Brandon Flowers (2026)

One Liner: The Killers
Wikipedia Genre: alternative rock, new wave, heartland rock, synth-pop
Home: Vegas

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 4
Day: ???
Weekend One Only.

[location].

Thoughts:  I know I have written about this before, not sure if it was because of Eddie Vedder, or Marcus Mumford, or Jim James, or The Revivalists guy, but I just generally don't care for a lead singer doing a solo thing.  Especially if it was a band that I really like.  The Killers are really just Brandon Flowers.  And yes, there are other members (I couldn't tell you any of their names), but for all I know they are also playing the backing music on these tunes.  I can see if the band breaks up, and David Byrne keeps making music because the Talking Heads are dead.  But where the original band is still out there and sounds just like what you are doing on your solo thing, what are we doing?

Anyway, he was last here by himself in 2015, but he has been here with the Killers 73 times since then.  His solo stuff is disappointingly bland pop rock.  Truly a bummer to me.  The Killers' Hot Fuss was a freaking great album, coming out of left field with retro-80's pop synth-rock flourishes and really fun songs.  A lot of people crapped on their next album, Sam's Town, but I thought it was pretty good too, even if not as good as the debut.  So, I'd love to imagine that his solo stuff would be like the classic Killers.

Well, this ain't Hot Fuss.  Two albums - 2010's Flamingo and 2015's The Desired Effect.  Glad ACL was able to snag him when I'm sure the fervor to have someone here who hasn't published music in over a decade was probably fierce.  Here is the most popular tune overall on Spotify, which is from that 2010 album, called "Crossfire."  83.3 million streams.

I mean, not terrible, its just super generic sounding soft rock.  The album opener, "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" is a sweeping love-song-to / warning-about Las Vegas.  "Didn't nobody tell you, the house will always win!"  Not an especially good album.  I also listened to the top ten most popular tunes on Spotify a few times, and honestly, the best are the live covers.  But still not nearly as good as the original Killers tunes.  Here is the first single from the "new" album, "Lonely Town."  18.6 million.

Oh man.  Auto Tune in the house?  Check.  Backup choir?  Yup.  Synth blips to hope that people remember the Killers?  Of course.  Honestly, not a terrible song, but also not something that I'll ever need to hear again.  I have to say the second disc is better than that older album.  It still isn't something I'd ever buy, or probably even listen to again, but it has some okay songs on there.  "Can't Deny My Love" is actually pretty snappy.  But some of these other songs are soft rock schmaltz.  Maybe I'd go see him, but I doubt it.

Dallas Wax

One Liner: Pretty straight-forward, classic, guitar-forward rock and roll
Wikipedia Genre: no Wikipedia, but this is rock and roll
Home: NYC

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 19
Day: ???
Weekend Two Only.

[location].

Thoughts:  I mean, they aren't from Dallas?  C'mon false advertising.  But these dudes are fun - I have been enjoying the jams.  Kind of like one of those college bands like West 22nd cleaned up, got a good producer, listened to the Strokes, and learned to really love the guitar.  They claim psych-rock or blues rock, which, sure.

Lead singer met the band over time, sort of collecting good musicians as he wandered about NYC.  Kind of a fun idea of band building.  One anecdote made me laugh: "I remember when we were chatting, I asked you at some point – I looked around, making sure nobody was listening – “Do you like John Mayer?” You gotta be careful saying that, man."

Ah, that is the reason for the name, the lead singer's name is Ryan Dallas Wax.  Some of them had previously played in a band called Water Gun, but they have been doing this since 2023.  They only have eight songs, so it just dawned on me that Spotify had been playing a random mismash of other similar bands.  Dammit (I liked some of those other songs a lot!).  Top single is "Mud" with 69k streams.

woo, woo, woooooo!  Yeah, I think these guys are raw and may be fun to see play their jams out loud.  Being that it looks like the rock will be few and far between on this lineup card, I may have to take what I can get!

LP

One Liner: A billion stream track hiding here among the whistling and warbling
Wikipedia Genre: Pop rock, alternative rock
Home: Brooklyn

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 8
Day: ???
Both Weekends.

[location].

