Billie Eilish, George Strait, Jon Batiste and the Best of Austin City Limits Week 2

After a a first week that kicked off with Doja Cat, Machine Gun Kelly and Tyler, the Creator, the second week of Austin City Limit’s festival started on Friday, and it was a hot one, with its stages burning all weekend long.

On Friday, JXDN (who’s recently been opening on Machine Gun Kelly’s tour), ran around the stage in a flash, basking in the glory of walking his first catwalk, which was set up for Miley Cyrus’ performance later in the day.

The pop-punk gears were switched all the way with Durand Jones & The Indicators, who brought the funk and soul with their smooth R&B. Those who turned up were treated to a fantastic show.

Garland’s very own LeAnn Rimes gave a rare performance on the T-Mobile stage and instantly aged the crowd by pointing out that her song “Blue” was turning 25 this year. She also pulled out “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” from the guilty-pleasure movie Coyote Ugly.

Austin’s Black Pumas rocked out the Lady Bird stage, giving a golden performance during golden hour. Frontman Eric Burton commanded the audience simply by throwing out good vibes all over the place.

We tried to catch Dallas Queen Erykah Badu, who was scheduled to go on at 7 p.m., but she was so – characteristically – late to her show we didn’t have time to stick it out. She ended up eventually hitting the stage around 7:35 p.m., no doubt blessing the audience who stuck it out to see her if only for a brief set.

Finishing out Friday was “King George” Strait, and they don’t call him that for no reason. Once he hit the Lady Bird stage, the country giant delivered hit after hit. Those who’d forgotten just how many top-charting tunes George Strait has had through the years got a reminder. The crowd turned up to see the Texas icon with chairs and blankets spread out past the T-Mobile stage.

Honorary Austinite Jade Bird caught the worm by playing early. Crowds may have expected a folksier set, but the British-born Bird rocked out. So did up-and-coming British performer Holly Humberstone, who started releasing her The 1975-type music right before the pandemic hit and is on her first U.S. tour. 

Next up was College Station band Surfaces, whose brand of care-free jazzy reggae tunes are the musical equivalent to cotton candy – just as fun in small doses.

Over on Tito’s Tent was buzzy artist 070 Shake. The singer blends alternative and hip-hop in the most interesting of ways and she kept the audience hyped up with her intense stage presence.

One of Saturday’s best performances was hip-hop artist Freddie Gibbs, who commanded the stage, making the audience rowdy and ready for every word.

The last performer on Saturday was Billie Eilish, who proved herself as the real deal. Her fans are a particular breed of loyal, and spent the entire day baking in 90+ degrees of direct sunlight to keep their spots close to the stage. Their commitment makes sense to anyone who has seen the artist perform. Eilish’s energy is explosive, giving her all to a crowd that gives it back. When Eilish commanded that “nobody move,” you could’ve heard a pin drop. Her show was the perfect way to end the night.

On Sunday, Austin rocker Zach Person took on the BMI stage, shredding on his guitar to the small but enthusiastic crowd who got up early enough to catch his set.

KennyHoopla, whose performance was the talk of the the prior weekend, did not live up to the word-of-mouth and delivered an underwhelming show. The unofficial word was that he was under the weather, but perhaps he was festival’d out by this point in the marathon of two weekends. 

At 6:30, band Greta Van Fleet rocked out, recalling a new coming of Led Zeppelin. But no doubt, Sunday’s highlight was at the T-mobile stage with Jon Batiste, who put on a spiritual and face-melting otherworldly performance, like the male counterpart of Badu, with visuals of space and planets covered in colorful cacti.

Seasoned pros Duran Duran showed everyone exactly how it’s done. The band closed out the Honda Stage as the audience sang back every word of classic hits such as “Hungry Like the Wolf.” Sure, Tyler, the Creator had fireworks over on the Ladybird stage on his Week 1 show, but Duran Duran didn’t need them.