Bandleader Evan Dando took the album out on the road, performing it in full at a series of European shows. They also opened for Jawbreaker at a Los Angeles show in April and were set to open for more dates, but were dropped from the tour in such a way that Dando ended up calling Jawbreaker “pussies.”

The Lemonheads also recently released an expanded 30th anniversary edition of It’s A Shame About Ray, featuring a second disc with their cover of Mrs Robinson, acoustic versions, radio sessions and more.

Tour Dates:
11.17 Lititz, PA Mickey’s Black Box
11.18 Toronto, ON Phoenix Theatre
11.19 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
11.20 Bloomington, IL The Castle Theater
11.21 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
11.23 Billings, MT Pub Station
11.25 Seattle, WA Showbox
11.26 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
11.28 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
11.29 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s
12.1 San Diego, CA House Of Blues
12.2 Santa Ana, CA Observatory
12.3 Las Vegas, NV House Of Blues
12.4 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex
12.5 Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre
12.7 Kansas City, MO Madrid Theatre
12.9 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
12.10 Chicago, IL Metro
12.11 Detroit, MI Saint Andrew’s Hall
12.12 Washington, D.C. 9.30 Club
12.14 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
12.15 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge
12.16 New Jersey, NJ White Eagle Hall
12.17 Boston, MA Paradise *

11.18 w/ Rusty, The Nils
11.25 – 12.9 w/ Bass Drum Of Death
11.25 – 12.17 w/ On Being An Angel
12.9 – 12.17 w/ Juliana Hatfield

Straight away it was clear that this would not be a legacy tour where the band just plays their most popular songs. Much of the set consisted of songs from their new album, The Tipping Point, and for good reason. This critically acclaimed album is on par with their first three and in some ways even better.

Sure the fan demographic definitely skewed toward those who grew up in the MTV generation but there was a fair representation of younger fans who most likely first experienced Tears for Fears through a video game or TV show. Regardless of how they got there the audience embraced this special moment, singing along and swaying to tune after tune. With the hits receiving the most enthusiasm from the crowd, Orzabal jokingly stated, “I guess a lot of you haven’t bought the new album yet.”

Vocally the band didn’t miss a beat, with co-founder Curt Smith sounding as good as ever and proving they are still able to move an audience in the most cathartic ways. You could sense the confidence in Orzabal and Smith’s harmonies as they hit as hard as ever and backing singer Carina Round pulled it all together with her gorgeous voice.

Setlist
No Small Thing
The Tipping Point
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Secret World / Let ‘Em In (Wings cover)
Sowing the Seeds of Love
Long, Long, Long Time
Break the Man
My Demons
Rivers of Mercy
Mad World
Suffer the Children
Woman in Chains
Badman’s Song
Pale Shelter
Break It Down Again
Head Over Heels / Broken

Encore
End of Night
Change
Shout

The eclectic lineup will also feature Diplo, ZHU, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Billy Strings, Wallows, Jazmine Sullivan, Tobe Nwigwe, The War on Drugs, Spoon, Conan Gray, Goose, Oliver Tree, Lil Durk, James Blake and Phoenix.

Both weekends will see performances from Jazmine Sullivan, Conan Gray, Omar Apollo, Japanese Breakfast, the Marías, Pinkpantheress, Arlo Parks, Noah Cyrus, Robert Glasper, Benee, Samia, the Midnight, Diplo, Wallows, and more.

Among the acts appearing exclusively during weekend one, spanning Oct. 7 through Oct. 9, are James Blake, Lil Durk, Carly Rae Jepsen, Goth Babe, Aly & AJ, Role Model, MUNA, Isaac Dunbar, Gayle, Slayyyter, and more. Weekend two, scheduled for Oct. 14 through Oct. 16, will host performances by Phoenix, Yungblud, Princess Nokia, Wet Leg, Lucky Daye, the Front Bottoms, Tom Odell, Glaive, Sloppy Jane, and more.

Three-day ticket sales for both weekends of the 2022 Austin City Limits festival begin Tuesday at 12 p.m. CT via the official ACL website. Single-day tickets will be made available later this spring.

Her 23 song set includes six songs from the latest album, Laurel Hell, with the rest pulled from her older material. The stage design is minimalistic, composed of a stage prop door and decorative stage lights. Mitski‘s movements are very deliberate as she runs and dances across the stage, somehow appearing apprehensive but totally in control. The tone and mood of the songs is shaped through her visual expressions  and the ever-changing lights pointed towards the audience.

The dedicated fans of Mitski adored every second of it, singing along, dancing and reveling in her presence.

Set List

Love Me More
Should’ve Been Me
Francis Forever
First Love / Late Spring
Me and My Husband
Stay Soft
Townie
I Don’t Smoke
Once More to See You
Nobody
I Will
Drunk Walk Home
Happy
Your Best American Girl
I Bet on Losing Dogs
The Only Heartbreaker
Geyser
Working for the Knife
Heat Lightning
Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart
Washing Machine Heart
A Pearl

Encore:

Two Slow Dancers

In 1998 the group officially disbanded but for the next ten years they performed on numerous occasions and in 2009 the band reformed. They continued performing, re-recorded some older hits and launched a very successful Kickstarter which resulted in the release of New Constellation in 2013. Another eight years would pass until Toad the Wet Sprocket entered the studio again to record the long-overdue next studio album, Starting Now.

