I was lucky enough to have free weekend in Austin (that would be Texas) last weekend and as luck would have it SXSW music festival was on. Well it would be rude not to.
A more diverse subset of the music following fraternity than I am used to. SXSW has a large R & B and hip hop following, in addition to the Indie/Punk/Rock contingent I expected.
It rained a lot on the Friday and Saturday so some of the bigger outdoor events were canned.
I did not go to any of the ticketed events, I just wondered around downtown Austin on the Friday and Saturday evenings and wondered into anywhere which had loud guitar based music and as an approach that worked well. I saw some great bands, all US based, none I had heard of or ever expect to hear of again, but all very tight and the quality of music was top notch. From 3 way punk bands from North Chicargo to more tempered girl fronted Indie bands from Milwalkie, I only saw on band which I walked away from and they seemed to be a British Ultra Pop band, not my thing.
It was good to meet up with Brian and his son. I have worked with Brian who lives in San Antonio
for a couple of years, but not meet before, so it was good to have a semi-local to mingle and eat chilli with.
Going to SXSW was one of those items at the bottom of my bucket list. I never thought I would be able to get to Austin during that week. Maybe if you went to ticketed events the experience would be different, but I did not fancy the length of the queues into the venues.
Pleased I went, but I don't feel the need to make an effort to return to SXSW, but if the chance arose again, it would be rude not to.
A more diverse subset of the music following fraternity than I am used to. SXSW has a large R & B and hip hop following, in addition to the Indie/Punk/Rock contingent I expected.
It rained a lot on the Friday and Saturday so some of the bigger outdoor events were canned.
I did not go to any of the ticketed events, I just wondered around downtown Austin on the Friday and Saturday evenings and wondered into anywhere which had loud guitar based music and as an approach that worked well. I saw some great bands, all US based, none I had heard of or ever expect to hear of again, but all very tight and the quality of music was top notch. From 3 way punk bands from North Chicargo to more tempered girl fronted Indie bands from Milwalkie, I only saw on band which I walked away from and they seemed to be a British Ultra Pop band, not my thing.
It was good to meet up with Brian and his son. I have worked with Brian who lives in San Antonio
for a couple of years, but not meet before, so it was good to have a semi-local to mingle and eat chilli with.
Going to SXSW was one of those items at the bottom of my bucket list. I never thought I would be able to get to Austin during that week. Maybe if you went to ticketed events the experience would be different, but I did not fancy the length of the queues into the venues.
Pleased I went, but I don't feel the need to make an effort to return to SXSW, but if the chance arose again, it would be rude not to.
