An Indie-Pop Time Machine: ACL 2025 Embraces 2000s and 2010s Nostalgia
Austin City Limits 2025 revives the indie-pop soundtracks of the 2000s and 2010s, uniting Gen Z and millennials under a wave of nostalgia.
Written by Caroline McConnico
Photo courtesy of Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
Amid a sea of band tees, boho dresses, and checkered Vans, glow sticks light up the crowd as modern hipsters sway to the wistful guitar strums of Cage The Elephant’s “Cigarette Daydreams.” When the music fades, they’ll drift home to sleep under fairy lights and vintage posters. By morning, music lovers will be back, shouting along to The Strokes’ “Last Nite” as if 2010 never ended. This indie-pop ritual isn’t a throwback to high school glory days or Coachella lucid dreams — it’s happening at Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL).
What feels like déjà vu on stage is no accident; the ACL lineup features nostalgic performances that are sure to deliver reminiscent feelings. Fueled by social media’s current obsession with early-2000s and 2010s throwbacks, nostalgia has become a headliner for this year’s ACL. People everywhere crave the musical feeling from the previous decades, complete with electropop accents and psychedelic motifs. Viral social media sounds keep alternative pop relevant and turn yesterday’s soundtrack into today’s trending audio, and the festivals are listening.
This year’s ACL leans heavily into that sentiment with sets from The Strokes, Empire of the Sun, Dr. Dog, The Killers, and plenty more. These bands are nostalgic because their music is strongly associated with a post-punk revival and indie boom in the early to mid-2000s. Their songs serve as a cultural time capsule, and as these bands have decreased in popularity, their songs still serve as a cultural time capsule that brings back memories of a specific era. Dr. Dog blends ‘60s and ‘70s pop and influences to create a sound distinctly timeless, accompanied by yearning lyricism. The Killers have a very classic Vegas' rock n' roll energy, with Brandon Flowers’ timeless warble channeling something slightly country and deeply American. Whether you’re a Gen Z fan discovering these bands for the first time or a millennial reliving your dorm room playlist, ACL 2025 serves as a time machine designed to blow your Vans Off The Wall socks off.
The festival grounds might not look all that different from ten years ago, only now, the nostalgia is amplified by social media and modern hardships. Just like the rise of “Recession Pop,” a musical reaction to the Great Recession in the late 2000s, current listeners yearn for music that is comforting and romanticized. The term was coined in the 2020s after hits from the period gained a new resurgence on social media platforms like TikTok. When everything else seems heavy and stressful, listeners can seep into Passion Pit’s escapist “Sleepyhead” or Modest Mouse’s optimistic “Float On,” which is modern medicine for the unprecedented. Both anthems are characterized by exaggerated and theatrical vocals, meeting disheartening situations with unbridled danceability.
Increased social media usage and less face-to-face interactions are big factors in this current nostalgia trend. The desire for continuity and comfort is only magnified by significant global events like the COVID-19 pandemic. For young people, the early 2010s are memorialized as an “aspirational” time of discovery and personal growth before the pandemic and other global phenomenons. People romanticize the era for its unpretentious digital landscape and unsaturated online content, along with its #YOLO attitude. Who can blame listeners for wanting to return to it?
For this year’s festival, the 2010s yearbook is open and everyone is signing “HAG ACL.” For those craving an aesthetic to match the sound, the reminiscent lineup offers plenty of inspiration. Think flower crowns, gold temporary tattoos, skinny jeans and an iPod Classic tucked into your crochet cardigan for good measure. Take this as an opportunity to dig into old DVDs and memory boxes, pull out your worn copy of “Juno” and put on shutter shades. Embrace old playlists, movies, books and Pinterest boards to immerse your nostalgia-ridden soul.
The Strokes’ effortless garage-rock swagger and Cage The Elephant’s raw energy balanced with aching melancholy unites, while Empire of the Sun’s performance promises a neon-drenched dreamscape of glittering synths and surreal theatrics, evoking memories of a sparkling 2010s. The Killers’ anthemic “Mr. Brightside” provides a cathartic release for broken hearts everywhere, andPassion Pit’s “Take A Walk” oozes falsetto-soaked euphoria that only elevates an already perfect ACL evening. Plus, the feeling of singing along to Dr. Dog’s “Where’d All the Time Go?” transcends age, proving that nostalgia is both a personal and collective experience.