Hozier performs on one of the main stages Oct. 3, 2025, at Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Growing up in New Hampshire was pretty tough as a big music fan. No one ever came to my town, and if they did, it was probably someone my parents were really big fans of in the 80s. Seeing a big name meant a trip down to Boston, along with trying to find a hotel and everything else, not at all something a 15-year-old me could afford. Some years later, I found myself living in Central Texas and near one of the most fabled music festivals in the world — Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival.
Outside time, lots of food and two weekends’ worth of music? Take my money, please. Heading down to ACL, my wife and I really did not know what to expect. There are probably very few people left on the planet who have not seen a YouTube video of a music festival, but being there and experiencing it is a whole different deal.
As Zilker Park came into view, the show stages seemed to go on forever, with different bands from every genre. The festival village was an amazing maze of food vendors and side shows. One of my favorites was a stage called “Prime Time.” Here, some of the smaller acts of the festival would come to the tent and have a conversation with one of the event organizers in front of a crowd. It was an amazing way to get an inside look at the music business and the process of making art through song.
One of the best parts of the festival is the standing room only aspect. If you’re really dedicated, you can show up right when the festival opens and sprint with several hundreds of other fans to try and get a spot right on the rail. In my opinion, you do not need to do this. I found if you head to the outer edges of the crowd and slowly work your way in, you can game the system and get an amazing view. We used this tactic to see Hozier and ended up maybe three rows from the stage, so you tell me if that sounds worth it.
Food trucks and vendors were everywhere. Austin is already an amazing food city, and the festival did a good job of mixing in large national brands and Central Texas restaurants. If you are of age, alcohol was available at several tents by the stages. The lines were a little long, no surprise there, but here is an insider pro tip: if you buy four drinks at once, it comes in a little caddy filled with ice. The festival allowed people to bring in their own water bottles and free water stations were plentiful and essential in the Texas sun.
Concertgoers watch Doechii perform Oct. 4, 2025, at Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin.
I think the best bit about this is we were able to drive home at the end of every day from the festival. Austin is a hop, skip and jump from The Great Place anyway, but with festival traffic, leaving slightly early is a good plan. But if you decide to consume alcholic beverages, there are plenty of hotels nearby, and I would look into booking those as soon as you buy tickets.
This year, ACL will be held Oct. 2-4 and 9-11 at Zilker Park.
All I can say is tickets will be on sale in the next fews weeks and you can bet I will be buying tickets again. Now, ACL tickets are a hot commodity, and if you want to get tickets I recommend signing up for email and text notifications on the festival website at aclfestival.com.
I cannot stress enough that they will sell out fast. A drawback is that you have to buy your tickets before you actually know who’s performing on the weekend but that’s also part of the fun. Who knows, you might just find that hot new band that will have a permanent spot in your playlist, and you can say forever that you saw them for the first time at Austin City Limits.