Austin City Limits will tape a performance from MJ Lenderman on Tuesday, July 1st at 8 pm at ACL Live at The Moody Theater (310 W. 2nd Street, Willie Nelson Blvd). Austin City Limits Taping Giveaways are presented by AXS Events.
Winners will be chosen at random and a photo ID will be required to pick up tickets. Winners will be notified via email. Duplicate entries for a single taping will be automatically voided. Tickets are not transferable and will be voided if sold. Standing may be required. No photography, recording or cell phone use in the studio. No cameras, computers or recording devices allowed in the venue. While we do our best to accommodate all winners, we cannot guarantee admission. These passes are based on space available therefore you will be filling in spots available on the floor or balcony depending on the tickets that are available when you arrive.
26-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist MJ Lenderman makes his ACL debut after a busy couple of years. A rock-and-roll and basketball-obsessed kid growing up in the mountain town of Asheville, NC, he put out the breakthrough solo set Boat Songs in 2022. The sleeper hit piled offhanded, Southern-inflected rock on wry, laconic bangers like “Hangover Game,” “Six Flags” and “Tastes Just Like It Costs.” With its barbed little jokes, canny sports references, and gloriously ragged guitar solos, the album became one of that year’s standouts, a ramshackle set of charms and chuckles. He followed with a stellar 2024, bookended by a memorable feature on Waxahatchee’s “Right Back To It,” a magnetic duet about romantic doubt that became one of the year’s biggest indie-rock anthems, and the release of his own highly anticipated solo album, Manning Fireworks. A laser-sharp study of misfits and the mistakes they make, where sympathy and sardonicism share the same ragged rock song, the acclaimed release features a number of thumbnail character studies. “She’s Leaving You” is a half-sneering portrait of a dad cheating his way through a midlife crisis, at least until he gets caught and blasts Clapton in a rented Ferrari en route to Vegas. “On My Knees” finds Lenderman wondering what it means to have fun in a world where so many people seem full of shit while the standout “Wristwatch” muses on edgelords and alpha males. Manning Fireworks topped many critics’ year-end best lists, with Rolling Stone raving, “MJ Lenderman delivers a sad-guy indie-rock gem” and named him “a budding guitar great and ace storyteller.” The New York Times calls Lenderman “A young artist with an old soul and a keen eye for observational detail that makes his canted portraits of small-town life come alive.” NPR says, “He’s a homespun magical realist, always throwing in something off-kilter to elevate his tales of lovable losers,” while the Guardian concurs, “Far from being dude-centric, Manning Fireworks’ sad sack anthems tap into something devastatingly, purely human.”
For entry to Austin City Limits tapings, you agree to abide by the Taping Health & Safety Protocols based on the current COVID-19 Community Risk Stage in effect at the time of the event. By attending the ACL tapings, you agree to the Terms & Conditions.