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  • South by Southwest

    holy smokes, what an incredible experience SXSW is. it has to be the best music festival in this country. nearly 1600 artists/bands performed over 5 days! i saw more amazing music than my brain could handle. seriously, the talent in austin was more than i thought possible. even the small bands i stumbled upon in a bar with 15 other people were pretty darn good. and the people that i met were about the nicest i could imagine; as impossible as it sounds, i didn't encounter one jerk the entire time i was there. people were certainly partying (myself included), but everyone seemed to be pretty under control. i didn't see anyone puking in the street, or people falling down. in general, the crowds seemed pretty sophisticated and very knowledgable. and the venues (i've never seen so many music venues in one city except for nyc) kept the rooms from getting too overcrowded. i never had a problem getting a good spot to see a band.

    the best show i attended had to be My Morning Jacket. i was very lucky to attend a private party that had only around 350 where MMJ played for over two hours (unheard of at a festival where most bands played 40-50 minute sets, though most bands played at least twice during the festival). They absolutely rocked everyone's socks off. my brother spoke to MMJ's videographer following the perf and the videographer said that that was the best MMJ perf he ever recorded. MMJ did play a good deal of new stuff, some i liked a bunch and others i felt were just ok. They also played a much larger venue that held a few thousand people later in the week, but i missed that perf.

    Some other of the outstanding performances I witnessed:
    Yo La Tengo
    Dragonette
    Ra Ra Riots
    Neva Dinova
    Islands
    The Whigs
    Spoon
    Shout Out Louds
    Los Campesinos!
    Yeasayer
    Okkervill River
    The Whigs
    Evangelicals
    Blitzen Trapper
    White Rabbits
    Atlas Sound
    Black Mountain

    i saw sooooo much more music than this, but i don't have one comprehensive list compiled and this is what i have notes about in my notebook (geek, i know). i lost count, but i think i saw around 50-60 bands.

    the two bands i didn't get to see that were on my list were Vampire Weekend and She & Him (M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel). there was too much buzz about both at sxsw and i knew i either had to get to the venues either hours before the shows or wait in line. other than that, i saw every band that i wanted to see. before anyone asks, i had no interest in seeing REM, though i heard it was a pretty good performance.

    the biggest dissappointment was Tapes n' Tapes. they sounded flat and uninspired. i'm not sure if they are just a bad live band or were tired, but it was the worst perf i saw from a band i like. but aside from them, everyone else seemed to be playing their hearts out.

    i cannot express how highly i recommend attending this event. i am already looking at planning to come back next year.

  • #2
    Re: South by Southwest

    Sounds unreal betty.

    How good was Spoon (especially in their home town)?

    My guess is that you had the same trouble seeing MGMT as Vampire Weekend and She & Him.

    Were Yeasayer too "out there" or good performance? I've seen some footage of them and as ear pleasing as they are, it's almost disturbing to watch.

    Did Okkervil River's energy show through in their performance?

    MMJ - listened to their NPR broadcast of the bigger venue. It was great. The new stuff sounds terrific but yet different.

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    • #3
      Re: South by Southwest

      spoon was great. it was a much bigger crowd than anything else i attended, so i didn't enjoy it as much as some of the other bands on the list simply because i loved the intimateness of the other shows.

      MGMT wasn't on my list, so i didn't try to go see them. don't know much about them.

      i really liked Yeasayer. granted, it was at 1am and i had been seeing music since about noon and had had my fare share of "brownies" and drinks.

      Okkervill River absolutely killed. they had a ton of energy and were so tight. one of my favorite shows.

      yeah, a few of the new MMJ songs were quite different. there was one song that sounded like it could have been on a Funkadelic record.

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      • #4
        Re: South by Southwest

        I'm jealous!!! I'm just now really getting into MMJ.

        Next year, I'm gonna try to make it. Would appreciate a heads-up!
        "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann



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        • #5
          Re: South by Southwest

          yeah I think I'm gonna go next year too.

          You guys are invited to the f10 party.

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          • #6
            Re: South by Southwest

            I'm there!!!
            "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann



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            • #7
              Re: South by Southwest

              Originally posted by stocknowledge
              I'm jealous!!! I'm just now really getting into MMJ.

              Next year, I'm gonna try to make it. Would appreciate a heads-up!

              stock - great to hear you are getting into MMJ. Is it "Z" or "It Still Moves"? You probably have fond memories of times when you discovered bands and I vividly remember getting into MMJ with a passion. I hope you find it to be the same.

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              • #8
                Re: South by Southwest

                well, i'll definitely be back next year. the dates of the music portion of sxsw will be 3/18-3/22.

                if anyone is seriously considering going, i have two suggestions:
                1. book your hotel waaaaaaaaaaaaay in advance as all the hotels within walking distance of the venues will sell out at least 3 months beforehand.
                2. just buck up and spend the $500 to get the music badge. it's a great feeling to just walk past the incredibly long line and step right into a venue. there are a bunch of free events that are great (mostly the daytime events), but there are a ton of shows that require a badge or wristband (for local residents only) to guarantee entrance.

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                • #9
                  Re: South by Southwest

                  Congrats betty...glad you had fun! Jazzfest & Bonnaroo are the big ones I have attended recently and there were jerks at both...

                  I am interested in your takes on Atlas Sound, Black Mountain, Los Campesinos! and Yo La Tengo. YLT is a favorite of mine for years, but the first 3 I have gotten into only recently. Thanks!
                  Eliminate distractions, create energy, fear nothing, and attack everything.

                  -Andy Reid

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                  • #10
                    Re: South by Southwest

                    Some interesting commentary on the festival from Pop Matters

                    http://www.popmatters.com/pm/features/series/401/
                    Eliminate distractions, create energy, fear nothing, and attack everything.

