Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic 2025
It didn't feel much like a Picnic ... until Willie took the stage
These days it’s always emotional to watch Willie Nelson on stage. Every time is the last time.
And I know Willie doesn’t endorse such thinking. The power of positivity — it’s both personal for him, and business. I once asked one of the folks who ran Luck Presents what was going to happen to the ranch when … you know. The guy told me “we don’t talk about a world without Willie in it.”
But fortunately you have me, and I’m not afraid to tell you Willie often did look his 92 years during his hourlong set on July 4 at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack east of Austin. Willie often did look tired and let Waylon Payne and his son Lukas take the helm more often.
(I’m also a Willie defender. Whenever someone dares to tell me that Willie is looking bad, my first instinct is “Fuck you, he’s 92 years old and he’s still doing it. I don’t give a shit how he looks, a long as he’s still doing this, I’m still doing this.”)
And Willie will still break into a run where he’s timeless — stretches of guitar-playing that amaze. A song that sounds fantastic. The show is no longer a masterclass in live performance, but instead it’s an hourlong love song — the fans who are still coming love Willie and he loves them back. There’s a longer space between moments these days, but the moments still come.
Seriously, you listen to Willie sing “Last Leaf on the Tree” and try not to be moved. Not gonna happen.
Having written the book on the Fourth of July Picnic, I can tell you, with the exception of watching old Willie friend Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, and Willie himself, there was nothing that said “Picnic” about this day beyond the date and the advertising.
Starting at 4 p.m. on a cool, cloudy day, it was another entry in the Outlaw Music Festival — the summerlong, Willie and Bob Dylan led tour with an alternating lineup of support.
Dylan, for his part, did achingly slow versions of “All Along the Watchtower” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” along with a bunch of songs I didn’t recognize. The stage was swept clean for Dylan’s performance, including cameramen. Dylan and his band performed in shadow, cutting their set about 10 minutes short.
We missed the Avett Brothers to go explore and look for dinner — a personal pizza from Austin’s Pizza instead of the more exotic food trucks. Prices are still through the roof, of course, and ain’t coming back, but the best deal might have been the $30 margarita which had enough tequila in it to make me sit up straight.
(The woman at the empty counter saw me looking and thinking from a distance and yelled “come on, silver fox, you need this drink.” Good enough for me. “Silver fox.” I like that idea.)
The Mavericks were fantastic — Raul Malo is a hell of a singer. I remember sitting in my seats at the Circuit of the Americas back in 2017, watching Brantley Gilbert try like hell to prove what a badass he was. All it takes, really, is to play your music with reckless abandon and a complete lack of self-consciousness. Really, these guys were awesome.
Asleep at the Wheel feel like old friends now and we saw Tami Neilson as we were walking in … and that’s it. Six artists/bands at a Picnic? Hell, the Luckenbach run often had 20 or more. Different times. These are different times.
There’s still a few vestiges of the old days — as I was driving in, Willie lighting director Buddy “Budrock” Prewitt texted me and invited me and my son to stop by and say hi during the set change between Willie and Dylan. We did and Budrock was kind enough to show my son how the lighting controls work — pretty cool stuff for an 18-year-old. Or a 53-year-old.
A few observations:
July 4 marked 30 years since my first Picnic, at Luckenbach in 1995. Back then, the Gillespie County Sheriff’s Department tried like hell to stamp out all evidence of marijuana. In 2025, hell they were advertising Willie’s Reserve on the big screen.
How else have things changed in 30 years? You remember that $30 margarita that I mentioned? Yeah, that cost more than the ticket to the show in 1995. Christ, you don’t want to know how much the 2025 tickets cost.
Estrella Jalisco is a damn fine Mexican beer for non-beer snobs like me. It was $15 a tallboy. Plus tip. (In 1995, tallboys of Lone Star were $3!)
The amphitheater filled up slowly, with fans reasonably concerned about the weather. But for Dylan and Willie, I’d say it was a good turnout. Some empty seats but not a lot.