We caught up with the band’s frontman Glen Phillips during their recent tour to discuss the new album, touring and life.

How did Starting Now come to be?
Actually, I started recording another solo record and I was really loving the songs and I was thinking, why am I doing a solo record right now? What am I trying to prove? It’s been a long time since I wanted people to hear these songs. If I put this on a solo record, then I don’t get to play them on a Toad record and I just think I finally took the chip off my shoulder about the band. We’ve been in those years too, we changed. Randy (Guss), our original drummer, left the band and so we had to adjust to this idea of what we are right now and kind of figure out our new relationships with each other because we’ve been together for 35 years. So it’s a very familial dynamic and I had this realization that I’d rather make a Toad record than a solo record, which was really surprising to me and quite welcome. I quit what I was working on and we started recording and next thing we knew, it was lockdown. So, there’s definitely a bit of a rewriting process of some of the songs that had been kind of topical, which is always a dangerous place to go because unless you get things out really fast, being topical is like it’s deadweight even before it’s released. And beyond that, I think there was a realization that things are so ultra-polarized right now that I kept needing to try to zoom out and find something that was a little larger and a little more true than my perspective about the specific issues of the day. There’s a song called Hold On that went through major rewrites, it was originally about the child internment, splitting up families and it was a particularly heartbreaking subject and very timely, then the song didn’t come out, time moved on and then there was quarantine. Eventually it became as broad as I could write it, a lot of the songs probably carry on things that could be directly related to what’s happening or what was happening. During the time I just felt like I had to get back to the point, instead of here’s a particular injustice that’s going on right now, it had to be more of the question of how do you find a moral center, what’s the definition of hope. I entered this beautiful description of hopes, as opposed to the passivity of optimism or pessimism, which are either everything is going to be great so I don’t need to do anything or everything is going to hell so I don’t need to do anything, that hope is this position of activity where it’s like the outcome is uncertain but the moral imperative is clear. Hope is moving towards that moral imperative and doing what is right, despite whether or not it’s convenient and despite whether or not you think it will result in any response from the world. It’s that kind of a thing, do you do the thing that’s a little more difficult because it’s better, even when no one’s watching. So that ended up being a lot more of where the album focused. Yeah, it’s also got some love songs, which I hadn’t been writing for a while. It felt really nice to have love songs again and to be inspired to write them.

Was the album title reflective of a new beginning?
Yeah, well, once again, in terms of that, that was written actually about a year before lockdown. A few lines of it changed here and there, but it’s more about that. It’s the funny thing with good spiritual teachers, they just say the same thing over and over. So, for me, in the last five years, my big teachers have been people like Mary Oliver, Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. A lot of poets and a lot of Buddhists, and there seems to be this recurring theme with all of that, which is; the past is gone, the future is indeterminate and all you have is this moment, right? This is it, and so your job is to be as aware as possible and see how much you can be present for it, and how much you can be aware of what’s actually going on, and not your narratives about past or future or imagining what’s in everybody else’s head. I keep coming back to that, as kind of the only spiritual teaching that’s really helped. For me, which is starting where you are, I have all kinds of regrets, all kinds of things that I would redo or repave but in lieu of a time machine, the only thing I can actually control is this moment. And even that is up for grabs.

How does it feel to be on the road again?
So far, it’s been really wonderful. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed playing music for people and playing with the band. So that has been glorious and it’s also been a certain amount of stressful. We’re kind of heading into the territories that are perhaps less cautious about COVID and at this point, I kind of feel like people have chosen a lane. Except the difficulty in that when you’re touring is that if anyone in the band gets sick, then we’re shut down for two weeks, there’s no insurance and it’s just lost income. So there’s sometimes frustration when there’s resistance to trying to be careful about it just because it’s like, I’m trying to work. We’re just trying to get through the tour and I know a lot of people have been shut down. So yeah, I noticed that my general anxiety level got way better once we reached the point at which if we were shut down we wouldn’t lose tons of money after not having worked for two years.

If you had to choose between being a performer or a songwriter, which would you choose?
What’s the pay? If songwriting actually paid, I would be a songwriter. Just because as much as I love singing I feel like no one can take that from you and honestly, most of my favorite places to sing aren’t club shows. I’ve been doing a lot of community choir leading and stuff that’s just friends in a room together. I find that as much as I love performing for an audience there’s also something I really love about flattening the idea of performance, where things are entirely participatory and there’s not a sense of us and them. Which is why situations that bypass performer and audience relationships are really exciting to me and if I were a full time songwriter I could both wake up with my girlfriend and make coffee in the morning every day and I would still have those other means of performances. So COVID made me a little more of a homebody. I don’t think I’d been home that long in 20 years and I kind of liked it. Unfortunately, songwriting doesn’t pay so I tour and this isn’t to say that I don’t love touring. I do love it. I just would love for teleportation to exist, so I could have a carbon neutral way of just bopping to the venue and popping back into my house.

