Chappell Roan Wraps Tour and Willie Nelson Surprises Everyone at ACL Fest Week 2

The second weekend of Austin City Limits Festival has come and gone, and after a killer first week we were hot to go again for more sweat, sunscreen and music across the many stages in Zilker Park.

We started our weekend with Mansfield High School alum Mickey Guyton on the IHG stage. The pop-country singer lists some of her influences as Dolly, Whitney and LeAnn Rimes. The latter, Guyton has said, inspired her to pursue music after watching Rimes perform the national anthem at a Texas Rangers game.

We were shocked to find out that Guyton, who looks 20-something, is 41. It wasn’t just her skin that was flawless. Her vocals were ever on point, belting out songs such as “Higher” and “Remember Her Name.” The fans who did make it out to Guyton’s set got a fantastic hour of pop country.

Around 5:30 we hit up the IHG stage for St. Lucia. The synth-pop band from South Africa band dressed in matching red jumpsuits with goofy-looking beanie-style hats. The best way to describe these hats is as kind of a tribute to Devo. The band was surprisingly fun and energetic. Frontman Jean-Philip Grobler was full-blown rocking out, often lifting up his guitar and shredding on the strings.

The 6 p.m. slot brought us Foster the People, on the Honda Stage. Frontman Mark Foster entered the stage posing theatrically before busting out his signature dance shuffle across the stage to “Feed Me.” The synth-pop jams continued from there with “Lost in Space,” “Helena Beat” and “Pumped Up Kicks.”

There was technically nothing wrong with the group's set, and they put on a fun set that fans surely appreciated. For us, though, the singer’s falsetto-style vocals felt like nails on a chalkboard. One or two songs were tolerable, but the hour-long set had us feeling less than “pumped up.”

We then headed to the Amex stage to check out headliner Chris Stapleton. Boy, were we in for a surprise. Joining him for the first two songs of the night was the legend himself, Willie Nelson. We’ve seen Nelson many times before, but this was special. It felt like we were all flies on the wall, watching two master country musicians jam together on “Whiskey River” and “Bloody Mary Morning.” Even Stapleton looked like it was an absolute joy and thrill to get this opportunity.

After the two songs, the 91-year-old Nelson stood up, waved to the crowd, and headed offstage so Stapleton could get down to business as usual. And get down he did, ripping into his single “White Horse.”
There’s something special about Stapleton’s signature blend of Southern guitar licks and bluesy vocals. Delivering some of the most consistent top-tier tunes in country music, he offered a real highlight with his live, chill-inducing version of “Tennessee Whiskey.” Stapleton crammed in as much music as he could in about an hour and a half, not wasting time with much banter. With such a rich catalog, he could have played for hours with ease.

Saturday we started our day back at the Amex stage for a 2 p.m. set with up-and-comer Lola Young.

The 23-year-old Brit is best described as a cross between Lilly Allen, Kate Nash and Adele. Her songs were often lyrically cheeky and worth a listen. Young could work on her stage presence, often looking a little lost at the start of her set. Then again, it could have been the heat getting to her. Young briefly mentioned she almost passed out on stage the week prior (which may explain the freshly added AC units blowing cool air on the two stages in direct sunlight all day). When she did finally let loose, you could see that spark of star power. Her song “Messy” is also quite the bop.


A little after 5 p.m., Remi Wolf hit the Miller Stage, bringing crazy energy. We caught her performance at ACL in 2021, and we could see the improvements she's made over the past few years. She graced us with her song “Cinderella” right out of the gate, strutting across the stage doing her little fun dances.

Mid-set, Wolf hit us with an unexpected cover of “Life Is a Highway,” by which time the crowd had grown massively. She could have easily been on one of the main stages. We can’t recall a recent time where one of the smaller stages has had a non-headliner set with a draw that big. Remi Wolf continues to rise and the ceiling isn’t in sight yet. We’ve only just warmed up to her wacky fun energy.

Next up for us was Benson Boone over on the Honda Stage. The wild, next-level showman was doing all the flips onstage at the start of songs, during songs — even some front handsprings at the start of his song “Cry.” The former gymnast must be an insurance company's nightmare.

Boone has had a whirlwind year with the success of his song “Beautiful Things,” though after watching his performance, it might be our least favorite. His songs are dripping in catchy hooks and danceable beats. If we had to guess, he’s a big fan of Queen or at the very least Freddy Mercury. It often felt as if he was of emulating the legendary performer.

His songs were great, but his performance felt lacking in real personality, with too much glimmer and not enough substance.

