Two weekends in Zilker Park for the festival's 25th year — and you get to pick your weekend.
October 2–11, 2026
This is the Austin City Limits 2026 lineup. For dates, tickets and trip planning for the next edition, see the current Austin City Limits guide.
Venue: Zilker Park, 2100 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX
Austin City Limits is the rare festival where the city is half the reason to go. It runs two straight weekends in Zilker Park for its 25th anniversary in 2026, and the bill barely changes between them, which means the real question isn't whether to come but which weekend to pick. Charli XCX headlines Friday, RÜFÜS DU SOL and Lorde take Saturday, and Twenty One Pilots and The xx close Sunday, across nine stages and a couple hundred acts.
The two-weekend split is the whole game. Almost everyone plays both, so you choose on the exclusives and the practicalities: Skrillex only plays Weekend One, Kings of Leon only Weekend Two. Weekend Two tends to run a touch cooler and less mobbed, and since 3-Day GA sells out first on both weekends, higher tiers or single-day passes are often the way in closer to the date.
Insider tip: ACL sells an official Hotel + Festival bundle that packages your pass with a room near Zilker. On a trip where downtown books up fast for both weekends, that bundle is often the least-stressful way in.
Travelers who want a real city wrapped around the festival — Austin's food, live music, and Barton Springs are all part of the weekend. Groups who want to choose their date, and anyone chasing a specific exclusive headliner.
Less ideal for: anyone set on a specific 3-Day GA weekend (the first tier to sell out), heat-averse travelers (early-October Austin still runs warm), and campers — this is an urban, day-only festival with no on-site camping.