How did you spend your time during COVID?
I was a very active live streamer. During the last year, I did well over 200 live streams. I was doing three a week that were on Facebook and YouTube and then I would do StageIts on Sunday. Then I kept the choir, it’s like a drop in community choir. The best way to describe it is that it’s like church without any religion. So it’s kind of uplifting spiritual songs and the songs are designed to be quickly learned by nonprofessional musicians or so as any voice is welcome. There are a lot of people there who were kind of shamed out of singing or told that they shouldn’t sing. And it just feels good to sing. So there’s not a pressure to sing particularly well. It’s better to sing in tune, but it’s not required if you can’t and the songs tend to be counter melody, which is easier for non musicians to hold.They’re fairly repetitive songs but you just sink really deep into them. So you’re repeating a 15 second phrase maybe for five minutes. They’re easy to learn, easy to pick up, and they’re uplifting and they feel good. I’ve been doing that for about four years before COVID got shut down so I kind of kept leading those online, like using a looper to kind of guide people in doing it on Zoom. It wasn’t as good as in person, but it was something. I had five shows a week for a year and a half, so yeah, it was strange I didn’t dress up the stage, I didn’t sell tickets, I showed up as I was for free for at least three times a week, every week and kind of created a community and I was doing benefit shows and raising money for other people. It ended up being more like my songs were a backdrop for this community to develop where people would just be checking in on each other and kind of reaching out and making sure other people were okay. It was a really beautiful experience, actually a lot of those people are coming out to the shows now. And it’s been really kind of humbling to see what came into being just by showing up that regularly.

Following the release of Coil, the band broke up. You spent many years doing solo work, how would you compare your solo work to Toad work?
I always just wrote songs and those will kind of change depending on what I’m listening to or what I’m thinking about or feeling, more than anything else. But they’ve always had kind of a wide stylistic range that the band does a fantastic job of centering. Toad has such a signature sound, Todd (Nichols’) parts are so unique and are such a great counterpoint, about half the Toad songs are his music and the other half of the songs are just things I walk in with, but his playing and kind of the harmonies and Dean (Dinning’s) melodic sensibilities on the bass, no matter if I’m writing something that’s a little folkier or country or rock or just weird, the band would always bring it into the center place where it would have a feeling and an identity. I’ve never worked that out on my own and so I really noticed my songs are this kind of constant but the album making as a solo artist for me has been a very difficult process because I don’t know what I sound like. I know what I write like and I know what Toad sounds like but I have no idea what I sound like. So the albums are kind of all over the map and it makes me really appreciate the band to get together and do this. And even this record, we did two days of drum tracking and then things got shut down. The rest of the album we were just sending each other tracks via Dropbox, recording at home and then Mikal (Blue) mixed it. So it was very much self-produced, it’s like, here’s my part and somebody might say, I want to try that different and then a week later, I’d get to it and try something different, send it back out and a week later I’d get a response. It was a very slow process but mostly we were kind of responsible for our own corner and we all did a really good job of making room for everybody else. So it was a surprisingly smooth process that sounds very much like a cohesive record that we’d all worked out together.

What did you learn about yourself during COVID?
I’m still working on that. One is that it’s really good for me to slow down and stop doing, all the time. In certain ways it’s safe for me to have a home again. I got divorced seven years ago and I was very kind of itinerant and self indulgent and it was hard for me to settle down again. I think, moving in again and trusting that it’s safe to risk being hurt again, if that makes sense. All I want is a home and having lost one, I am so terrified of ever experiencing that pain again. But it’s been really difficult to just settle down and the situation, kind of not forced my hand, but tipped my hand into cohabitating again and after a few brief panic attacks, I found that I quite liked it. So it was really good for me personally that it’s actually worth that risk to allow myself to be with somebody again. So that was a fairly major one. And I don’t know, it brought back, what am I, what do I do in this world, I write songs, I sing songs, I found ways of continuing to do that and have it mean something to people, recorded the Toad album, just this last summer recorded his solo album, I’m still finishing that one up. I managed to keep myself occupied, but not just with busy work. It was good to feel like I was taking care of myself and I was really once again able to accept things as they were, was the big lesson. It’s always the lesson, right? It’s the strange thing about being a human being is, we’re able to do all these interesting things because of memory and because of the capacity for prediction. We remember how people act, we create models of people in our head, that help us determine expectations about their possible reactions to things we do in the future or we take samples of our current and past experiences and extrapolate those and that’s really useful, it gives us a framework to do so much, but the moments the only thing that actually exists and every spiritual teaching seems to come down to this focus on like, the past and the future fictions and the moment is all there is and how do you want to show up for today? And at the same time, there’s still whatever the modern day equivalents are of gathering wood for winter, you still have to have enough of the future in your head that you don’t just die when it gets cold. So those predictive capacities, but at the same time, I can tend to have a tendency towards predicting doomsdays and getting very anxious and trying to idiot proof the future, and being so afraid of all the things that could go wrong, that I don’t do anything. I’ve had a lot of reckoning with depression and anxiety and this year for me, I think, especially seeing it’s like, okay, now there’s a pandemic, looks like we have an authoritarian ruler, we’ve got massive divisions, we’ve got a breakdown of trust and of basic institutions and a loss of kind of a factual common ground, it’s almost split down in the middle, and what do you do with that? How do you react to that? How do you stay kind, how do I not become judgmental or hateful, or become the very things that I want to fight against. How do I keep an open heart and see the good in people who I disagree strongly with and not respond to anger that comes at me with more anger. It was such a fantastic test of all of those things. The answer that kept coming back was, show up, do your practices, get yourself centered, come back to kindness, be in the moment, forget what you think you know, and if there’s an irrational belief I try to hold, it’s that love wins and that people are good. I’m willing to state that that is an unprovable belief system that I have, but I’m aware of that. But I think it’s also worth me holding on to, because that’s where I derive my help. So, it’s been a big one for that, it was a major test, especially if you’re prone to depression, and you kind of know how your mind works. You have to have a relationship with the stories you tell yourself and how much you indulge them. If you are putting crap into your body that’s gonna mess up your serotonin levels. I want to be a happy healthy person who is useful to those around me, and is kind and isn’t always anxious. And so, the practices become much less esoteric when the shit hits the fan and they become much more practical.

“Interestingly enough, this song is the b-side to the Black Widow Spider single, which was released only in Japan via Big Love Records,” Andrew Savage said in a statement. “The music was recorded during the sessions for Sympathy for Life, but it was left unfinished. I recorded the vocals on my own to sort of keep from going stir crazy that first lockdown summer. Apologies to my neighbors for the long afternoon spent screaming these vocals in my bedroom.”

The performance on The Ellen Show comes ahead of their spring 2022 North American tour, set to begin on February 27th in Asheville, NC.

PARQUET COURTS – 2022 TOUR DATES
Sun. Feb. 27 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel *
Mon. Feb. 28 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre *
Wed. March 2 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
Thu. March 3 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn *
Fri. March 4 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom *
Sat. March 5 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant *
Mon. March 7 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall *
Tue. March 8 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room *
Thu. March 10 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue *
Fri. March 11 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall *
Sat. March 12 – Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre *
Sun. March 13 – Detroit, MI @ MOCAD *
Tue. Mar. 15 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
Wed. Mar. 16 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre *
Thu. March 17 – Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre *
Fri. March 18 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre *
Thu. March 31 – Boston, MA @ Royale #
Fri. April 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel $
Sat. April 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel #
Mon. April 4 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
Tue. April 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore %
Wed. April 20 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
Fri. April 22 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
Sat. April 23 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
Mon. April 25 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Wed. April 27 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Thu. April 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Theatre
Fri. April 29 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
Sat. April 30 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
Sat. May 21 – Paris, FR @ La Trianon
Sun. May 22 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Tue. May 24 – Cologne, DE @ Stollwerck
Wed. May 25 – Berlin, DE @ Heimathafen Neukölln
Fri. May 27 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich
Sat. May 28 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
Mon. May 30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. May 31 – Lille, FR @ Le Grand Mix
Wed. June 1 – Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
Fri. June 3 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Wed. June 8 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Thu. June 9 – London, UK @ Brixton O2 Academy
Sat. June 11 – Dublin, IE @ Helix
Sun. June 12 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Mon. June 13 – Leeds, UK @ Stylus
Wed. June 15 – Glasgow, UK @ The Barrowland Ballroom
Thu. June 16 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute

^ w/ P.E.
! w/ Public Practice
* w/ Mdou Moctar
# w/ Hailu Mergia
% w/ Sun Ra Arkestra
$ w/ Yu Su

This indie rock four-piece out of Salt Lake City, Utah is currently on their first North American tour which included stops at Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Music Fest. We caught up with them in Dallas for their show at Trees.

The musical energy emanating from the stage sounded much larger than the stage itself and the 600 plus fans took it all in. Frontman Josh Harmon appears to be very introverted when speaking to the crowd but once the song starts, the music takes over and he dominates the stage with his edgy vocals, tasty guitar riffs and frantic moves. It’s pure entertainment and the fans couldn’t get enough. Juice Welch on drums and KJ Ward on bass kept the rhythm driving all night while Jonas Swanson accompanied Josh on guitars.

They rocked all of their hits like Pool House, Sinking Ship, Maple Syrup and of course Kilby Girl. Fans sang along to every song, sometimes overpowering Josh’s own vocals, creating a synergy between them and the band.

If you didn’t get a chance to see them on their current tour, don’t be surprised when they are performing at much larger venues on their next.

