ACL Fest: Paul McCartney headlines night one

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ACL Fest: Paul McCartney headlines night one; Gambino to close out the fest
Deborah Sengupta Stith
August 1, 2018




Single-day lineups for Austin City Limits Festival have been released and rock ‘n’ roll legend Paul McCartney will take opening night headline honors, followed by metal titans Metallica playing the big stage on Saturday and Donald Glover’s electrifying R&B/rap act Childish Gambino closing out the fest on Sunday.

Single-day tickets to the festival, which takes place Oct. 5-7 and 12-14 at Zilker Park, go on sale Wednesday at noon at aclfestival.com. Three-day passes to weekend one are sold out, but a limited number are still available for weekend two.

Houston rap star Travis Scott is the only top-billed act who changes days from weekend to weekend. He will play the second headline stage opposite Metallica on Saturday on weekend two. For weekend one, Metallica is alone at the top of the schedule on Saturday and Scott is billed underneath Childish Gambino and the Arctic Monkeys on Sunday.  Arctic Monkeys are co-headliners for both Sundays, and Odesza will play the second big stage opposite McCartney on both Fridays.

Pop sensations Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes each make a single-Sunday appearance at the festival, with Cabello on weekend one and Mendes on weekend two.



Childish Gambino performs at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park on Friday October 10, 2014. JAY JANNER / AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

On Friday, McCartney’s opening acts include a host of thoughtful songwriters including brooding rockers the National, Irish breakout Hozier and king of indie rock irony, Father John Misty. Pop star Khalid, ’80s innovator David Byrne and the best hip-hop boy band in America, Brockhampton, are also on Friday’s bill.



Alt-metal heavies Deftones will make a great segue act for Metallica on Saturday. Other acts on Saturday’s bill include Scottish synth magicians Chvrches, ’90s rockers the Breeders and guitar wizard St. Vincent, who blew us away at an ‘Austin City Limits’ taping earlier this year.  Brandi Carlile, Justice and Puerto Rican rapper Residente also play on Saturday.

Finally, dearly beloved, Sunday is a good day for fans of R&B/pop with Janelle Monae, Tinashe and Prince’s band, the Revolution, on the bill. Also playing Sunday are electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso and hometown hero, Shakey Graves.

Paul McCartney and a “cast of thousands” at his final 2017 performance on December 16 in Auckland, New Zealand