I've heard of all of those headliners, but none of them are acts I'd stick around until the end for. Granted, I'm getting old and almost none of the acts excite me. I came to terms with the fact that the music fest bookers aren't booking for me years ago.

Did Kings of Leon make a come back? I thought they fell off like a decade ago

It does appear to be skewing younger and poppier this year. No strong legacy rock headliner (Kings of Leon I guess fills that role), no country headliner, and no major hip-hop act.

jtkk said:

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Holy crap! With the exception of Asleep at the Wheel, I've never heard of any of them.
Old man yelling at clouds I guess.

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Same. Asleep at the Wheel is the only one on the list that would go see.

Asleep At The Wheel headlined the Great Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute in 1980 or so. Hard to believe they are still around.

I'm old and recognize about 19 artists in that lineup that I'd go see.

Hardcore Greg said:

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But still...this is one of the worst lineups I have ever seen , for anything.

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Aggie87 said:

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I'm old and recognize about 19 artists in that lineup that I'd go see.

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Same. There's a lot of good stuff on that list.

Hardcore Greg said:

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Haha what a horrible lineup...no way around it. I read the above comments before checking and thought "how could it be?"...it's way worse than I expected.

I really think that rock and alternative music is basically dead now. The Gen Z males I know and work with all listen to "classic rock" from the 70's and 90's and clown on a lot of their era's music an entertainment. They even listen to 90's country over the crappy bland new stuff.

But still...this is one of the worst lineups I have ever seen , for anything.

Last one I went to was 2010...what a great weekend...perfect weather and phenomenal lineup.

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That's the last one I went to also. It was a great time.

TXAG 05 said:

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Hardcore Greg said:

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Haha what a horrible lineup...no way around it. I read the above comments before checking and thought "how could it be?"...it's way worse than I expected.

I really think that rock and alternative music is basically dead now. The Gen Z males I know and work with all listen to "classic rock" from the 70's and 90's and clown on a lot of their era's music an entertainment. They even listen to 90's country over the crappy bland new stuff.

But still...this is one of the worst lineups I have ever seen , for anything.

Last one I went to was 2010...what a great weekend...perfect weather and phenomenal lineup.

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That's the last one I went to also. It was a great time.

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Had to make some tough decisions that weekend with so many good artists. I think that was the first time moving it to October and we couldn't have been blessed with more perfect weather.

Will never forget my wife's (gf at the time) pharmacy boss meeting up with us there and asking "who the heck is Dead Man Fiiiive?!" as we reviewed the list trying to figure out who we wwanted to see next. He was probably in his early 60''s and from West Texas. Any time we see or hear anything about Deadmau5, we quote that line in a heavy country accent.

Text to my daughter: "meh" (although there's a handful I wouldn't mind seeing)
Her response: "wait. no. that lineup is fire."

The youths have spoken...

I recognize 9 names.

Hardcore Greg said:

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Haha what a horrible lineup...no way around it. I read the above comments before checking and thought "how could it be?"...it's way worse than I expected.

I really think that rock and alternative music is basically dead now. The Gen Z males I know and work with all listen to "classic rock" from the 70's and 90's and clown on a lot of their era's music an entertainment. They even listen to 90's country over the crappy bland new stuff.

But still...this is one of the worst lineups I have ever seen , for anything.

Last one I went to was 2010...what a great weekend...perfect weather and phenomenal lineup.

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Haha there is a thread on here about M.I.A. who headlined there and saying they never heard of her... must be new.

jtkk said:

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Holy crap! With the exception of Asleep at the Wheel, I've never heard of any of them.
Old man yelling at clouds I guess.

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You have never heard of Twenty One Pilots? (or Charlie XCX, Lorde, Skrillex, Kings of Leon). I get not liking them, but never heard or seen the name?

I'm way too old for festivals now, but there are some really good acts on that lineup. I'm counting around 10-15 that I've seen or want to see.

Definitely leaning into alot of EDM. Seeing Rufus Du Sol play Innerbloom live is awesome.

Hardcore Greg said:

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TXAG 05 said:

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Hardcore Greg said:

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Haha what a horrible lineup...no way around it. I read the above comments before checking and thought "how could it be?"...it's way worse than I expected.