Thoughts:  After a few songs, my opinion is that this is trying very hard to be Chappel Roan.  I really don't care for it.  Her vocal tone sounds very forced as generic pop things play in the background.  Super warbly and overly dramatic.  I catch some Florence or Miley every once in a while too.

Laura Pergolizzi was a songwriter first, getting tracks done by Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, and the Backstreet Boys.  Apparently, David Lowery, of the band Cracker, spotted LP and had them sing backup on a Cracker track, and then produced LP's first album.  The second disc was made with help from songwriter extraordinaire Linda Perry, but Wikipedia says: "Despite extensive touring to promote it and favorable reviews, the album failed to gain widespread recognition."  Maybe because it isn't very interesting?

Fast forward a few years, and her 2016 album apparently hit a nerve.  2016's Lost on You has 6 of her most popular songs, including "Lost on You" which somehow has 1.1 BILLION streams.

Another semi-funny note in their Wikipedia: "LP's songs also include their whistling."  Sure.  I didn't expect that was a guest whistler.  A lot of these songs have been featured in shows and movies.  I am not on board, but if this is your favorite then I hope you have a great time.

Temper City

One Liner: One generic indie pop song, and yet on the 12th line.
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12
Day: ???
Both Weekends.

[location].

Thoughts:  ONE SONG!?!?!  Dammit!  I need for something to just play for a while so that I can get some work done!  ONE SONG?!?!?!

Going to leave a gap here and maybe go look up some research on who this is, because you have to be famous in some way if ACL is putting a band with one damn song on the 12th line of the poster.  The members of the band are apparently Israeli, so maybe this has something to do with the Gaza war or something?

The song is fine, I suppose.  "Self Aware" has 82 million streams and a generic indie pop vibe

No clue why it would have so many streams.  Sounds like a million other things, it must have been a big TikTok hit somehow (or the singer was on Stranger Things or something).  Maybe like a Hozier B-Side.  Spotify just kept playing music after the one run of this song, and it took me to a Dominic Fike song that sounds very much like this.

Vwillz

One Liner: Freaking yuck, man
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but pop rap dollar store Post Malone
Home: Colorado Springs

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 21
Day: ???
Weekend Two Only.

[location].

Thoughts:  I was kind of semi-OK with this until "Black Silverado" started and my stomach turned at the awful Post Malone but country-fied sounds that make me want to die.  Gotta get this one out of the way and find something better.

No Wikipedia, no articles that are longer than a paragraph.  Guess I don't have to learn anything about him either.  EP and singles started in 2019, 2020 album called Lover Boy, a 2025 album called York, and a pile of singles in between.  HIs big track is a 2022 single called "Falling Slowly."  74 million streams.

The lyrics actually made me grin, even as the music and cadence of his crappy rap made me cringe.  I will be more than happy to avoid whenever he plays at the park.

Palace

One Liner:  Pretty chilled out alt rock that works

Wikipedia Genre:  Alternative Rock

Home: London

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 6
Weekend One Only. 
Day and Time.

[location]

Thoughts:  Oh yes.  The sweet sounds of a good band that I have never heard of being on this poster.  I am so grateful.  I get a little Fleet Foxes and a little Rainbow Kitten Surprise before they went arena sized.

Four-piece band formed in 2012 and lost a member in 2017 but continued on with a new bassist.  Their Wikipedia is especially bad - it pretty much just lists their albums and when they came out.  So, I had to actually go hunt for information.  Rude.  They met in school, gigged for a minute, uploaded one song to Soundcloud and got signed.  Not too bad.  But it sounds like a little bit of a stressful ride, as they were suddenly playing sold out shows and massive festivals, without much experience as a band.  The lead singer claims he never sang to anyone before this band.

But by now, they must be grizzled vets, with four albums in the wild and a slot at the vaunted ACL Fest!  2016's So Long Forever has their top streamer, "Live Well" has 180.6 million streams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6noiVByjzM

Gentle and groovy, and it kind of opens up as it goes along.  I like it.  That guitar work is cool.  The whole catalog is solid.  Let's do the title track to the newest EP, 2025's Greyhound.  14.4 million streams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUNC2e7rDzE

Again, you come in with that sort of laid-back, breezy guitar work and the falsetto vocals smoothly rolling through.  I would absolutely go see these guys play live.  I would normally ask for a touch more "edge" in my rock, but I have really enjoyed this listen.