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Grupo Fantasma to livestream 6/28 ACL taping

Austin’s own Latin funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma returns to ACL this June, and the performance will be livestreamed across the globe.  Fans everywhere can watch the concert on June 28 at 8pm CT/9 pm ET on ACLTV’s YouTube channel as it happens.  

Although Austin’s music scene changes constantly and rapidly, one band that endures and continues to evolve is the Grammy-winning Grupo Fantasma, who first appeared on ACL in Season 33 in 2007 and returned for 2015’s Hall of Fame Ceremony.  Last year marked the 15th anniversary of the powerhouse Latin funk outfit’s first show and the release of their widely-acclaimed sixth album Problemas. Longtime favorites of music icon Prince, the band served as his on-call backing band for many years, appearing with the superstar on stages from Coachella to the Golden Globes. Praised as one of the most important independent acts in the Latin genre, they are widely known for their energetic live shows, which NPR describes as “seamless…whenever and wherever they’re on stage.” For Problemas, the nine-piece band decided to break from their DIY tradition of self produced albums. The band approached Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin, someone they knew would be a well-seasoned and sympathetic producer and, as a fan, eager to work with them. Berlin states,”I see Grupo Fantasma as a bar-setter, not just for Latin music but in popular culture. Their effortless ability to shift from being one of the finest Latin bands around to one of the baddest funk bands alive and back is a rare and beautiful thing. The record we set out to make was our effort to codify that idea, and I think we succeeded. These guys are the absolute best at what they do.” This special taping will also include performances from the band’s all-funk alter ego Brownout and founding former member Adrian Quesada.

Please join us June 28th on our ACLTV YouTube channel as we welcome back Grupo Fantasma. The broadcast version will air as part of our upcoming Season 42 which premieres this fall on PBS.

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Featured Live Stream News

ACL to livestream Andra Day’s 6/12 taping

Soul sensation Andra Day makes her highly-anticipated Austin City Limits debut this June, and the performance will be livestreamed across the globe, powered by Dell.  Fans everywhere can watch the concert on June 12 at 8pm CT/9 pm ET on ACLTV’s YouTube channel as it happens.  

It’s been a banner year for singer and songwriter Andra Day since the release of her first album Cheers to the Fall: the debut earned two Grammy nominations including Best R&B Album, and she turned heads on this year’s Grammy broadcast with her inspirational song “Rise Up,” which she also performed at the White House.  Known for her standout live performances, Day was handpicked to open for ACL alum Leon Bridges on his global headlining tour, and she’ll be playing 2016’s biggest festivals with her own high-profile slots at Bonnaroo, Essence Festival and ACL Fest this fall.  With a vintage flair and a voice for the ages, Day proves she’s ready to take her place in the pantheon of soulful vocalists and deliver her truth to the world. Her acclaimed debut, Cheers to the Fall, produced by heavyweight soul man Raphael Saadiq, is self-described as “a biography told in the form of music,” with themes centered on truth, fearlessness, vulnerability, forgiveness and love. The Boston Globe says, “This confident, stylish pop R&B record ushers in a sophisticated vocalist who faithfully reflects past influences while remaining contemporary and relevant,” and Vibe raves, “The beauty in Andra’s art is that the message applies to all. All we need to do is listen.”

Please join us June 12th on our ACLTV YouTube channel as we welcome rising star Andra Day. The broadcast version will air as part of our upcoming Season 42 which premieres this fall on PBS.

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ACL to livestream My Morning Jacket taping on 5/2

Austin City Limits is pleased to announce that we will be streaming our third taping with My Morning Jacket live, powered by Dell, on May 2 at 8pm CT/9 pm ET. Fans around the world can watch the concert on  ACLTV’s  YouTube channel as it happens.