At 7, we stopped by the Miller Lite Stage to catch some electro-funk by Jungle. The eight-piece band took the stage to a beautiful glowy light design. This was one of the better offerings at the festival, and it was kind of a shame the band were on so close to Dua Lipa’s set. They really had a unique sound that felt like we were transported in time to dance club in the ‘70s. The sizable crowd that had grown for them was letting loose and getting down — even though the festival had strong and varied offerings on all three smaller stages in the 7 p.m. time slots on Saturday.

For our Saturday night Main Stage headliner, we had to go back to see Dua Lipa. Ultimately, she was the better offering — unless you’re really into EDM.
The energy was even more electric in the crowd in Week 2 as the British songstress continued to impress. The setlist stayed the same but that’s OK. With a pop show of this caliber, there’s so much dancing and moving parts that it’s to be expected. The quality of Lipa’s songs transformed for the stage is so solid we would gladly watch it a third time. If you love dance-pop, and if Britney, Pink and Janet are your jam, Lipa can hang with the best of them.

The pop star has been taking in Austin: two-stepping at the Broken Spoke, boot shopping and, of course, eating some barbecue. In the middle of her set, Lipa threw on a University of Texas jersey before band intros and “Be the One,” asking the crowd what they thought, saying that’s how much she loves it here. She may have also been celebrating the Longhorns victory over Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl.

We were still dazzled by her dancing, as she pulled tricks such as handing off her microphone for a dance break between songs such as “One Kiss” before sneakily having it back in her hand. She’s truly magical.

On Sunday we started out our day with Bakar, an artist from London. We were pleasantly surprised by his set. as he stepped onstage wearing a cowboy hat and a cheeky grin. He opened with his tune “All In,” one of his more alternative songs. But tunes like “Hell N Back” have a good cruise feel. Bakar describes his genre as schizophrenic, hitting the crowd with a hip-hop beat and chill vocals one minute and then rocking out and climbing into the crowd the next. Why should he have to pick one genre anyway? Life is already full of difficult choices.

The Amex Stage at 6:45 was host to the one and only Chappell Roan, back for the second week, and we had to go see her again. As before, her set didn’t disappoint. She ran out on stage in red leather pants and a halter top that looked like layered and torn leather. She really hit Texas hard with the fashion the past two weeks. Is “slay” still the hip thing to say here?

Her setlist was mostly the same, but she did cut her cover of “Barracuda,” which was a bummer because it was so good the week before. We’re not sure if this was by choice or if fest organizers wanted to give that area time to decongest after her performance. The audience looked even bigger this week, which was crazy considering it hit 101 degrees at Zilker Park on Saturday.


This is the singer’s last show of 2024, and there was more energy about her this week than the prior show, and she was visibly smiling more. This week, Chappell looked more relaxed and like she was having a blast. Something about it being the last show of the tour might’ve inspired her to let loose.

Before coming to the end of the night, Roan took a minute and pointed out it was the last "Pink Pony Club" of 2024, before fully rocking out to the fan-favorite song as fireworks popped out of the stage in sync with the chorus.

Many fans shared their fears online that Chappell Roan would cancel this show. But she completed her marathon of festivals and tour dates; it’s all in the books and that Midwest princess can get some much-needed rest and relaxation.


After Chappell, we needed a set that would continue the energy, so we hopped over to the IHG stage for Qveen Herby.

Qveen’s set was very much Snow White-meets-Salem. She describes her music as "witchy bops," and that’s accurate. The artist's real name is Amy Renee Noonan, and she’s been in the industry for a hot minute. Noonan is the former frontwoman of the group Karmin. (If you’re old enough to remember, they had a handful of bops such as “Brokenhearted” and “Acapella.")

Noonan changed her persona to Qveen Herby to shift her sound from pop to hip-hop, which has seemed to work out OK for her. The dramatic performer turned her hip-hop set into a journey full of crazy facial expressions, hype energy and theatrical poses. This was easily the most slept-on set at the festival.

We wrapped our 2024 ACL with Sturgill Simpson. The country music outlaw is back on tour after a long hiatus due to a vocal cord rupture back in 2021. We love a good country musician who isn’t afraid to let a great guitar solo rip right after singing about doing all kinds of drugs. His influences from guys like Merle Haggard are pretty clear; it’s the love of an artist like Prince that's slightly unexpected, as we were treated to a fantastic “Purple Rain” early in Sunday's set. It interestingly worked pretty damn well as a country tune.

Unfortunately, Week 1 might have gotten the better version of Sturgill. We caught a little of his set last week and he sounded better then. He did three shows in the middle of the week between the two ACL appearances and this seemed to affect his vocals. We hope he has a good vocal coach, or else he might be down for the count again.

Fans had the same complaints about this week's lineup as the one prior: that there weren't enough big names. But there was good talent all over the place if you were adventurous enough to seek it out. With music going on seven stages (not including Austin Kiddie Limits), if you can’t find a few things to enjoy at the festival, maybe it’s you.