All his exes may still live in Texas, but that is not stopping George Strait from returning to the Lone Star State to headline two weekends of the Austin City Limits festival, Oct 1-3 and Oct 8-10 at Zilker Park.
ACL will be the first time George Strait headlines a major multi-genre festival and was booked after his exclusive promoter Louis Messina visited the festival in 2019 and ran the idea past C3 global festival buyer Sophie Lobl and C3 partner Charles Attal.
“I told George I thought playing the festival would be ‘a very cool look for you’ and he responded ‘You don’t think Im cool enough now?'” Messina tells Billboard. “I thought that was so funny.”
Also headlining this year’s two-weekend festival are pop legend in the making Billie Eilish and legendary performer Stevie Nicks, with Miley Cyrus, Rüfüs Du Sol, DaBaby, Erykah Badu, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat and Black Pumas slated for top billing honors at ACL Fest 2021. Three-day tickets are on sale now at aclfestival.com.
This year’s lineup features standout talent including Modest Mouse, Phoebe Bridgers, Jack Harlow, Jon Pardi, Finneas, Chet Faker (Weekend One), Dermot Kennedy, Tierra Whack, Tanya Tucker (Weekend One), Omar Apollo, Trixie Mattel (Weekend Two) and much more. Homegrown Texans include St. Vincent (Weekend One), Marc Rebillet, Surfaces, Dayglow, Missio, Charley Crockett, Heartless Bastards (Weekend Two) and Asleep at the Wheel (Weekend One).
“Music is coming back strong to the Live Music Capital of the World,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “The return of Austin City Limits as an in-person festival celebrates that our efforts as a community to become vaccinated are working. Health and safety remain our top priority, and we will work closely with the organizers and Austin Public Health to ensure ACL Fest is in line with our health standards. We must continue to get everyone vaccinated and keep up our success.”
ACL Fest organizers are in regular communication with local health and public safety officials and will follow current recommendations and guidelines at the time of the festival. As the weekends approach, ACL Fest patrons will receive regular updates with important information regarding safety policies and procedures before entering Zilker Park. ACL Fest will partner with the City of Austin and Austin Public Health to encourage vaccination in the months prior to the festival.
“Austin City Limits 2021 is a result of successful vaccine efforts and more than a year’s worth of protection measures,” said Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott. “Taking the shot is our shot at getting things back to normal and we envision this happening before October if we stay the course as a community.”
Zilker Park has been the home of the Austin City Limits Music Festival for two decades. Since 2006, ACL Festival, in partnership with Austin Parks Foundation, has generated more than $41 million towards improvements to Zilker Park and parks across the city. In 2019, through a percentage of ticket sales, fans of ACL Fest contributed $6 million to improving Austin’s public parks, trails and green spaces.
See the full lineup below:
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