Under the welcome shade of the Snapchat stage, a few hundred tasteful festivalgoers got to see an R&B star in the making. In just 45 minutes, Gabriel Jacoby turned his early Saturday afternoon opportunity into one of the highlights of weekend two at Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Everything about Jacoby’s presentation, from his shirtless look to his raspy falsetto, evoked the late neo-soul vanguard, D’Angelo. Still, the Greenville, South Carolina-born, Tampa Bay, Florida-raised singer-songwriter made the style his own in a personality-filled set.
“Not a lot of people make it out of Tampa,” Jacoby said. “I did, and I’m about to show y’all what it’s like.”
Jacoby’s aesthetic embodies a particularly Southern style. His outfit featured black leather boots, boot-cut jeans, and studded belts around his waist and left wrist. “Dirty South baby,” a relatively unheralded cut from his successful 2025 EP gutta child, got its name from the mid-90s hip-hop movement that introduced southern rap artists into mainstream music.
Jacoby seemed to understand that despite the dramatic rise in his streaming numbers since the release of gutta child, many in the crowd came to ACL unfamiliar with his work.
“A lot of y’all may not know who I am,” Jacoby said. “That’s the most beautiful moment, because you can’t go off nothing else but what I present to you right now.”
Beyond his stellar setlist and flirtatious, conversational tone, Jacoby’s tattoos helped tell the story of who he is as an artist. The gunslinger on his left bicep contrasted the flower on his torso, underscoring the tension between warm textures and confrontational delivery, giving his music an essential edge.
Whereas established artists face pressure to deliver their biggest hits, every song matters in a burgeoning artist’s set. Despite only a few attendees singing the lyrics, “baby” immediately felt like a hit, driven by a deeply funky guitar lead and Jacoby’s effortless, simple vocal hook. Jacoby revealed endearing vulnerability when he played an unreleased slow jam he has never performed before.
“This is probably the most yearning I’ve ever done,” Jacoby said about the song with a shy smile. “If I mess up, please don’t hate me.”
Later he played “let’s talk about it,” another unreleased song where he broke out his steamy head voice. Jacoby toed the line between promiscuity and down-to-earth affability, thrusting his hips just as often as he beamed through shining grills.
By the time he got to closer “the one,” his crowd was much bigger than at the start of his set. As the song’s funky, danceable groove reached its climax, Jacoby had the previously unaware crowd in the palm of his hand, newly minted fans singing the song’s chorus back at the stage.
“I love y’all with all my heart,” Jacoby said. “I will be back.”
