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The clock above counts down to Austin City Limits Music Festival 2026, running across two weekends from October 2-4 and October 9-11, 2026 at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, with identical lineups on both weekends.
Austin City Limits Festival is the largest two-weekend festival in the US and the spiritual centerpiece of Austin's status as the self-styled Live Music Capital of the World. Produced by C3 Presents (the same Austin-based organisation that runs Lollapalooza Chicago) since 2002, ACL Festival takes its name and lineage from the long-running PBS concert series of the same name, broadcast from Austin's Moody Theater since 1976. The festival runs eight stages across Zilker Park, draws roughly 75,000 attendees per day, and has anchored Austin's October cultural calendar for more than two decades.
ACL's defining trait is the two-weekend, identical-lineup model, which lets C3 amortize headliner fees across two ticket cycles and lets fans pick which weekend to attend. Local-color programming sets ACL apart from peer festivals: the Tito's Tent for Austin food vendors, BMI stage for emerging Texas songwriters, and the Austin Eats food village curated by local chefs anchor the festival's regional identity. ACL Live tapings tie the festival back to the broadcast-television tradition, and the related ACL Radio fills out the Austin music ecosystem year-round.
The 2026 lineup is announced by C3 Presents in early May. Expected headliner candidates given 2026 touring cycles include Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler the Creator, The Killers, Sabrina Carpenter, Hozier, Mumford and Sons, and Texas-rooted acts like Leon Bridges, Khruangbin, or a Willie Nelson tribute set. Per organizer practice, expect a Texas-heavy second tier (Spoon, Black Pumas, Shakey Graves are festival regulars), late-afternoon Latin booking on the Honda stage, a country-leaning Tito's stage, and the after-show program at Austin venues like Stubb's, Mohawk, and ACL Live.
C3 Presents livestreams the festival each year on the official ACL Festival YouTube channel and on Hulu (which has been the streaming partner in recent editions), running multi-stage feeds through both weekends. Headliner sets begin between 20:30 and 22:00 CT, which is 21:30-23:00 ET, 18:30-20:00 PT, 02:30-04:00 BST the next day, 03:30-05:00 CEST the next day, and 07:00-08:30 IST the next day. Three-day passes for each weekend sell via aclfestival.com starting around May 2026, with single-day, VIP, and Platinum tiers available.
ACL caps the US festival year alongside Outside Lands 2026, Bonnaroo 2026, and Burning Man 2026. It pairs naturally with Texas country countdowns like Stagecoach 2027 and the global October dance circuit at Amsterdam Dance Event 2026.
When is ACL Festival 2026? Two weekends, October 2-4 and October 9-11, 2026. Where is ACL held? Zilker Park in central Austin, Texas, just south of downtown along Lady Bird Lake. How can I watch ACL? Free on the official ACL Festival YouTube channel and on Hulu, with multi-stage simultaneous feeds across both weekends. Are the two weekends the same lineup? Yes, ACL programs identical headliner and most second-tier slots across both weekends; only a few smaller stages rotate.
