Austin City Limits Festival 2026: W1, Day One Was One For The Books!

Austin City Limits Music Festival returned to Zilker Park for its 25th anniversary this year, and wow, was it a year that we will always remember!

This year, things were slightly different compared to previous years. The Austin weather graced us with rain leading up to the festival, and unfortunately turned the park into a mud pit, but that was not going to stop us from having the best time we could have!

The Merch

When we entered the festival gates the first thing we did was go see the artist and festival merch available. It was really incredible seeing all the artists’ merch and custom pieces that were designed for them performing at the festival, many artists had a T-Shirt with their design on the front as well as Austin City Limits Music Festival on the back, and the dates that they were playing.

Next, we went to the festival merch tent and got a peek at what this year’s merchandise was. The festival had a clothing collaboration with Daily Drills, which got a lot of people’s attention. As usual, there were multiple pins, stickers, blankets and shirts that were being sold this year, there was something for everyone!

The Miller Lite Stage

We started our day watching Faouzia at the Miller Lite stage and wow, her voice was incredibly majestic, everyone in the audience just stood and watched in awe, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for her future! We walked around the park and caught some of the activities available before coming back to the Miller Lite stage to watch Paris Paloma, who also drew in a pretty big crowd. 

One of the artists on the lineup that was on everybody’s radar was Rebecca Black, who was performing at the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the area around the stage was full of ankle deep mud/water, but that didn’t stop fans from getting a bit dirty to see the singer, it was honestly quite a vibe. Rebecca came on stage and everyone cheered in excitement and immediately started dancing to her music.

Despite the muddy environment, fans were making every moment as fun as possible. We then made our way to the Hacienda PATRÓN popup where Romy from The xx was having a DJ set! It was pretty cool being so close to one of the festival headliners. 

Next, we made our way over to the T-Mobile stage to see the one and only Turnstile. The band came out and immediately everyone got in a rock mood. Despite the mud, fans were moshing, headbanging and screaming their lungs out, they were letting it all out. The festival screens showed a mix of the band, as well as fans out in the crowd! It was a pretty cool production to see.

As the night was slowly coming to an end, we were making our way to the American Express stage to see Charli XCX, along the way we managed to watch some of Leon Thomas’ set as well as The Chainsmokers.

Charli XCX

Our final set of the night was Charli XCX, and oh my gosh, it was a set to remember. The set was full of fan favorites from ‘BRAT’ like ‘360,’ ‘Apple,’ ‘Club Classics’ and even featured songs from her newest album Music, Fashion, Film like ‘Rock Music,’ ‘Card Declined’ and ‘Yeah.’ The set was full of intense vocals, incredible choreography and strobe lights that lit up the park.

Many fans were expecting Lorde to come out and sing ‘Girl, so confusing,’ BUT we got a surprise no one expected, Troye Sivan came out and performed two songs from his upcoming album, ‘Le Boy’ and ‘Party.’ The attendees screamed so loud, it was a moment to remember. Charli finished her set with ‘SS26’ followed by ‘No One Lasts Forever,’ thus concluding day one of ACL Music Fest.

Were you be at ACL with us? What set did you wish you saw on Weekend One? Let us know in the comments below or chat with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Discord.

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