I really think that rock and alternative music is basically dead now. The Gen Z males I know and work with all listen to "classic rock" from the 70's and 90's and clown on a lot of their era's music an entertainment. They even listen to 90's country over the crappy bland new stuff.

But still...this is one of the worst lineups I have ever seen , for anything.

Last one I went to was 2010...what a great weekend...perfect weather and phenomenal lineup.

---

That's the last one I went to also. It was a great time.

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Had to make some tough decisions that weekend with so many good artists. I think that was the first time moving it to October and we couldn't have been blessed with more perfect weather.

Will never forget my wife's (gf at the time) pharmacy boss meeting up with us there and asking "who the heck is Dead Man Fiiiive?!" as we reviewed the list trying to figure out who we wwanted to see next. He was probably in his early 60''s and from West Texas. Any time we see or hear anything about Deadmau5, we quote that line in a heavy country accent.

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Rufus du sol is a perfect act to see when the sun starts to set at acl. Same for the xx.
Im not sure Turnstile fits the vibe but they are great live

I've been to ACL 20 years in a row. This year, the streak will finally be broken. There are a few names on the list that I would see, but I've already seen them before. Usually there's a few I get really excited about on the first few lines of the undercard, but not this year.

I love checking out all the different food and beverage options through the years, but realized last year that it's all just gotten too expensive.

It was a good run. I'm sure I'll be back in the future when we see a better lineup.

I feel like ACL, or probably music in general, is headed the way of Coachella. Very Pop/Dance/Electonic heavy because that's what kids today are listening to.

there just aren't a lot of true bands out there anymore.

what's funny about that 2010 poster is that there are bands 3-10 lines down who became massive acts.

TresPuertas said:

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I feel like ACL, or probably music in general, is headed the way of Coachella. Very Pop/Dance/Electonic heavy because that's what kids today are listening to.

there just aren't a lot of true bands out there anymore.

what's funny about that 2010 poster is that there are bands 3-10 lines down who became massive acts.

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There are plenty of true bands on this festival lineup slated for later this year:

https://bourbonandbeyond.com/lineup/

I went to the first three ACL festivals starting 24 years ago (where does the time go?). Haven't been back since but at least they still had some massive headliners since then. The last several years have been abhorrent.

probably could have phrased it better. there are bands out there but probably not many who would fill the top of a lineup of a huge festival. Kings of Leon are on there but they're not super relevant with anything lately that i know of.

Quote:

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Definitely leaning into alot of EDM. Seeing Rufus Du Sol play Innerbloom live is awesome.

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Its is definitely the genre of the younger generation. My wife loves it and we got to a lot of EDM festivals. Not my thing, but the gen z crowd is all in on it.

3-day passes for weekend 1 have already sold out. So I guess the giant festival production company knows what they are doing more than a bunch of old guys on a college football message board.

agdoc2001 said:

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cajunaggie08 said:

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3-day passes for weekend 1 have already sold out. So I guess the giant festival production company knows what they are doing more than a bunch of old guys on a college football message board.

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Let me tell you about a little thing called "the resale market"

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While valid, the production team made their money. It'll be the scalpers that eat the loss. Unless ACL is like Livenation/Ticketmaster where they are the scalpers too.

TresPuertas said:

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I feel like ACL, or probably music in general, is headed the way of Coachella. Very Pop/Dance/Electonic heavy because that's what kids today are listening to.

there just aren't a lot of true bands out there anymore.

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ACL has a certain "image" they're trying to portray, for better or worse. The industry today lends itself more to pop/dance/electronic/hip-hop because it's easy to create quickly on a digital platform that doesn't require as many actual musicians. I've also seen numerous quotes from artists that reference how major labels pass on talent that simply doesn't have a certain level of social media followers. Quick, easy, and widespread is what gets moved to the top and what young audiences end up seeing the most.

There are exceptions of course, particularly in country, but mainstream music no longer has room for bands and artists who are well crafted vocalists or instrumentalists - which is a shame. Rock/Americana/Songwriters who in previous decades weren't part of the country genre basically have no place in the major spotlight. They're either with major country labels or smaller labels that don't get much mainstream attention - though thanks to streaming and social media do have a platform, but you have to find them.

So what you end up with is mostly formulatic, shallow, image-heavy, pop/dance/electronic music.