including DJ talent like John Summit, LP Giobbi, and Zeds Dead as well as crossover live acts such as Polo & Pan and Confidence Man. This year, the fest once again boasted two weekends of music programming, offering a mostly identical lineup (with some specific exceptions) for fans attending either portion.
In addition to ACL, festival production company C3 Presents’ portfolio includes iconic event brands like Lollapalooza and Governors Ball, and that expertise was on full display this year with the fest running like a well-oiled machine. Bathrooms, bars, and hydration stations were plentiful, with lines rarely extending past a minute or two wherever you went. Of particular note was the free shuttle service taking patrons from Austin’s Downtown to the event grounds, which ran consistently all day during and after the gates closed and allowed denizens to avoid the somewhat difficult logistics the city’s layout lends itself to.
DJ LIFE Magazine braved the walls of dust and scorching sun to take on ACL’s second weekend, catching incredible electronic music talent as well as crossover favorites. Here’s what we saw:
Friday
The first day of ACL was lighter on dance music fare for the rave heads, as Irish rocker Hozier and country star Luke Combs headlined the evening. Confidence Man’s set in the Tito’s Vodka tent was the natural destination for those heeding the clubland’s call.
After canceling their pre-fest side-show at Antone’s due to a last-minute emergency, the Australian group headed into ACL Weekend Two with vocalist Janet Planet afflicted with a severe ankle sprain. Despite trading their usual swing and cheer-inspired flips and floor routines for a pair of crutches and a wheelchair, the band still managed to turn the tent into a rave with their dancefloor-ready tracks like opener “Now U Do” (a collab with Swedish DJ/producer DJ Seinfeld) and the anthemic “Holiday.” The whole thing was simultaneously a display of impressive resilience (The punk-inspired imagery of waving a crutch in the air during a defiant performance of “So What”) and playful silliness (Fellow vocalist Sugar Bones pushing Planet around the stage in a wheelchair as she served 90s house diva energy on “Feels Like A Different Thing”), a fitting dichotomy for the act.
Other Highlights
- Rilo Kiley brought the fest’s millennial crowd out in full force for the Weekend Two-exclusive performance on the Beatbox stage as part of their ongoing reunion tour. They delivered an expectedly subdued performance, but that’s not a knock on them: the band’s big singles like “Portions for Foxes” and “Silver Lining” still go off.
Saturday
Saturday felt like the busiest day of the fest when it came to foot traffic, probably due to pop megastar Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining set on the American Express stage that evening.
One of the highlights of the entire weekend was LP Giobbi’s takeover of the Tito’s Vodka tent that evening. The sunset performance saw the Eugene, OR-born, Austin, TX-based artist (real name Leah Chisholm) delivering an inspired showcase of her musical talents with a hybrid set that saw her begin seated at piano while joined by the local SoCo Women’s Chorus. After a pair of live tracks with the chorus, the piano was wheeled away and replaced with Chisholm behind the decks without missing a beat as crowd members were welcomed onstage to dance.
Throughout the rest of the set, Chisholm delivered a euphoric collection of groovy house and tech-house full of very clever selections which played heavily to Austin’s historic identity as a live music capital. Key highlights? Edits of classic tracks like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “Could You Be Loved” that were absolutely devoured by the tent’s packed crowd. It all felt really special, taking on an almost LP Giobbi sound system sort of vibe.
Other Highlights
- Speaking of Sabrina Carpenter, the pint-sized popstar delivered a phenomenal performance with charisma and stage presence that felt beyond her years. Drawing what was likely the weekend’s largest crowd, her set focused primarily on cuts from 2024’s Short n’ Sweet and her latest LP Man’s Best Friend. Carpenter herself delivered near pitch-perfect vocals across witty, infectious singles “Manchild, “Taste,” and “Tears.” Weekend Two attendees were even treated to special guests The Chicks during the set, who dueted with Carpenter on their single “Wide Open Spaces” and her own “Please, Please, Please.”
- Marina braved the brightest hour of the Austin afternoon sun on the American Express stage by channeling the 8-bit aesthetics of her recent LP Princess of Power. After telling the crowd she was recovering from a recent illness, the Welsh alt-popstar asked for help singing the chorus of her Tumblr-favorite anthem “How to Be a Heartbreaker.” Our favorite moments? The crowd’s reaction to another Electra Heart single “Primadonna” as well as the singer’s revisit of the spunky, existential early cut “Are You Satisfied?”
- A special shoutout to the head-sized, butter-drenched soft pretzel from South Austin’s own Koko’s Bavarian. It was both physically and spiritually revitalizing after two days of dancing.
Sunday
Even though the crowd’s shuffling was noticeably slower and the air was exponentially dustier by the fest’s final day, Disco Lines brought the party and injected a jolt of adrenaline into the sea of dancers at the packed Miller Lite stage on Sunday afternoon. The Colorado-based DJ/producer delivered a set full of big room EDM mostly through his own productions and edits, many in the form of peppering iconic crossover vocals like Ashanti’s hook on “What’s Luv?” onto builds and drops.
Disco Lines truly had the crowd–heavily populated by the city’s sizable college-aged crowd–in the palm of his head, particularly with moments like an early transition from the cheeky “Techno + Tequila” into a remix of the Gorillaz perennial favorite “Dare” and later a rework of Princess Superstar and Mason’s sassy dance classic “Perfect (Exceeder)”. Of course, it’s no surprise that the entire crowd sang along to “No Broke Boys,” us included.
Other Highlights
- French electronic pair Polo & Pan delivered a groovy live set to soundtrack the Miller Lite stage post-sunset ahead of a DJ set at their official aftershow at The Concourse Project later that evening. Joined throughout the set by vocalist Zoe Madimmi, the duo welcomed the night with energetic cuts like the pulsing, futuristic “The Mirror” and a sultry, electro-tinged take on “Jacquadi”.
The Killers – Austin City Limits Music Festival 2025
- Despite being a late announcement following Doja Cat’s cancellation, The Killers’ closing night headlining set was an absolute delight. Vocalist Brandon Flowers went full Las Vegas showman with his performance, energizing the crowd from the iconic opening lines of the evergreen “Mr. Brightside” all the way to the soaring chorus of the set’s closer “When You Were Young.” It was the sort of set surgically designed to stop people from “leaving early to beat the traffic.”
For more information about Austin City Limits, head to ACLFestival.com.
