Opinions on something like the ACL Musical Festival will never be unanimous. Every year, if you take more than about three temperatures on the lineup upon its release, you’ll find a wet blanket — no matter how stacked the poster may look to you. Wet blankets that drip out takes such as, “I would only get excited about Foo Fighters,” or “Haven’t heard of much of anyone except the Chili Peppers and George Strait.” (I’m blatantly blending years here, I think, but you get the idea.)

Even given that, this was a year for the underwhelmed to become at least whelmed — for the disillusioned to experience dis-disillusionment about what ACL can still be. Over most reasonable objections, ACL entered October with a stacked lineup, one that appeared virtually complaint-proof in relation to recent years. And Weekend Two delivered on its promise.

There were no “plane issues.” Some new wrinkles — booths for local vendors like Feels So Good, for instance — added more options to occupy your time. With one day of the usual debilitating hotness and two days of perfect springlike sun, the atmospheric component came out as a positive.

The music was as diverse as it should always be, and the events onstage were appropriately all over the map — Yves Tumor angrily ditching their mic stand for apparently not doing its job, a massive dragonfly making life difficult for Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara, Karen O holding the mic skyward with just her mouth. But even with all the requisite antics, safety was noticeably a priority. The specter of Astroworld seemed to influence performers’ consciousness of what was going on in the crowd; both Tove Lo and Dave Grohl checked in on what appeared to be some kind of problem in their audience, getting assurances of everything being fine before proceeding with their shows.

It was all close enough to perfect so as to be negligibly far off of it at best. Among the seven years I’ve attended all or part of this festival, ACL 2023 Weekend Two will hold a singular place — so far — as the year when everything really, truly all came together.

Following up on my recaps for days one, two and three, here are my superlative musical memories of the weekend.

Best sets:

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Sunday)– After all these years (I last saw them in 2007), Karen O is still a whirling, cheery, palpable force onstage. Nick Zinner and Brian Chase still bring that jagged charge that applies seamlessly from everything to straight bleeding punk to art-punk to disco-punk. The people — so many of them — jumped, danced and watched in rapture. Millennium rock ‘n’ roll at its most refined and versatile.
2. Kendrick Lamar (Friday) — He had a handful of backup dancers who looked like him in a previous era, and they added some aesthetic value. But really, Kendrick’s set was about nothing but Kendrick himself — his delivery focused and fast, his career of deeply important bangers synthesized in a 70-minute storm. Feel bad for the Weekend One folks who were victimized by the “plane issues,” but we were all lucky to have Kendrick elevate us to another plane.
3. Ethel Cain (Friday) — Given her genre and the tenor of it, it was a delightful surprise that Cain (top photo) wasn’t too cool for school — and by “school,” I mean some of the traditional trappings of audience engagement that artists who deal in the darker, dreamier side of indie music can’t be bothered with. Cain got into the crowd, made a young fan cry, and never forgot to transmit a sense of the fun she was having to her fans. Darkly angelic in voice, genuine in manner, she undoubtedly won new fans in what was a massive afternoon crowd.
4. Foo Fighters (Saturday) — Yes, they certainly are the in-your-mug flag-wavers of their basic genre — ROCK ‘N’ ROLL!!!! — that Dave Grohl so, so earnestly wants them to be, even if that earnestness is a bit much at times. Grohl’s piercing screams from the set’s jump — sometimes used in place of parts of the Foos’ most memorable melodies — recalled the sudden explosions late comedy legend Sam Kinison was known for. My question watching it was whether he could sustain that frenetic energy without burying all but the very truest of Foo believers in an overlong, strident power drill of sound. Fortunately, he dialed it back enough, thanks in part to some jokey, banter-y interludes that 1) remind you that Grohl and the Foos have never taken themselves too seriously and 2) probably served as the rest periods in Dave’s intense esophagus workout. The Foos were loud, played essentially all the hits you’d want to hear, paid touching tribune to late founder and drummer Taylor Hawkins, and left everyone satisfied.
5. Tie: Tove Lo (Saturday) and Labrinth (Sunday) — Yves Tumor (call them #7 by a hair) could also have easily gone here, as their great performance was a moody, wild reminder that there’s always another unnamed permutation of rock just waiting to be discovered or fleshed out. But Tove Lo, one of the world’s best and most accessible (and likable) dance pop artists, put on a club-worthy live show as dusk turned to night, with abundant lights, melodic perfection and a playful persona. Labrinth, whose atmospheric falsetto and analog-y visuals were tremendously on point, vaulted ahead of Tumor with an all-time great set ending for “Mount Everest.” On the top tier of the T-Mobile stage’s highest platform, he sang “Mount Everest ain’t got shit on me/I’m on top of the world” one last time, dropped the whole mic stand to the platform floor and walked off, ending the set with an audacious, indelible bang.

Best song performances:

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Heads Will Roll” — If certain of the crowd knew only one Yeah Yeah Yeahs song, it was likely “Maps” and/or this one. Both were spectacular (as were several other moments), but “Heads Will Roll” simply set off a frenzy, with the energy it generated from stage to crowd personifying exactly what disco-punk is supposed to be and what it’s supposed to do: unify two genres full of gusto.
2. Labrinth, “Mount Everest” — See above. Mic stand drop and wordless departure was a punctuation mark not to be forgotten, on top of “Mount Everest” just being a dirge-y vibe all its own.
3. Ethel Cain, “American Teenager” — Cain’s idiosyncratic anthem was one of the big youth-being-served moments of the weekend, with tons of college-aged fans singing the beautiful, not-quite-radio-friendly chorus and Cain getting up close with her people, including the aforementioned young dude overcome by having her sing into his face.
4. Kendrick Lamar, “Money Trees” — This Lamar classic had the grandest, most sweeping sonics, and Lamar’s weird doppelganger group of dancers — one scooting around on a skateboard — added flair.
5. Foo Fighters, “Everlong” — Not surprisingly, they closed with it, and equally unsurprisingly, it left the crowd with the same overflowing feelings it’s generated in rock fans for more than 25 years.
6. Tove Lo, “Borderline” — The chorus hook of “Borderline” is one of the sharpest of Tove Lo’s career, which is saying plenty. In early evening darkness, it was a slice of dance-pop heaven that even outdid the performance of megahit “Habits (Stay High).”
7. Tegan and Sara, “Where Does the Good Go” — “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t find me attractive/Look me in the heart and tell me you won’t go” carves up a feeling person’s soul every time it comes through home or car speakers. It had the same impact under the cover of the Tito’s tent.
8. Jessie Ware, “Beautiful People” — Ware’s offering of pure modern disco was high-energy fun in the sun on Saturday. The talk-rap and Jungle-ish chorus of “Beautiful People” was a funky highlight.
9. We Don’t Ride Llamas, “You’re Standing on My Neck” (Daria theme) — Yes, the local siblings busted out a full version of one of the greatest (and most ’90s) TV themes of all time. Max Mitchell’s vocals had the perfect amount of sulfuric acid, and hearing that spiky alternative riff onstage was a fun surprise.
10. Portugal. The Man, “People Say” — Once upon a time, Portugal was a better band: more alternative, a touch more glammy, less on the hunt for an easy mainstream-alt-pop hook along the lines of “Feel It Still” or (especially) “Dummy.” Now somehow 13 years old, “People Say” and its acerbic call-to-arms lines like “We may make it through the war if we make it through the night” were a refreshing reminder.

A few quotes to remember:

–“Trying to see if you can feel me so I can feel y’all. With consent, of course.” — Blackchyl

–“This is some kind of punk, because you can’t make two Canadians go against each other. What the hell?” — Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara, commenting on their set conflicting with that of Alanis Morissette

–“Sometimes the fuckbois work out. I married mine.” — Tove Lo

–“It’s gonna be a long night, motherfuckers.” — Dave Grohl, early in Foo Fighters’ set

–“If you don’t know the words, just look at that dude in his mid-50s next to you, and just do what he does.” — Grohl

–“The guy that I wrote this song about could be described as ‘Florida Man,’ potentially.” — Suki Waterhouse

–“You know what? Statistically, this is our favorite festival in the world. There’s no other festival we’ve played three times. … And we’ll keep coming back if you’ll have us.” — Marcus Mumford, addressing the elephant in the park about his/Mumford and Sons’ constant appearances at ACL.