The Story Of Austin City Limits Festival 2016 In Pictures

Austin City Limits takes place across two weekends just outside the Texas city in Zilker Park. NME was at weekend two on the festival’s 15th anniversary to check out everyone from Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar to Slaves and Catfish And The Bottlemen and everything in between.

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“As it’s my birthday and everythink,” says frontman Thom Yorke, who’s celebrating his 48th, “I’d like to dedicate this to all my friends and these people here on the stage who I love very much. And I’m very happy to spend my birthday with these buggers.” And the thousands of crowd members obviously, Thom.

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There are plenty of occasions to rock out: ‘My Iron Lung’ and ‘Bloom’ foremost among them.

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Meanwhile on the Honda Stage, Major Lazer have brought on a load of dancers, who they call the best in the world: they get a mini-interval to do their thing for the crowd.

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Later in the set, Diplo gets in his zorbing ball to run about over the crowd, which he says is better than the one from the first weekend of the festival. Of course it is.

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And it is an incredibly big crowd, too: so many are here that between all the hits like ‘Lean On’ and ‘Cold Water’ there’s a bit of discussion about where all their flags are from. Kentucky, Japan, Texas itself – people are here from all over.

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Slaves’ midday set on the Cirrus Logic stage is an absolute stormer. It’s their first ever US festival, but you wouldn’t know it.

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These two policemen are Slaves converts. “I can’t believe you two make so much noise,” they said. “Can we have a photo?”

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There’s no fancy dress, but there’s still plenty of striking looks here at ACL.

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Later on he sits down to talk candidly about violence in his hometown of Chicago.

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Golden hour at ACL.

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Nothing But Thieves frontman Conor Mason here going large on the Honda stage just after midday.

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Waiting in line for Anderson .Paak, the crowd is all smiles. Check out their Drake ‘Revenge’ merch.

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Unsurprisingly, Kendrick’s Saturday headline set is an absolute masterclass, filled with bangers like ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’ and ‘King Kunta’, plus a fair bit of chat from the Compton rapper about the importance of lyricism.

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As he finishes encore track ‘Alright’ he notes: “Remember these words: I will be back.” We can’t wait, Kendrick.

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On Sunday afternoon Margo Price gives the HomeAway Stage a country boost.

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Snapchat-filter vibes.

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Local Natives’ 4pm slot sees them play loads of new material from their recent third album, ‘Sunlit Youth’, with ‘Villainy’ proving an early highlight.

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They also satisfy long-term fans with beloved cuts like ‘Wide Eyes’ and ‘Who Knows, Who Cares?’

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At the HomeAway Stage, Haim draw a huge evening crowd with tracks like ‘The Wire’ and ‘Falling’. But can you spot the Rick & Morty reference in this picture?

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They play two tracks from their forthcoming album – ‘Nothing’s Wrong’ and ‘Give Me Just A Little Of Your Love’ – which go down a storm.

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Este Haim

Who: Bass player for LA’s coolest sisterhood, Haim

Appears on: ‘A-YO’, playing percussion

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People are still entering the park for the final few sets of Sunday evening.

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