ACL 2025: The Lineup!

Happy Lineup Announce Day!

My seventeen year old actually wished me a happy ACL eve yesterday, which made me laugh.  The initial four announcements yesterday - Hozier, Sabrina Carpenter, Empire of the Sun, and Latin Kings - left a lot to be desired for my personal tastes, but there will always be good things to find on the poster.

I am going to allow myself exactly eight minutes of pity party real quick, before I dig in to this thing.  I know that I am on the older end of the demographic that they are seeking to please with this Festival.  Even though I have more money than the youths who they are seeking to please, those youths are morons and spend their money more freely, and so aiming at their eyeballs is a solid strategy.  Also, they get super hyped about things and help spread the message to the rest of the world in a way us old people (well, maybe excepting me and this weird blog) want to do.  So, woe is me.  Where is my Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Springsteen, etc. megashow?!?!  So sad.  Waaaaa waaaaaaah.

NOW, shake it off and let's talk about what we have here.

Headliners:

• Sabrina Carpenter.  I can't believe she gets top billing, and I super do not want to see this at all.
• Hozier.  I can't believe he is #2.  That being said, he sounds amazing and has some huge hits, so I'll probably go see him again.  But wasn't he just here?  Does he even have a new album?
• Doja Cat.  Lame.  BREAKING NEWS: old white guy doesn't want two bad pop stars in the top three!
• Luke Combs.  I dunno man.  A friend just saw his Jazz Fest set and said it was awesome, but I don't care too much about Nashville formula country.  Better than Doja, I suppose?
• The Strokes.  Are still apparently alive?  Okay.   I guess I should be pleased to have a rock act?
• John Summit.  Never heard of him, so I expect that means he is techno.
• Doechii.  I heard the name when I saw that it won a Grammy this year, but I've never heard a song.  For that to be the top rapper on the list is pretty whack.

How about the rest?

• Cage the Elephant are fun.  I feel like they were just here, but maybe I'm conflating them with someone else.
• Rainbow Kitten Surprise were good ten years ago, but I haven't checked back in on them.
• Okay, there is a great little pocket next: Modest Mouse, Wet Leg, Backseat Lovers, Dr. Dog, Japanese Breakfast, Car Seat Headrest, Sam Barber, and MJ Lenderman.  ALL eight of those bands or artists are really good.
• Briscoe finally made it to ACL!
• Tanner Usrey is great.
• I probably just don't know the rapper names on here, but it would appear that it is Doechii and T-Pain.  Brutal for the folks who love rap.  And weird, a little bit, after other years with tons of fun rap for the kids to rage along to.  I wonder if this is still the Astroworld fallout...

Things I am now sad about - yesterday there were rumors about Green Day and Goose.  I knew better than to expect Green Day, but I had still gotten geeked up about the idea of getting Goose back in the park.  pffffffffffffttttttt.

Okay, folks, time to get to discovering!