On My Radar

What's Next

Upcoming events I'm actually excited about. Music festivals, food festivals, and everything in between. If it's on this list, I'm going.

Can't Miss

Music Festival

Austin City Limits Music Festival

October 3–5 & 10–12, 2026

Zilker Park, Austin, TX

ACL is the one I look forward to all year. Two weekends, eight stages, and the kind of lineup that makes you build a spreadsheet to figure out who you're seeing when. Zilker Park in October is genuinely one of the best places on earth — the weather finally breaks, the skyline is right there, and there's something about 75,000 people all losing their minds together that never gets old. I've been going for years and it still hits differently every time.

AustinMulti-DayOutdoor

Food Festival

NYC Pizza Week

October 7–13, 2026

New York, NY

A full week of $3 slices from 40+ pizzerias across the five boroughs. This is not a drill. NYC Pizza Week is the most important food event of the fall and I will be there with a notebook, comfortable shoes, and absolutely no plan to pace myself. The Detroit-style entry from Williamsburg is already on my radar. So is whoever ends up doing the most interesting seasonal topping. I have opinions and I will be sharing all of them.

NYCPizzaWeek-Long

Music Festival

SXSW Music Festival

March 2027

Austin, TX

SXSW is where you find the artists everyone will be talking about in two years. The official showcases are great. The unofficial shows at 1am in a bar that holds 200 people are better. I've seen more career-defining sets at SXSW than anywhere else — artists who went from playing to 50 people on Red River to headlining arenas eighteen months later. That's the magic of it. Plus the breakfast tacos are world-class and that matters.

AustinDiscoveryMulti-Day

Also On The List

Food Festival

Austin Food & Wine Festival

October 24–26, 2026

Auditorium Shores, Austin, TX

Three days of chef demos, tastings, and the kind of food that makes you reconsider every meal you've had before it. The Austin Food & Wine Festival brings in talent from all over the country and the local Austin chefs always show up and show out. The wine is good. The food is better. The weather in late October in Austin is perfect. I'm going for the pizza demo on Saturday and staying for everything else.

AustinMulti-DayChef Demos

Food Festival

Chicago Pizza Crawl

November 2, 2026

Chicago, IL

One day. Multiple pizzerias. The eternal deep dish vs. tavern-cut debate settled in real time. The Chicago Pizza Crawl hits a different set of spots every year and this year's route goes through some neighborhoods I haven't covered yet. I'm going in with an open mind about deep dish. I'm coming out with opinions. That's the deal.

ChicagoPizzaOne-Day

Music Festival

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival

April 2027

Empire Polo Club, Indio, CA

Lineup TBA and I'm already planning. Coachella is the one that sets the tone for the whole festival year — whoever headlines in April becomes the conversation for the next twelve months. The desert heat is brutal, the production is unmatched, and the food vendors have gotten genuinely good over the years. I go for the music and stay for the late-night sets that nobody talks about enough.

CaliforniaMulti-DayDesert

Music Festival

Outside Lands

August 2027

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA

Golden Gate Park in August is a perfect setting for a festival — the fog rolls in, the trees are massive, and the whole thing has this slightly surreal quality that no other festival matches. Outside Lands also has the best food program of any major festival in the country. Michelin-starred chefs, local SF restaurants, a dedicated wine and cheese area. I go for the music and I stay for the Cheese Lands tent. No apologies.

San FranciscoMulti-DayFood Forward

Food Festival

Houston Hot Sauce Festival

Spring 2027

Houston, TX

Houston's hot sauce scene is genuinely underrated and this festival is the proof. Hundreds of vendors, blind tastings, and a competition that gets more serious every year. I've been going since it was a small outdoor market and watching it grow into a full-scale festival has been one of the better food stories in this city. My tolerance for heat is a point of personal pride. I will be tested. I will not back down.

HoustonHot SauceLocal

Know something I should see?

Pitch Me An Event

If there's a festival, food event, or show you think belongs on this list, I want to hear about it. No guarantees. But I'm listening.

Pitch Me