Lorde headlines Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026.
Mars Salazar/American-Statesman
“I last played ACL when I was 17 years old, and I’m about to be 30.”
It’s been 12 years since Lorde played Austin City Limits Music Festival. The New Zealand-born singer returned to Zilker Park Saturday night as the festival’s headliner.
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“We started our tour one year ago, here in Austin. We finish this tour right here in Austin,” Lorde said. Her “Ultrasound” tour kicked off at Moody Center on Sept. 17, 2025. “Don’t you just love getting to come full circle!”
‘Every few years another few layers come off’
Lorde headlines Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026.
Mars Salazar/American-Statesman
Dressed in a silver tracksuit, cropped gray tank and slicked-back ponytail, Lorde revisited songs from each of her four albums, starting with her breakout, era-defining hit “Royals” from “Pure Heroine” (2013).
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She sang while splayed out on the stage, giving the crowd an intimate worm’s-eye view through a camera peering up at her from beneath a plexiglass included panel. The set also had selections from her 2017 sophomore album, “Melodrama,” including “Perfect Places,” “The Louvre” and “Hard Feelings.”
“It’s been a process for me, breaking down the layers, trying to find myself,” Lorde said. “I’m getting there, every few years another few layers come off. It’s sexy but it’s so uncomfortable, so vulnerable and so f— raw, but hard things are good for us.”
Images of Lorde as a teenager were projected onto her body as she sang the melancholy ballad “Liability.”
After releasing her 2025 album, “Virgin,” Lorde told reporters at Rolling Stone and other publications that her view of identity evolved after she wrapped her chest for the first time while working on the song “Man of the Year” in 2023. She said her pronouns have not changed but described the album as a rebirth in her relationship with gender dysphoria.
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“We need to learn how to generate the feeling of freedom. It’s getting scary out there and, even if you aren’t free, you can go to a place in your body for one minute, one song, one movie,” Lorde said before playing “Man of the Year” and her hit song “Team.”
Lorde finds her freedom
Lorde headlines Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026.
Mars Salazar/American-Statesman
Fans went wild for “Girl, so confusing,” her 2024 song with Charli xcx, who also played ACL Fest on Friday. “This song goes out to Charli xcx, that’s my b—,” Lorde said, punctuating the moment with a drag from a cigarette.
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The set neared its end with “David,” a song that references Michelangelo’s famed marble statue as a symbol of how Lorde was molded to fit an image as a rising star before reclaiming her autonomy.
A huge banner reading “I don’t belong to anyone” and “2013” unfurled over the crowd. Lorde ended the performance with her anthem “Ribs.”
“Look at a painting. Go swimming. Keep dancing. Keep doing drugs. Keep having sex. Keep moving,” she said. “It’s important to get comfortable with that feeling of freedom.”