The Most Memorable Moments of Sunday’s ACL Fest Weekend Two

Mid-afternoon acts provided the most interesting moves on Sunday of ACL Fest’s Weekend Two, unfortunately matched with sweltering temps. Here are the Chronicle music writers’ highlights from the last day at Zilker Park.

Urban Heat Dances Through Darkness

Though the future may seem bleak, Austin’s Urban Heat is here to ensure we dance our way through the present. The post-punk revivalist trio charged through a 50-minute ACL Fest debut, decked out head to toe in all-black everything. Past plenty of nods to goth-rock favorites like Bauhaus (namely, Peter Murphy’s haunting baritone) and Sisters of Mercy throughout the band’s growing catalog, Urban Heat still managed to make it all sound fresh in a live format. “Have You Ever?” stacked spiky synths over icy industrial grooves, while “City Lights” and “A Simple Love Song” treaded darker dance-pop territory much to the delight of the audience, which remained indefatigable despite well-above-average October temps. The band capped their set with a cover of “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order, where vocalist Jonathan Horstmann jumped the BMI stage barricade to dance alongside the amped-up crowd. – Nayeli Portillo

Laid-Back Larry June Loves Austin

Over some chill, California-influenced instrumentals, Larry June sometimes feels like he’s simply holding a conversation. The perennially laid-back San Francisco rapper arrived in a plain white T-shirt with a cup of water in his hand to open his afternoon Honda stage set with 2021 “Don’t Try It.” From there, he weaved older cuts alongside songs from his latest album, Spaceships on the Blade. The artist joked that he may forget the lyrics to his newer material, as he smiled while rapping and avoided a hiccup. Chants of “Go Larry” felt natural by the last stanza, where he swayed his arms before getting into the groovy 2019 track “Always Want More.” When some started to leave right before the show’s end, fan favorite “Smoothies in 1991” reeled them back in. Delivery of “they wanna come and choose on a P” sounded harmonious. Declaring that he loved Austin and swearing to someone named Bob that he’d come back “each time,” Uncle Larry repeated his fondness for the city twice more before exiting. – Derek Udensi

BIA’s Symphony of Sturdiness

Decked out in an all-denim fit down to her Air Jordan 1’s, BIA packed a 35-minute sonic itinerary with stops in London, New York, and beyond: “These n—as is capping, they should wear a sombrero” she rhymed on “Besito” after beginning the song in Spanish. The Boston rapper of Puerto Rican and Italian descent performed in front of an impressive Miller Lite stage crowd alongside four backup dancers. She used feature verses on her songs as opportunities to perform consistent choreography, some of which she pulled off solo. After the success of April's J. Cole-assisted, UK drill-inspired “London” – a record on which they both rhyme entirely in an English accent – the multifaceted Epic Records signee orchestrated a symphony of sturdiness to a relentless unreleased track. An enthusiastic fan from Philadelphia came onstage and showed Austin how to get sturdy (a TikTok-popularized move from New York drill) as an energetic BIA joyously joined in. And after a rapturous demand for an encore, a toasty 90-degree rave commenced to Dutch electronic producer R3HAB’s BIA-integrating remix of “Milkshake” sampling “Can’t Touch This.” – Derek Udensi

Exceeding “Room Temperature” With Faye Webster

While a giant inflatable bust of Faye Webster stood frozen onstage during her afternoon set, the Atlanta artist herself couldn’t sit still. Webster’s relentless sway and stiff neck jerks characterized the hour as soft vocals echoed out of her shaggy mop of brown hair, parted occasionally to reveal an emotional grimace or soft smile. Alongside regular meandering around to connect with the band, Webster met the audience directly via “Jonny,” a slow-building eruption of unrequited devotion featuring a two-minute spoken monologue during the reprise. Her trademark yo-yo didn’t appear, but a jam band Pokémon soundtrack cover fit with fluttering synths and guitar croons still oozed personality. The show briefly paused when the audience cleared space for a fainted fan in the brutally unshaded Barton Springs stage. Webster’s repeated calls for a medic received a relatively slow response, followed by an almost taunting rendition of “Room Temperature” as security chucked boxed waters at the dehydrated crowd. For her final-act pivot to new Americana and romantic pedal steel grooves, she closed with “Kingston” and a non-musical coda: a live SpongeBob SquarePants illustration fulfilling a fan’s tattoo art request. (The front-row signs asking for custom ink drawings became a new festival trend, repeated at Wet Leg and PinkPantheress.) – Laiken Neumann

Electro-Pop to Dembow, The Marías Captivate

“Let me see, are there any other Boricuas here?” singer María Zardoya asked, carefully scanning the audience she addressed in Spanish. A few fans raised their Puerto Rican flags higher in the air and cheered. For her LA-based alternative pop act the Marías, crowds in the sprawling Barton Springs field spilled into the nearby roadway. “Where is everybody from? Uruguay? Argentina?” She nudged some more (“Costa Rica? Dominican Republic?”) before landing on the one country that elicited the loudest and most impassioned response: Mexico. Zardoya smiled as the band ushered in ethereal electro-funk summer anthem “Otro Atardecer,” a collaboration with none other than global superstar Bad Bunny. Clocking in just a few minutes shy of an hour, the Marías debuted two new songs and captivated with plenty of fan-favorites – including the silky, Dominican Dembow-infused “Un Millón,” the lush and loungy “Cariño,” and their wildly-popular synth reimagining of Britney Spears’ “...Baby One More Time.” – Nayeli Portillo

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Check out the Chronicle's complete coverage of ACL Festival.