Frontman Britt Daniel‘s described the album as “the sound of classic rock as written by a guy who never did get Eric Clapton.” It follows 2017’s Hot Thoughts and marks the first material that the band put together in their home city of Austin, TX in more than a decade. Daniel returns with Jim Eno, Alex Fischel, Gerardo Larios, and Ben Trokan. Bassist Rob Pope departed Spoon in the summer of 2019 after 13 years with the band.

The Hardest Cut was the first song Spoon (Daniel and keyboardist/guitarist Alex Fischel, to be exact) wrote for their new record.. The band co-produced Lucifer on the Sofa alongside Mark Rankin (Adele, Queens of the Stone Age), with additional contributions from Dave Fridmann and Justin Raisen.

Lucifer on the Sofa

01 Held
02 The Hardest Cut
03 The Devil & Mister Jones
04 Wild
05 My Babe
06 Feels Alright
07 On the Radio
08 Astral Jacket
09 Satellite
10 Lucifer on the Sofa

Even before the festival began, artist issues arose. Original headliner Stevie Nicks cancelled all of her 2021 shows due to COVID-19 concerns — stating, “These are challenging times with challenging decisions that have to be made. I want everyone to be safe and healthy and the rising Covid cases should be of concern to all of us. While I’m vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the 5 performances I had planned for 2021.” Duran Duran was brought in to replace Nicks.

Festival organizers, C3 Presents decided to drop DaBaby from its lineup after homophobic and misogynistic statements he made at Rolling Loud in Miami. During his performance, he went on a tirade targeting gay men, mocking them for having oral sex and insinuating that those living with HIV/AIDS are unclean. They later announced that he’d been replaced with Tyler, the Creator.

2021 saw ACL’s most female-forward lineup in it’s history, meanwhile the Texas Legislature passed the most restrictive abortion law in the country. Known as Senate Bill 8, bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy by allowing private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone else who helps a woman obtain the procedure. The law doesn’t include exceptions for victims of rape or incest. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation in May, and it took effect last month.

Throughout the weekend the women of ACL took advantage of the stage to express their feelings towards the law.

Billie Eilish used her time on stage to speak out after sitting on stage with her brother Finneas for Your Power, an acoustic track about an abusive relationship which includes the line “Try not to abuse your power”. She blasted the men in power in Texas, stating “You know who should not be making a choice for my body! A fucking dirty old man”. The crowd responded with resounding cheers. Then Eilish had her fans raise middle fingers and led a chant of “My body, my choice” then ending her diatribe with “If you’re a man, like, literally shut the fuck up”. Her fans frantically agreed.

Megan Thee Stallion put her middle finger up and announced to the crowd, “This middle finger is also to these motherfucking men that want to tell us what the fuck to do with our body.” The Houston native added, “Cause how the fuck you gonna tell me what to do with my motherfucking body? Drop that shit.”

Phoebe Bridgers had a very clear message for the Governor, “Suck my dick, Greg,” then played a cover of Bo Burnham’s That Funny Feeling, with proceeds benefiting Texas Abortion Funds. Gracie Abrams stated, “I just think it’s very clear that our generation will not be dragged backwards, and I think we need to make our voices very loud and inconvenient for those who do not believe in our right to choose what is best for our bodies”.

Politics aside, the ACL Music Fest proved itself to be a celebration of self-expression both on and off stage. Festivalgoers of all types flooded the park colorfully dressed in everything from leather bodysuits and Teletubbie costumes to 70’s disco attire and light-up capes. Possibly promoting their desire to look cool but most likely just feeling free enough to wear whatever they want.

DAY ONE
Friday afternoon kicked off with Claud, a singer-songwriter with a dreamy, low-fi style who recently signed to Phoebe Bridgers’ record label, Saddest Factory and released their debut album, Super Monster.’ Performing solo wearing a Texas Stars jersey on the VRBO Stage left Claud vulnerable but they embraced the moment while exuding an emotive energy. Definitely one to watch.

Last month Heartless Bastards released their sixth album, A Beautiful Life, following a six year hiatus. Fronted by the ever positive Erika Wennerstrom she reminded us during the set that, “It’s a beautiful life if you let it be.” The band focused on songs from the new album which were well received by the audience. The standouts being How Low, Revolution and The River. The set finale Parted Ways was cut short when the audio system was cut with about 30 seconds left in the song. They powered through finishing the song in true rock n’ roll fashion.

While showing a deep appreciation for his reggae roots, Skip Marley is not happy just following in his grandfather’s footsteps. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter’s Higher Place is proof of that. His set contained modern reggae hip-hop styled tracks like, Slow Down and That’s Not True, which got the crowd swaying and the Bob Marley classics like Three Little Birds made for a phenomenal show.

Pop-punk artist Machine Gun Kelly did not disappoint his fans with his dynamic set. First rising out of a pink prescription bottle on stage, later climbing over 100 feet atop the stage scaffolding and while hanging upside down he continued singing Nothing Inside. He also sang hits like Bloody Valentine and All I Know, and covered Paramore’s Misery Business, all to the crowd’s delight.

