Memorial Day weekend lands next Saturday, and Hot Luck owns the city.

Promised you Memorial Day, so here it is. The next seven days are a slow build to the long weekend, with enough good rooms midweek to keep us honest. Black Crowes and Whiskey Myers do Moody tonight, Gary Clark Jr. runs a hometown two-night arc (Concourse Project Sunday, Antone's Monday), and by Thursday the whole city tilts toward Memorial Day weekend: Hot Luck Fest from Thursday through Sunday, the Greek Festival on Holy Trinity's lawn, Floatopia on Lady Bird, and the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series cracking open for the season. We'll plan the long weekend like a triathlon and pace accordingly.

The marquee

• Thu May 21 to Sun May 24 · From $95 single-night, $375 weekend
  Hot Luck Fest, four days of fire and bands
  Multiple venues, citywide
  Aaron Franklin, James Moody, and Mike Thelin's food-and-music festival is the centerpiece of Memorial Day weekend in Austin, and it has been since 2017. Thursday's Hi, How Are You kickoff at Mohawk is the cheapest ticket and usually the wildest. Saturday's Al Fuego at Wild Onion Ranch is the marquee, with pitmasters cooking live over open flame while a dozen bands rotate two stages. Buy the night you actually want, not the weekend pass, unless you mean it.
• Sun May 17 (9 PM), Mon May 18 (8 PM) · From $55 (Concourse), $85 (Antone's)
  Gary Clark Jr., back-to-back hometown nights
  Concourse Project Sunday, Antone's Monday
  Two completely different rooms in 24 hours. Concourse Project tonight is the big-room, full-band, sweaty-pit version. Antone's Monday with the Peterson Brothers opening is the one to angle for if you can swing a Tuesday morning, capacity 480 and the best Stratocaster tone in the city of Austin bouncing off the brick. Antone's is sold out on paper, watch the resale 90 minutes before doors.
• Sat May 23 and Sun May 24, around 1 PM · Free, BYO float
  Floatopia returns to Lady Bird Lake
  Where Barton Creek meets Lady Bird, near Zilker
  Austin's unofficial Memorial Day tradition: hundreds of inflatable swans, a shoreline DJ, and a 4-hour drift toward dusk. No tickets, no registration, no organizers. Put in at the Barton Creek mouth by 1 PM Saturday, tie up to friends, and float east. The catch is the takeout: there isn't one, so plan a ride from Auditorium Shores and assume your phone is wet within an hour.

Sunday · Tonight

• Doors 6:30 PM · From $65
  Black Crowes and Whiskey Myers, Southern Hospitality Tour
  Moody Center
• 9:00 PM · From $55
  Gary Clark Jr.
  The Concourse Project
• 8:00 PM · From $60
  Mac DeMarco
  ACL Live at the Moody Theater
• 8:00 PM · $10
  Continental Club Sunday residency
  South Congress

Monday to Wednesday

• Mon, 8:00 PM · From $85
  Gary Clark Jr. w/ The Peterson Brothers
  Antone's
• Tue, 7:00 PM · $35
  Elmiene
  Emo's East
• Tue, 7:00 PM · From $40
  The Gourds (reunion night)
  Paramount Theatre
• Tue, 9:00 PM · $15
  Junior Brown residency
  Continental Club
• Wed, 8:00 PM · $15
  South Austin Song Circles
  04 Center
• Wed, 9:30 PM · No cover
  Two-Step at the White Horse
  East Austin

Thursday and Friday

• Thu, doors 7 PM · From $95
  Hot Luck Fest · Hi, How Are You opening night
  Mohawk
• Fri, 6 PM · From $185
  Hot Luck Fest · Live Fire Friday
  Wild Onion Ranch, SE Austin
• Fri, 5 to 11 PM · Free entry
  Austin Greek Festival opening night
  Holy Trinity, NW Austin
• Fri, 7 PM · $13
  Paramount Summer Classic kickoff (Casablanca, Notorious)
  Paramount Theatre
• Fri, 3 to 6 PM · $4 drafts
  Happy hour at Hold Out Brewing
  West 6th

Memorial Day weekend (Sat to Mon)

• Sat, 4 PM · From $225
  Hot Luck Fest · Al Fuego, the marquee night
  Wild Onion Ranch
• Sat and Sun, 1 PM · Free
  Floatopia on Lady Bird Lake
  Barton Creek mouth, Zilker
• Sat to Sun, 11 AM to 11 PM · Free entry
  Austin Greek Festival (food, dancing, ouzo)
  Holy Trinity, NW Austin
• Sat to Sun, 5 PM to 12:30 AM · From $40
  Here Be Monsters indie-classical fest
  Radio East
• Sun, 7 AM start · Free to spectate
  Ascension Seton Supertri Austin
  Auditorium Shores
• Sun, 4 PM · From $135
  Hot Luck Fest · Sunday closing party
  Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater

What we're drinking this week

• Anytime · $9
  Frozen ranch water at Cuantos Tacos
  East Austin
• Saturday morning · $11
  Pre-float michelada kit from Fiesta
  South Lamar
• Thursday late · $14
  Hot Luck welcome cocktail at Equipment Room
  East Austin
• Fri to Sun · $8
  Greek Festival ouzo on ice
  Holy Trinity lawn

Free this week

• Fri to Sun · Free entry
  Austin Greek Festival (entry free, food sold inside)
  Holy Trinity
• Sat and Sun afternoon · Free
  Floatopia on Lady Bird Lake
  Zilker
• Sun 6:30 PM · Free
  Sundown Sundays at Mueller Lake
  Mueller

From the archive

If you're hosting out-of-town friends for the long weekend and they've never been here, our transplant primer covers the first 48 hours: where to land for breakfast tacos, which lake to point them at, and the one tourist move that's actually worth it. We'd save the patios guide for Tuesday afternoon when Hot Luck day-drinking has caught up with everyone.

Looking ahead

• Sun May 24 · 10 AM · Free read
  Memorial Day Monday recap and June preview
  ATX Weekly
• Drops late May · Free read
  June pool-and-patio guide
  ATX Weekly
• Wed June 3 · Free
  Blues on the Green returns (early June)
  Zilker

ATX Weekly tip

Memorial Day weekend tactical brief: Barton Springs lot fills by 9 AM Saturday and Sunday, and they don't reopen it until cars leave. Park at the Toomey lot or bike in from South Lamar. For Hot Luck Al Fuego at Wild Onion Ranch, the rideshare pickup zone is a 12-minute walk from the gate, so cars surge hard at 10 PM; leave at 9:45 or commit to staying until 11. And if you're floating on Saturday, leave your wallet in the car and bring $40 cash in a Ziploc, that's all you'll need.

That's Memorial Day week. We'll be on the lake Saturday and at Wild Onion Ranch Saturday night, and we'll see you back here next Sunday with the holiday Monday recap and a June preview. Be kind to your rideshare drivers. — The ATX Weekly Editors