My Morning Jacket are old friends of Austin City Limits. Not only has the band been featured twice, in 2006 and 2008, but dynamic leader Jim James has appeared four additional times, as a solo headliner, with Monsters of Folk and as a special guest of Bright Eyes and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. For their first collective appearance in eight years, the eclectic Kentucky group focus both on material recorded for their most recent album The Waterfall, which the New York Times called “a consolidation of the band’s strengths” and Salon hailed as “the Louisville band’s best, most ambitious and most nuanced effort in more than a decade,” and previews of its upcoming 2016 LP.  

Please join us on May 2 on our ACLTV YouTube channel as we welcome back My Morning Jacket.

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ACL to livestream Rhiannon Giddens’ taping debut

Austin City Limits is pleased to announce that we will be streaming our taping with Americana sensation Rhiannon Giddens live on April 25 at 8pm CT/9 pm ET. Fans around the world can watch the concert on  ACLTV’s  YouTube channel as it happens.

Rhiannon Giddens makes her highly-anticipated ACL debut performing tracks from her release Tomorrow Is My Turn, a 2016 Grammy nominee for Best Folk Album. The widely acclaimed album, produced by T Bone Burnett, marks Giddens’ solo debut after a decade as a founding member and leader of the Grammy-winning string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  Rolling Stone calls the debut “a spiritual archaeology of American racial and economic struggle via sublime covers of songs identified with Nina Simone, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and Elizabeth Cotten.”  The Piedmont, NC native and classically trained singer has chosen from a broad array of songs associated with the female artists who are her musical and spiritual forebears for an album that serves both as patchwork autobiography and as a tribute to these artists and their legacies. “The strength of American music is in bringing all these things together—Celtic, gospel, jazz, folk—all these things that make American music great,” she says. “Putting them side by side and having a production that pulls it all into a cohesive whole shows how related all these things are.”  

Giddens’ showcased her powerful vocals at the White House this past year and gave a show-stopping performance in our own 2015 Americana Music Festival special, and we’re thrilled to follow her journey for her ACL debut.

Please join us on April 25 on our ACLTV YouTube channel as we welcome Rhiannon Giddens.

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Natalia Lafourcade’s ACL taping to livestream on Mar. 23

Austin City Limits is pleased to announce that we will be streaming our taping with international sensation Natalia Lafourcade live on March 23 at 8pm CT/9 pm ET. Fans around the world can watch the concert on  ACLTV’s  YouTube channel as it happens.

Singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade is one of Mexico’s biggest music stars. Her infectious mix of pop, rock, folk and bossa nova has earned her multiple chart-topping albums in Latin America and her first Grammy Award this year for her acclaimed album Hasta La Raíz.  Lafourcade became a breakout success in her homeland at the age of nineteen, releasing a self-titled debut which soared to #1 on the Mexican charts and delivered the first of many Latin Grammy nominations.  Lafourcade emerged the night’s big winner at this year’s Latin Grammy Awards, winning Best Alternative Music Album for Hasta La Raíz, with the record’s title track sweeping top honors for Record, Song and Alternative Song of the Year.  The best-selling album is being hailed “her most profound and enduring statement” by the Village Voice, thanks to what AllMusic calls “extremely well-written songs in the grand romantic Latin American tradition…but with a contemporary perspective.”

Please join us online on our ACLTV YouTube channel as we welcome Natalia Lafourcade.

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Featured Live Stream News

Robert Plant’s ACL taping to livestream on Mar. 21

Austin City Limits is thrilled to announce that we will be streaming our taping with the legendary Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters live on March 21st at 8pm CT/9 pm ET.  The music icon returns to our stage for the first time in more than a decade and fans can log on via the show’s YouTube Channel to watch the entire taping as it happens live from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin.  Joined by his diverse, versatile six-piece band the Sensational Space Shifters for this appearance, Plant adds, “Having just begun work on our new album, we thought we’d take time out to raise a little sand and welcome springtime with one more adventure, another celebration of life and song.”  The broadcast version will air on PBS as part of the series upcoming Season 42 which launches this fall.    

Please join us online on our YouTube channel as we welcome back Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters.