Over 140 bands are slated to perform at the 16th anniversary of the Austin City Limits Music Festival occurring the first two weekends in October at Zilker Park in Austin.
Here’s everything you need to know about the festival.
The lineup and schedule
This year’s lineup offers an even mix of rock and hip-hop, along with a small dose of electronic dance music. Headliners include Jay-Z, Foster the People, the Killers, Chance the Rapper, Gorillaz and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. View the full lineup below.
For the first time this year, the festival will also have a silent disco each night, 8-10 p.m. Fans will be given a pair of headphones to quietly dance to music from live DJs.
ACL rolled out its hourly schedule in mid-August. View each day here.
Additionally, the festival released a full list of late night shows that run Oct. 5-15. View the complete list here. These shows allow concertgoers to extend their festival experience into the late evening, as well as fans who could not afford the festival ticket fee to enjoy smaller-scale concerts.
Tickets and discounts
As of Oct. 4, select one- and three-day tickets are still for sale. More information is available at www.aclfestival.com/tickets.
In light of the recent shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas, ticket holders can request refunds through ACL's official vendor, Front Gate Tickets, if they no longer feel safe attending.
For the first time ever, ACL has partnered with Vet Tix to include military personnel in the sale, providing specially priced tickets to Active Duty, Gold Star Families, Guard, Reserves and Honorably Discharged Veterans. Fans purchasing through Vet Tix can access the website today to be verified via ID.me and their Troop ID program. Discounted tickets cost $230.
Location
ACL takes place at Zilker Park, located at 2100 Barton Springs Road, Austin. This year the festival announced it added new amenities to the park and updated the festival layout, including a third entrance gate and repositioned stages.
The festival also said it addressed crowd flow and sound bleed issues in its renovations. Now, the festival area across Barton Springs Road—typically used for the ACL Fest box office—will be used to host one of the eight stages.
Fans will also have additional options to enter the festival. New this year, fans can choose from three convenient entrances to the fest: the existing Lady Bird Lake entrance, a Barton Springs East entrance and a Barton Springs West entrance as well as an additional box office.
Transportation and parking
The festival recommends festivalgoers use ride-sharing or public transportation. Ride Austin is the official rideshare partner for the festival, but other rideshare apps will work as well.
ACL also intends to continue its tradition of offering free shuttles for attendees from Republic Square Park in downtown Austin.
Attendees can also take Capital Metro buses or arrive by bike, using Austin B-cycle bikes or personal bikes. Bike racks will be located at the front gates.
On both Sundays of ACL, Capital Metro will operate buses on the Saturday schedule. MetroRail service will increase during both weekends of ACL and begin at 10:30 a.m. It will operate until 2:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 12:30 a.m. Sunday. The downtown rail station at Fourth and Trinity streets is seven blocks west of Republic Square Park.
If attendees elect to drive, parking passes are available for purchase. To park in Lot A at Barton Oaks Plaza, three-day passes cost $300 and single-day passes cost $105. Premium parking in the Umluaf Sculpture Garden and Museum is sold out.
Rollingwood residents can can pick up parking passes at City Hall before the event to ensure vehicles are legally parked and are not cited or towed.
New bag limits
Organizers issued new bag size limits for the 2017 festival. Attendees can no longer bring bags that are larger than 18 liters, or roughly 1,000 cubic inches which is 10 inches wide, 10 inches long and 10 inches deep. Officials recommend nothing bigger than a typical drawstring backpack.
