It wasn’t long ago that the majority of big name music festivals in the US featured conservative lineups in which most of the headliners and acts were all pop, rock, alternative, or some conglomeration of the aforementioned.
Since the explosion of electronic music’s popularity in the US, especially among the younger generation, festivals have started to cater towards a more EDM-centric lineup – and Austin City Limits is the perfect example.
Take the 2005 lineup, for example: the headliners were The Black Crowes, Oasis, Coldplay, Lyle Lovett, and the Allman Brothers.
While this is an absolutely killer lineup (especially including the almighty Oasis reunion), it’s very different than what one would expect from the festival nowadays.
Fast forward to 2015’s lineup release and fans were introduced to a lineup including Deadmau5, Bassnectar, A$AP Rocky, Chance the Rapper, Flosstradamus, GRiZ, Disclosure, and more.
Ten years ago, no Austinite would ever expect to see a lineup spanning such varied and unique genres as Austin City Limits 2015.
While major festivals like Austin City Limits have always been on point in curating lineups to cater towards a more traditional crowd, their push toward EDM seems to have helped to drive the festival’s success to whole new heights.
In only a few short years the likes of Skrillex, Bassnectar, Major Lazer, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, and more have gone from being relative unknowns to the mainstream festival audience to performing as main stage headliners.
As the trend continues, it’s exciting to see that as festivals expand their horizons to include new music fans are willing to expand, change, and adapt with them. As the festival scene continues to grow, who knows what we’ll see on the next round of lineups.
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