October 11, 2026 — As the sun sets on Zilker Park tonight, Charli XCX will bring the curtain down on the 25th anniversary edition of the Austin City Limits Music Festival — capping two weekends that confirmed the Texas festival as one of the essential stops on the global music calendar.
The British pop star, fresh off a career-defining run, headlines a closing Sunday bill that also features Kings of Leon, The xx and RÜFÜS DU SOL across the festival’s nine stages. Weekend one belonged to Skrillex, Twenty One Pilots and Lorde; weekend two has been Charli’s to command.
Her headline slot crowns a remarkable two years. After the cultural phenomenon of her Brat era, Charli has pivoted hard into rock with her latest single “Rock Music”, contributed a soundtrack album to Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, and premiered her A24 mockumentary The Moment at the Sundance Film Festival. A new studio album, Music, Fashion, Film, has kept her at the centre of pop’s conversation all summer.
Festival organisers went big for the quarter-century milestone, stacking the lineup with Turnstile, Labrinth, Lola Young, The Chainsmokers, Geese, Bleachers and The War on Drugs, alongside a deep bench of Texas talent. The event was also livestreamed to a global audience, extending ACL’s reach far beyond Austin.
For Charli, who once teased retirement, the omnipresence makes sense: with new music confirmed on the way, Sunday night in Austin looks less like a farewell than a launchpad.
For fans who could not make it to Texas, the festival’s official livestream carried select performances and interviews across the weekend — a reminder of how the modern festival economy works. But those in Zilker Park on Sunday night will have seen something the cameras can only approximate: a pop star at the peak of her powers, closing out a landmark edition in style.
