Posted on by

Willie Nelson performs a free Austin City Limits birthday concert

Willie Nelson performs a free Austin City Limits birthday concert

On October 17, 2024, renegade country musician Willie Nelson recorded the first episode of “Austin City Limits.”

The goal of the public television broadcast was to tell the story of Austin music, and it made sense to start things off with the man who shook up the city’s scene. Tonight the Red-Headed Stranger returns to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that pivotal date with a free concert at the Long Center.

Tickets for the show have already been awarded via lottery, but fans who missed the raffle can watch a live stream of the show. There are also watch parties in the city. We will provide live updates from the scene here.

More: Here’s how to see Willie Nelson at the ACL 50th birthday celebration. Watch the time, live stream

This is a wrap. On a chilly but beautiful evening, Austin’s patron saint held court in front of the Austin skyline, delighting a crowd of fans with street-driven songs that are woven into the fabric of all of our lives. We laughed. We cried. We hooted and hollered. And we gasped with pride at our city, home to some of the greatest songs ever written.

The evening unfolds like a beautiful retrospective of Austin’s musical moments. Willie and his crew cover “Me and Bobby McGee,” a song by Willie’s friend Kris Kristofferson and made famous by Texan Janis Joplin.

Willie’s son, Lukas Nelson, summoned the spirits of blues musicians past in a searing cover of the Stevie Ray Vaughan classic “Texas Flood.” Then Willie took us deep into our feelings with a back-to-back track “Funny How Time Slips Away” that segued into “Crazy.”

“How are you doing? 50 years, how about? Let’s do another 50 years!” said the red-headed stranger before launching into his standard set opener “Whiskey River.”

Austin PBS CEO Luis Patiño welcomed the crowd to the party, which began with two proclamations declaring October 17th “Austin City Limits” Day. The first was read by Chip Adams, director of the Texas State Music Office, on behalf of Governor Greg Abbott. (The governor’s name drew tepid applause and a handful of boos from the crowd.)

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, who received a warmer welcome, kept his remarks brief. He used his time on stage to praise “a true Austin icon,” the show’s producer Terry Lickona.

“Music is what Austin City Limits is all about and we’re making history again tonight,” Lickona said.

He took the audience back to the University of Texas campus “on this very day in 1974.” “We had someone, a native son of Texas, who had just given up on Nashville and decided to move back to Texas to make Austin his home,” Lickona said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen with this show. We didn’t know if it would ever air, but guess what? It did, and it became the longest-running musical series in America and on television around the world.”

And then Texas swing stars Asleep at the Wheel, who starred in the show’s first season, opened the evening with “Miles and Miles of Texas” as the Austin skyline glittered in the background.

The gates opened about an hour ago and the longest line in the Long Center complex is at the official “ACL” merchandise table. Showrunners create a custom poster for each event and these are sure to sell out quickly.

Plus, it wouldn’t be a party without cake! HEB will be on hand handing out blue and white cupcakes to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary.

The line to get a good look at the spectacle in the open lawn seats began more than four hours before Willie was scheduled to take the stage. At least for Charlie and Amy Hess, both 47, who found a common connection through Nelson’s music when they began dating in Washington, D.C., many years ago

“I would say that’s one of the reasons she liked me. “He can’t be all bad. “My dad liked Willie and he likes Willie,” Charlie said as the couple waited outside the gates, laughing in their speculation.

Both had memories of their parents playing Nelson’s tapes on childhood road trips – Amy’s in Virginia, Charlie in San Antonio. And although it took Charlie until a time in his young adulthood when “things were a little uncertain” to revive his interest in the familiar sounds of Willie’s music, it has been close to both of their hearts for many years.

Over the years, they collected a Willie bandana thrown into the crowd and happened to meet the artist’s touring band members. The most important thing, Amy says, is “the breadth” of Willie’s music that brings the couple back.

— Emiliano Tahui Gomez

The gates at the Long Center aren’t fully open yet, but fans are lining up for Willie’s big night. Prior to tonight’s show, both the City of Austin and the State of Texas will proclaim October 17th as Austin City Limits Day. We caught up with the show’s executive producer, Terry Lickona, as the crew prepared for the show. Lickona has been on the show since 1978.

Photographer Scott Newton, who has been photographing the show since 1979, is preparing for the show.

Sound checks of “Asleep at the Wheel” on stage before the show.

There are still a few hours until Willie’s o’clock, but the stage is set at the Long Center. Doors open for general admission tonight at 5:30 p.m. Tonight, in honor of the show’s 50th anniversary, Willie’s concert will take place in front of the actual Austin skyline instead of the show’s famous backdrop. Iconic.

The Red-Headed Stranger moved to Austin in 1972, disillusioned with the buttoned-up ethos and over-the-top production of the Nashville music machine. Over the next few years he released timeless classics such as “Shotgun Willie” (1973), “Phases and Stages” (1974) and “Red-Headed Stranger” (1975). These stripped-back, soul-baring albums pushed the boundaries of traditional country music production while simultaneously catapulting Nelson’s career and defining Austin as a different kind of music scene.

The producers of “Austin City Limits” recognized and captured this pivotal moment in Austin music history. In a press release about the show, they described Willie’s performance in 1974 as “a message to the world proclaiming Austin’s place as a groundbreaking music city.” Over the next 50 years, the show turned the city into a haven for true music lovers, showcasing hundreds of artists, from hometown heroes to incredible talent from around the world. Willie, the patron saint of Austin, kept returning to the show. He appeared on “Austin City Limits” 18 times, more than any other artist in the show’s history. His last appearance was in 2018, during the series’ 44th season.

“Without Willie Nelson, Austin City Limits wouldn’t exist – quite simply,” Terry Lickona, longtime executive producer of “ACL,” said in the press release. “He brought ‘ACL’ into the television universe in 1974 and helped keep us alive for 50 years.”