hottest headlines of 2024
Yes, we did do the "Hot to Go!" dance at ACL this year.
Editor's note: As 2024 comes to a close, we're looking back at the stories that defined Austin this year. In the Capital City, that includes world-class entertainment, from international racing events to buzzy festivals and your favorite singer's favorite singer. Here are the top 10 Austin entertainment headlines from 2024.
1. ACL Fest moves Chappell Roan performance without ticket refunds. Austin City Limits Music Festival got a lot of heat from ticketholders after announcing that pop sensation Chappell Roan would be performing Sunday of both weekends, instead of Saturday.
2. Linklater and cast reunite in Austin 30 years after Dazed and Confused. In late September, the reunited cast was recognized by the Linklater-founded Austin Film Society and Focus Features, including a special 30th anniversary screening of the cult classic and Q&A.
3. 11 events and afterparties rev up for Formula 1 weekend in Austin. Besides offering the thrill of racing, the U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas is famous for bringing out fun brand activations, events, and afterparties throughout the week.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc won the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday, October 20, with Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen rounding out the top three. Photo by Daniel Cavazos
4. Hybrid record shop and salon dolls up fabulous new East Austin home. The small move kept Vinyl Beauty Bar in the beloved East Austin neighborhood that perfectly encapsulates the eclectic vibe of the salon.
5. Here are 10+ SXSW events that are free for everyone. Whether you have a wristband or not, South by Southwest brings so many events to Austinites' doorsteps that it's hard not to engage with the festival's Austin takeover.
6. Oldest dance hall in Texas tunes up for 4-day music and wine festival. The beloved festival benefits United Way of Comal County, a local chapter of a global organization that addresses poverty through health, education, and other opportunity gaps.
7. Austin icon Gary Clark Jr. to play free show launching wife's maternity pop-up. Clark played a free hometown show to celebrate the opening of his wife's trendy maternity pop-up, Bumpsuit, at Domain Northside.
8. Popular Austin dance club Outer Heaven to close in 6 months. The founder's lengthy Instagram announcement was both an elegy to the business' past five years, dating back to its start in 2019, and a promise to go down swinging by making the club everything it was envisioned to be, regardless of propriety.
9. More than 20 Texas bands come together for San Marcos metal festival. This homegrown festival brought many local artists from San Marcos, Austin, and San Antonio, with a few other Texas visitors from farther afield.
10. ACL Fest 2024 in photos: Dua Lipa domination, Khruangbin's fashion, and more. The anticipation of Chappell Roan’s Sunday evening set fueled the buzz surrounding this year’s lineup, but it would be criminal to not pay tribute to the rest of the ACL Fest 2024 ensemble.
Dinner and a Show
As much as entertainment gigs dry up in December, the iconic Austin band Voxtrot was busy. A few days before playing the Holiday Hootenanny — a mini festival at Radio East with other big names like Of Montreal and Danny Brown — the band appeared in Bastrop for an intimate acoustic set and a bit of storytelling after a multi-course dinner.
The dinner on December 10 was attended by locals who won tickets in a free raffle, but there will be more chances for Austinites to purchase tickets for future parties in 2025. Eric Weiner, the main organizer of the series, says he has "big plans for Austin" this upcoming year, but he keeps events under wraps until about a month out to maintain the mystery.
There were also videographers on-hand capturing the performance, so fans who keep up with Voxtrot will be seeing those videos in the coming months.
The band showed up in smart suits.Photo by Brynn Osborn
Weiner is the founder of the Wild Honey Pie, formerly a popular music blog that's turned into a creative agency. They're based in New York, and have hosted events in Seattle, the Catskills, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. But this wasn't the first event in Austin.
Most recently, the Wild Honey Pie hosted a dinner at Chef Mashama Bailey's now-closed Grey Market, featuring a concert by Zella Day. But first-ever dinner in Austin in 2019 was catered by local chef Sonya Cote at Eden East; the Voxtrot show was a chance to reunite at Cote's current digs, Store House Market and Eatery.
"Ever since, I've been just trying to find any excuse to work with Sonia again, and this kind of fell into our laps," said Weiner in a call with CultureMap ahead of the event.
He added that his relationship with Voxtrot — whose lo-fi, semi-retro song "The Start of Something" may be familiar to many Austinites — started simply because he was a fan. He estimates that the song has been on every romantic playlist he's made since college.
Remembering past dinner parties with lead singer Ramesh Srivastava, Weiner says, "He's so artistic. His music means the absolute world to me. … If we like working with an artist once, we're not going to stop there."
Voxtrot joined in on the food festivities.Photo by Brynn Osborn
Voxtrot famously broke up in 2010, which made their surprise return to the stage in 2022 all the more exciting. Srivastava doesn't shy away from talking about the period in between, and broached the subject with a couple of jokes during the Bastrop show. It's clear how an audience of dozens crowded around a few chairs changes the tone of the performance — not to mention that Voxtrot played as a trio that night, with drummer Matt Simon and bassist Jason Chronis.
In the lighthearted "stage" banter — which was necessary not just because of the size of the audience, but because the show was in a tent outside and the instruments needed almost constant tuning in the cold air — Srivastava also mused that at age 41, he might be approaching his days as a crooner.
The dinner party format meant fans could spend some time chatting with the band.Photo by Brynn Osborn
Among the vignettes he told to introduce songs was a Bastrop County connection: Srivastava grew up in Austin and remembers creating a mythology around Smithville's Norma Jean Boulevard, which he spotted through the window on car trips. Part of that fiction included who might live there, but he never guessed he'd be in a band with a bassist who fit the bill. He dedicated the following performance of "Long Haul" to the fateful street.
The Wild Honey Pie dinner series has gained popularity for its laid-back approach to an exclusive outing. Shared tables mean people get to chat during dinner — and as fans of whoever is playing at the end of the night, they already have something in common. Weiner met his wife through someone he befriended at one of the parties.
"The whole setup of the event is to make friends," he said. "So it's hard to go and not make new connections."
Eric Weiner and Sonya Cote.Photo by Brynn Osborn
An interesting menu also meant there was plenty to discuss, including "Crostini" Bastrop with pâté, parsley, pickled vegetables; a toasty Bon Fire Soup with pumpkin, coconut carrot "bacon," and crispy crickets; and a wild venison pie. (Vegans were welcome to the party, with a parallel menu.)
These bites were accompanied by creative drinks featuring Tito's Handmade Vodka: the Raised By Wolves, a black vodka daiquiri thanks to charcoal in the simple syrup; and The Start of Something, a refreshing pink lemonade-like cocktail with blueberry simple syrup and honey liqueur. Brand partners are a big part of keeping these events going, and in this case, Tito's was the reason people were able to attend for free.
This is quite a few steps above finding a snack somewhere before a concert.Photo by Brynn Osborn
If Austinites want updates on the next Austin dinner party, they can check the lineup at thewildhoneypie.com, or sign up for the newsletter on the same page. There are also announcements on Instagram, plus videos of acoustic performances at other parties.
According to Weiner, it sounds like the next event isn't too far away. "We love Austin too much to only come once a year," he said.
