Now a festival known and attended by a worldwide audience, Austin City Limits Music Festival had to get its start somewhere. It first took place in Zilker Park in 2002, and unlike the first two weekends of October we’ve come to know and love, this beginning festival took place on only two days in September. Over the last 17 years, Austinites and others have flocked to the event, and it has grown to be two three-day weekends featuring artists such as Billie Eilish and Cardi B that can claim over 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Story by Lawson Freeman
Photos courtesy of ACL
But the festival’s first lineup saw a lot of country and rock music. Some of the artists still popular today include Ryan Adams, Pat Green, Wilco, Jack Ingram and Reckless Kelly. A few artists were even seen on this year’s lineup — Gary Clark Jr. and the classic Asleep at the Wheel.
The first ACL lineup from 2002.
This original lineup set a tone for the biggest music festival in the southern region of the United States, but some argue the festival has now taken a step in a different direction. Originally started by the company now known as C3 Presents, the festival was largely taken over by Live Nation Entertainment (an American events promoter and venue operator) in fall 2014, according to the Austin Chronicle. Since then, the festival has begun to include artists that diverge from the original event in 2002.
Recently ACL Fest has pulled in a lot of artists similar to those performing at Lollapalooza, a music festival based in Chicago. Some of the overlapping artists in 2019 include Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, Kacey Musgraves, King Princess and several others.
Despite the similarities between these two festivals, this year’s ACL lineup seems to be a far cry from the event’s folkier beginnings. Around 2010, the festival began to include more artists from the genres of pop and EDM like Deadmau5, Vampire Weekend and M.I.A. Still, this lineup retained artists — like Pete Yorn, Spoon, and Norah Jones — in the indie-rock category.
Some of the first headlining rap artists were Kendrick Lamar in 2013 and Eminem in 2014, right about the time of Live Nation Entertainment’s introduction. Since then, big artists have included Drake, Jay Z, Chance the Rapper, Travis Scott, Brockhampton, Cardi B, Lil Uzi Vert, and 21 Savage.
As we near the end of this ACL 2019, festival-goers can only wonder: What will the lineup look like next year?