                    -Andy Reid

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                    • #11
                      Re: South by Southwest

                      Originally posted by Vote for Kalas
                      I am interested in your takes on Atlas Sound, Black Mountain, Los Campesinos! and Yo La Tengo. YLT is a favorite of mine for years, but the first 3 I have gotten into only recently. Thanks!
                      all the bands i listed in my first post were all highlights. i saw many, many more bands than just that, but those were the ones who really stood out to me.

                      Atlas Sound were terrific. i much prefer them to Deerhunter, who i just don't get (seen them live and listened to one of their records).

                      Black Mountain kicked serious tushie -- they are incredibly talented musicians. they certainly stretched songs and can jam with the best of them.

                      Los Campesinos! are just a giant ball of energy and so much fun. however, i think if i had to see an entire concert of them, i might get a bit bored since all their songs begin to sound the same (they only played a 40 minute set).

                      YLT were also great, but i think they are the most inconsistent of the bunch. i just think that their songs are all over the map and i don't like quite a few. however, they mostly played stuff i dig and also stretched out and jammed quite a bit. they reminded me of the velvet underground quite a bit.

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                      • #12
                        Re: South by Southwest

                        Originally posted by betty
                        Los Campesinos! are just a giant ball of energy and so much fun. however, i think if i had to see an entire concert of them, i might get a bit bored since all their songs begin to sound the same (they only played a 40 minute set).
                        I think you heard it all. 40 minutes is about all they got right now at this early stage.

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                        • #13
                          Re: South by Southwest

                          Originally posted by stevemc
                          I think you heard it all. 40 minutes is about all they got right now at this early stage.
                          not entirely everything: they didn't play the one song i was really hoping for, their cover of that Pavement song "Forwards." but, yeah, that was pretty much everything else.

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                          • #14
                            Re: South by Southwest

                            betty - I'd be interested in finding out more about the festival. Unlike others that have you camping out - this one seems cool from the aspect that it is in an urban (sort of) area with other things to do and accommodations (if you book properly) within walking distance. A # of questions:

                            - Is it easy to get the $500 music badge and what does it entitle you to - really everything?

                            - Where would you recommend staying if you had your druthers?

                            - You listed dates of music - is there music beginning the night of the first night? Just trying to gauge (considering 3 kids at home) what dates I can fly in and out.

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                            • #15
                              Re: South by Southwest

                              Originally posted by stevemc
                              betty - I'd be interested in finding out more about the festival. Unlike others that have you camping out - this one seems cool from the aspect that it is in an urban (sort of) area with other things to do and accommodations (if you book properly) within walking distance. A # of questions:
                              this is one of the reasons why i enjoyed it so much. i'm beyond the age (35) that i can enjoy festivals where i would have to camp out with a bunch of dirty kids in unbelievable heat. it was incredibly nice to be able to go back to my hotel room at any point (i was a block away from the vast majority of venues) i needed a break.

                              Originally posted by stevemc
                              Is it easy to get the $500 music badge and what does it entitle you to - really everything?
                              yes, it is very easy to get a music badge. you simply need to go to the official sxsw website and purchase it, that's it. the earlier you buy it, the cheaper it is -- it starts out at $500 and then goes up in price the longer you wait. but, as far as i could tell, they don't sell out of them.

                              it entitles you to EVERYTHING. there are seminars and speeches (Lou Reed gave the keynote this year) going on during the day at the conference center that it gets you into. i skipped that since there are also non-sxsw sanctioned events with all the sxsw bands playing during the day (this is a chance to get to see the bands you might have missed during the evening shows). it also gets you into every single official sxsw event -- the best music events are official sxsw shows. there are 3 types of people: those with badges; those with wristbands (local residents only can get those); and those with nothing. badge folks get in first and i usually just walked past the lines and had zero problems getting in; but there were a couple times were there were badge lines, but i never waited more than 5 minutes to get in a venue and we still got in before the other two types of attendees.

                              Originally posted by stevemc
                              Where would you recommend staying if you had your druthers?
                              i was lucky enough to get a free room at the hilton through my brother's company, IFC. it was $200 a night and would have been well worth it. the rooms were very nice and it had a great pool and gym (i actually managed to workout while i was there). there are other cheaper hotels downtown which i would have gladly stayed at because i only really needed a clean bed and a shower to escape for a bit. there are also more hotels within walking distance of downtown.

                              if you do purchase a badge, then sxsw will help you book a hotel. they make it quite easy.

                              Originally posted by stevemc
                              You listed dates of music - is there music beginning the night of the first night? Just trying to gauge (considering 3 kids at home) what dates I can fly in and out.
                              there is music beginning at noon on the first day. but the first day was the weakest day, as far as the bands playing in which i had great interest. i suggest arriving on the first day of music -- you may miss a few bands, but there's so much music it won't really matter.

                              my last suggestion if you decide to go is to have a full itinerary of the bands you want to see. i had spreadsheets for every day of the week. sxsw's website has a great function where you can type in the band and it will tell you the night(s) and venues where they are playing. there is also another website that lists all the non-sxsw parties (like the npr and pitchfork ones) and times of bands. i would have 2-3 bands listed for every time slot and just pick one at that time, or just stay where i was. it was very comforting knowing that i didn't have to spend anytime there going through the phone-book sized catalogue except to look up the location of a venue. there were 1600 bands and 80 venues, so it can be completely overwhelming. at first, i felt like such a geek pulling out my spreadsheets, but everyone i met thought it was great and wished they had done the same thing because they spent so much time while they were there figuring out who was playing when.

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