This year’s Austin City Limits festival packed quite a punch. During our time at Weekend 2 from Friday to Sunday (October 13-15), we caught some of the hottest artists of 2023. These included Lil Yachty fresh off his Let’s Start Here album, The 1975 one year removed from their October 2022 Being Funny In a Foreign Language LP, Hozier two months after dropping Unreal Unearth, and much more.
Videos by American Songwriter
Check out our five favorite moments from ACL 2023 below.
Lil Yachty – Friday (10/13)
Hitting the American Express stage at 4:10 p.m. CT, an hour after Nessa Barrett’s set ended, Lil Yachty opened his performance by playing Let’s Start Here songs like “drive ME crazy!” and “the ride,” joined by his eclectic psych-rock band. Quickly, though, he transitioned into a medley of his career hits, igniting the already-eager crowd to a collective roar.
These songs included “Yacht Club” featuring Juice WLRD (2018), “Minnesota” (2016), “Broccoli” with DRAM (2016), and “TESLA,” which was released in August.
Kendrick Lamar – Friday (10/13)
At the same American Express stage Lil Yachty graced, Kendrick Lamar delivered a stunning headlining performance three hours later. Along with rapping many of his most beloved hits from the last decade, dating back to his October 2012 good kid, m.A.A.d city album, Lamar also sprinkled in some overlooked releases from his collaborative catalog such as “Nosetalgia” with Pusha T (2013) and “Sidewalks” with The Weeknd (2016).
[RELATED: Kendrick Lamar Crafts Setlist for “Day 1s” at Austin City Limits 2023]
Rina Sawayama – Saturday (10/14)
Though Rina Sawayama had a bit of a one-sided spat with The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy earlier this year, due to insensitive racial comments he made towards Ice Spice, that did not stop her from rocking the same stage he would headline later in the day. Hitting the Honda stage at 4:00 p.m. CT on Saturday, where she swapped outfits from a flowing white dress to a tight red one-piece, Sawayama provided an enchanting blend of songs from her two most recent albums, SAWAYAMA (2023) and Hold The Girl (2022).
Additionally, she debuted an unreleased song titled “Scream It,” which she described as “giving [a] classic rock flavor with a stompy beat.” This served as the final live performance on her more than two-year-long tour.
The 1975 – Saturday (10/14)
Just hours after Sawayama departed, Healy and his band captured the undivided attention of Honda stage attendees. Performing Being Funny In a Foreign Language songs like “Looking For Somebody (To Love)” and “About You,” Healy worked the crowd as if he had a remote control, garnering thunderous echoes of the song lyrics and ground-shaking applauses between tracks.
Little Simz – Sunday (10/15)
Ten months removed from her December 2022 studio album No Thank You, laid-back British MC Little Simz had the Austin crowd in awe on Sunday. Inhabiting the T-Mobile stage from 5:15-6:15 p.m. CT, Simz was able to reel in the willing crowd even though they knew none of her lyrics.
Rapping fan favorites like “Gorilla” (2022) and “Selfish” (2019), she wisely found the easiest portions of each track for ACL-ers to chant back at her, which unsurprisingly worked like a charm.
Photos by Greg Noire (Lil Yachty, Little Simz), Pooneh Ghana (Kendrick), Quinn Tucker (Rina Sawayama), and Dusana Risovic (The 1975) for ACL Fest 2023
