Top Acts at ACL 2025: John Summit, Zeds Dead, and the Big Dancefloor

Austin City Limits has always been a shapeshifter—rooted in rock, but never allergic to evolution. And in 2025, the festival’s shape is shifting again, this time with a thumping bassline. The newly announced lineup for ACL’s double weekend return to Zilker Park isn’t just stacked; it’s strategic. It’s a full-throttle embrace of the genre that’s been slowly but surely crawling out from the tents and onto the main stage: electronic music.

Headliner John Summit is the face of this shift. Once an underground hero, now a streaming juggernaut, Summit isn’t just performing—he’s leading. His inclusion at the top of the bill beside Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Luke Combs, and Hozier isn’t an anomaly. It’s a declaration. Dance music is no longer the afterthought; it’s the heartbeat.

The supporting cast backs this up. Zeds Dead bring a legacy appeal and low-end mastery that contrasts Summit’s house-flavored euphoria. LP Giobbi continues to represent a more progressive, gender-expanding future for dance music, while Disco Lines and Sammy Virji inject youthful chaos and UK energy into a distinctly American festival. And Passion Pit? While not a traditional EDM act, their inclusion is a wink to the bloghouse-era crossover that laid the foundation for this current dance music renaissance.

In a post-EDC, post-Coachella, post-TikTok landscape, ACL’s programming feels both savvy and sincere. There’s an understanding here that dance music is no longer a niche—it’s pop culture. Not just the sound, but the community, the fashion, the meme-ified moments, the sunrise DJ sets and late-night serotonin waves. It’s a movement, and Austin is finally building it into its legacy.

Of course, ACL is still a genre buffet. You’ve got Luke Combs waving the country flag, The Strokes and Hozier keeping the indie flame alive, and Doja Cat—arguably one of the most unpredictable pop stars on the planet—serving wildcard energy. But what sets this year apart is the weight given to artists who control crowds not with guitars, but with CDJs and USB sticks.