Sporting a faded tye-dye suit, Finneas looked confident as he strutted around the stage singing his rom-rock style songs to the crowd. This style is nothing like the retro-futurist pop he creates with his sister Billie Eilish but it definitely has its place. He performed fan favorites like; Angel, Let’s Fall in Love for the Night and I Lost a Friend, as well as tracks from his latest album Optimist. It was a powerful set and a defining moment showing that he is not just “Billie Eilish’s brother.”

The saying, “Everything is bigger in Texas,” certaining held true for Megan Thee Stallion’s performance. The Houston diva hit the stage running while adorned in a sequined black two-piece with tassels, knee-high boots and a cowboy hat. She urgently called out to the crowd, “If you a real hottie let me hear you say ‘real hot girl shit’!” The hot girls were everywhere and they screamed with delight. The magic of Megan is that she makes everyone feel like a hot girl no matter who you are. Megan hit her classics, Body, Sex Talk, and Savage.
While performing her song, Captain Hook, she brought fans onstage for the experience of a lifetime. Closing with the unapologetic Thot Shit, she had hot girls and hot boys get their “hands on my knees shakin’ ass on my thot shit,” as the tightly packed crowd heaved in bliss.

To say Miley Cyrus’ set was memorable would be an understatement, it was near perfect and will be remembered as one of the best ACL performances ever! Not only was her 90-minute set majestically sung but Miley’s stage presence, her crowd interaction and setlist was spot on. Sure she opened with We Can’t Stop and closed with Wrecking Ball and Party in the U.S.A., that’s to be expected. It’s what happened in between that made the show so special. Her conversations with the fans were unabashedly authentic, “For you and for me, as different as each of us are, we have one thing in common, right now. My morning mantra was that ‘change is constant,’” she said. “I think you guys tonight are an amazing example of that mantra coming to life.”
The music choices took fans on a journey, Miley’s personal growth over the years.The first half of the set included tracks from her latest album Plastic Hearts and then transitioned into a rap / hip-hop session with SMS (Bangerz), Dooo It!, Love Money Party and 23, a Mike WiLL Made‐It cover which definitely set the place on fire. To calm the fever she performed Malibu and Nothing Breaks Like a Heart, a Mark Ronson cover. And then did an amazing cover of Maybe from Texas’ beloved Janis Joplin. Prior to her performance she talked about how she has grown as a person and an artist. “I’ve experienced an evolution in front of all of you…sometimes I am brazen and sometimes I am courageous and sometimes I’m not apologetic and sometimes I don’t give a fuck but sometimes I’m the opposite of all of those things, sometimes I’m scared, sometimes I’m anxious, sometimes I’m sad, sometimes I care too much, sometimes I’m sorry for shit that I should be sorry for and sometimes I’m just fuckin’ sorry.” Then she proceeded to rock the song like none other than Janis herself. It was an awe-inspiring rendition.
The last half of the show was a flashback to early Miley with 7 Things, See You Again and a Cher cover, Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). But the song that received the most “phones up” attention all night was The Climb from Hannah Montana: The Movie. It became very apparent the majority of the crowd have been lifelong Miley lovers. A true testament to Miley Cyprus’ raw talent and commitment to her craft.

DAY TWO
Self-described as “dark, wonky, electric pop,” British singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone’s songs speak uncomfortable topics such as ex-boyfriends and sisters struggling with depression. This 21-year-old pandemic breakout star is often compared to Lorde but is certainly charting her own path.

Having built a huge following through a series of singles like “Mean It” and “21,” Gracie Abrams explained that she tried to avoid performing because it brought her so much anxiety. “This is the first run of shows I’ve done in my life,” she said, with ACL being her 10th show ever. That being considered appeared calm and in control on stage.

Marie Ulven, aka girl in red openly admits her semi-neuroticism stating, “Nice people do shitty stuff. Let’s normalize being fucked up. We need more room to go and do shitty stuff and realize we fucked up.” Her stage presence gives off a chaotic energy that is endearing while her lyrics speak about infatuation, heartbreak and mental health. Her raw honesty took it toll as she ended the show with, “I’m gonna go lie down now.”

In lieu of her familiar black skeleton onesie, Phoebe Bridgers wore a black and gold skeleton beaded blouse and black pants to deliver her “sad girl” indie folk to the Pharbz at ACL. The band performed all of her emotionally heavy songs from the phenomenal album Punisher, except the October appropriate Halloween. The fans sang along, sometimes cried and totally embraced each tracks sadness, regret and haunting beauty. Phoebe’s overall stage presence and banter, “I think this is the only time in my career I’ll open for Doja,” was second to none. The set ended with I Know The End which means an ample amount of screaming and guitar bashing but right as the band geared up for the climax, ACL cut the audio, which created an awkward silence but the band kept rocking till the end then Phoebe kicked the mic stand and walked off. Moments later she tweeted a pointed message to ACL: “lol fuck acl.” ACL later owned up to its mistake and donated to an organization close to Phoebe’s heart, the Texas Abortion Fund and she took down her tweet.

The stage design contained otherworldly tropical flora with a video screen backdrop displaying ever changing fantasy jungle scenes. The ethereal theme was finished off with Doja Cat’s forest goddess ensemble, a sultry cutout top, shredded harem pants and platform ankle boots. The rapper-singer-TikTok star ruled the stage with her brilliant troupe of dancers and their Beyonce-esque precision.
The rhyme-slinger ripped through her hits, Rules, Juicy, Like That, Get Into It (Yuh) and Talk Dirty, to get the frenzied group of fans fired up, including celebrities Shawn Mendes and Finneas. Mid-set Doja Cat announced, “I brought a toy,” and grabbed a red autotune mic, launching into a truly powerful version of Bottom Bitch. Doja Cat moved to an electronic drum kit, hitting the pads to play a vocal loop which led into a definite fan favorite, Tia Tamera. With fans singing along and phones up, the party got real. The show closed with Say So and an introduction of the band as she disappeared behind the stage.

The 7:00 pm time slot on Saturday at ACL has magical powers. In 2013 a young Kendrick Lamar blew up the park with a massive crowd, then in 2019 Lizzo did the same thing, only bigger. Maybe it’s just that everyone has arrived for the headliners and end up in one place or maybe it’s destiny. Who knows but it happened again with Jack Harlow. Just as the sun set on the Austin skyline, a capacious crowd gathered around the Miller Lite Stage. Thick smoke blankets the stage and Jack walks out of the Crème de la Crème cafe and breaks into Tyler Herro. He was taken aback by the hordes, “Oh it’s packed. We gonna have a party tonight. I’ve been to Austin a few times, but I’ve never had this many people in front of me.”
Rocking a grey tracksuit, the charismatic rapper ran around the stage constantly, performing his hits. Jack asked the crowd, “You mind if we do the biggest song in the world right now?” he asked before jumping into INDUSTRY BABY, his new collaboration with Lil Nas X. He did make one faux pas by asking the crowd, “Did Texas win today?” Which was followed with unrelenting boos and jeers as the Longhorns had lost to Oklahoma 55-48 earlier that day. The set ended with WHATS POPPIN and Jack giving an ambitious message to his fans, “Next time I see you, I’m gonna be the biggest name on that fucking flyer.”

For the second year in a row, pop superstar Billie Eilish took on the Lady Bird Stage to close out Day 2 of ACL. As thousands of young fans screamed wildly, she leapt onto the stage under strobing lights and billowing puffs of smoke, rocking pigtails and dressed in her signature baggy clothes. The high energy set kicked off with bury a friend, as a giant spider crawled across the big screen behind her, then pivoted into You Should See Me in a Crown before flowing into the dark I Didn’t Change My Number. While expressing that this was her last show of the year, she asked her fans to “just bounce around.” They did so eagerly as she played a fiery rendition of Therefore I Am. Then she directed them to put their phones down and look at her in the face. She encouraged them to “be in this moment. Let’s be grateful to be alive and well and safe and with our friends right now,” she said before playing When the Party’s Over. A platform lowered to the stage, Billie climbed in and it raised her into the air and over the audience, where she hung precariously over the railing while performing everything i wanted. She returned to the stage and stated, “We have to do better with how we take care of our planet,” before she began all the good girls go to hell. Shortly after Billie became distracted by a cricket that had jumped on the stage and attempted to coax it off the stage and joked after her song, “I think the cricket heard me talk about saving the world.” Billie introduced her brother Finneas to the crowd, then he picked up an acoustic guitar and sat beside her as they performed a mellow version of Your Power. To end the show on a high note, Billie fired off a passionate version of Bad Guy, told the audience“I just adore you,” and wrapped the set with Happier Than Ever. Billie Eilish’s stage presence is natural, energetic, suspenseful and a joy to watch.

DAY THREE
Fresh off the release of his COVID delayed eponymous debut album, Zach Person makes his first ACL appearance to a small but enthusiastic crowd. But when you have the noon time slot that is to be expected as much of the Sunday crowd is still sleeping. Zach’s music is a mix of blues, folk and punk presented in an indie rock style. Accompanied by his drummer, Jake Wyble, this duo creates a driving wall of sound to showcase Zach’s dynamic vocals. If you missed him this year at ACL, fear not, he will be back but next time it won’t the the festival opening time slot.

You probably have not heard of Calder Allen, he is a young Americana singer-songwriter making his ACL debut as well as his first live band gig. And he is also the grandson of renowned singer and sculptor Terry Allen. Calder’s backing band consisted of keyboardist Bukka Allen (Calder’s uncle), guitarist Billy Cassis (Bob Schneider), bassist Glenn Fukunaga (Robert Plant, Bob Dylan), and drummer Conrad Choucroun (White Denim, NRBQ), and fiddler Martie Maguire of the (formerly Dixie) Chicks. It was very apparent that he was having a great time on stage performing his songs. Calder is preparing to release his debut album produced by Charlie Sexton.

If you are a Gen Z artist, where do you go to spread your message, TikTok of course. That’s exactly what Jessie Murph did. She has since amassed seven million followers, a Sony Music record deal and a spot at ACL (her first live performance). This 17-year-old appeared tentative at first but her smooth, sultry voice quickly warmed up and she won the crowd out. With only four published songs for her 45 minute set Jessie filled in the gaps with two unreleased tunes and covers of Tove Lo’s Habits (Stay High) and The Weeknd’s The Hills. The crowd of fans sang along and celebrated the opportunity to see their social media star in person.

Singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Cautious Clay brought his pop, hip-hop, R&B, and jazz vibes to ACL. Since the release of the megahit Cold War in 2017, Joshua Karpeh, aka Cautious Clay has continued to grow his fan base and they were there to support him. His smooth and breathy rhymes were perfect for a Sunday afternoon. His stage presence is very chill whether he’s singing, playing the saxophone, flute or guitar and he always appears to be having a great time. Cautious played most of the tracks from his debut album, Deadpan Love, which was released earlier this year. But also performed older fan favorites, Joshua Tree, Strange Love, Erase, Cold War and Shook.

Do you want to dance, laugh, be offended, be amazed but most of all be entertained — then the Marc Rebillet show is where you want to be! Walking onstage in his customary silk robe, boxer briefs and loafers, he is like a fighter entering the ring. Dubbed the Loop Master, the entire set is improvised, his songs are based on phrases or situations that just happen between him and the crowd. Using a loop station, keyboard and microphone Marc creates each song with manic energy, full of sounds, banter, singing, thrusting, dancing, yelling and head-banging. At one point, he stripped down to his briefs, jumped onto the crowd, bodysurfing while popping a bottle of champagne to spray the audience. His dedicated group of fans came prepared with props, signature robes, and improv themes ready for Marc to interact with their material and release the kraken at his stripped-down dance party.

Rocking a shiny silver suit jacket, matching shorts and Air Jordan 1s — Jon Batiste brought his own brand of New Orleans jazz combined with soul, R&B, funk, gospel, hip-hop, rap, and pop to the final day of ACL. Leading the 10-piece band he took the audience to church while outer space images projected on the screen behind the stage. Jon declared, “This is more than a concert, it’s a spiritual experience!” and proceeded to burn the house down! Prior to starting I Need You, Jon explained, “Hold on, we can’t play this song because it’s a character,” then paused, put on a cowboy hat and began wailing on the piano. Hitting all the highlights from his acclaimed 2021 album We Are, he took the crowd on a musical journey steeped in his native New Orleans culture but then transcended beyond it. It’s one of those shows where words can’t truly describe the magical moment that happened but if you were there you felt it in your soul. Thanks Jon!

Tyler, the Creator has a long history with Austin both good and bad. First appearing South by Southwest 2011 with his crew Odd Future, they bailed on the set 12 minutes in, complaining about the sound. He first performed his breakout song, Yonkers in 2011 at a side party Fader Fort set during SXSW. In 2014 he returned to SXSW and was arrested for inciting a riot; the charges were later dropped. These controversies, as well as others, helped create his dedicated fan base. Which brings us to ACL where Tyler was brought in as a replacement for DaBaby over his own controversies.
Appearing ready for a vacation, Tyler entered the stage carrying a suitcase, his outfit included a Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. There was a speedboat on stage controlled by hydraulics to make it appear to be on water and a screen behind him projected waves to complete the water getaway aesthetic. The first half of the set was dedicated to tracks from his latest release, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, while the second half focused on 2019’s IGOR album. Tyler stopped between songs to interact with the crowd, once asking, “Can y’all boo me really quick?” They immediately responded with joy and his response was, “Thank you, I needed to be humbled.”
Tyler has always understood the importance of brand marketing, whether through his controversial music, how he portrays himself through social media or his own clothing label, Golf, which had a pop-up shop during ACL. He continually reinvents himself through his music and has mellowed from his early days but has always cared. Tyler closed his set by saying, “Y’all get home safe, alright. Love.”

The Nashville singer-songwriter will release her new album star-crossed on September 10th. The record arrives with a companion film streaming on Paramount Plus that same day.

Musgraves is set to perform star-crossed at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 12th.

To access a ticket pre-sale for your city, go here. Tickets open to the general public on September 9 at 10am local time on Kacey’s website with an American Express cardholder presale taking place from September 2 to September 8.

Kacey Musgraves’ tour dates:
January 19 — Saint Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
January 20 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
January 21 — Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
January 23 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
January 24 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
January 26 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
January 27 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
February 3 — Washington DC @ Capital One Arena
February 5 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
February 9 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
February 11 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
February 14 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
February 16 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
February 19 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
February 20 — Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center