Having attended SXSW for the first time, I wanted to share some thoughts on how to approach the festival.  Hope this helps anyone planning to attend in the future.

• Festival Structure

While I attended the festival for the music, SXSW offers an array of event types.  These are Interactive, Film, Gaming, Comedy and Music.  The festival in total takes place over two weeks.  In general, the music event occurs during the last 6 days of the festival.  The other event types typically happen prior to the start of music window.  However, there is event overlap across the whole festival.

The events take place in approximately a 3 mile radius of downtown Austin, with venues at any available location, from parking lots to churches.  The Austin convention Center is the hub for information and some event activity.

SXSW has an official website that provides a lot of worthwhile information about the festival and the activity within each event type.   The venue names and locations for each event type continue to fill in as the festival time gets closer.  For example, the music event had close to 2,000 “official” bands.  Some of the bands were announced months ahead of the festival while others were announced within a month of the festival.  Even though some bands were announced early, the venues and times were filled in closer to the start of the festival.

• Purchase Entry or Attend for Free

My experience was with the music portion of the festival, so I will address that first and then give my thoughts on other festival events.

Music event attendance purchases include badges, wristbands, guest pass, pay at the door and free.

BADGES:  Badges are the most expensive option.  You can purchase a Platinum Badge which provides primary access for any type of event or you can purchase a more focused “event” badge.  For example, I purchased a music badge.  Badges are available from the SXSW website.  Many hotels also included badges as part of the total purchase package.

When lining up for an event, there are two lines “in theory”.  One line is for those that have a Platinum Badge or a badge focused for the type of event.  The second line is for those with a badge focused on a different event or a wristband.  The first line will enter the event before the second line.

For example, if you are attending a music event, the first line will include those with a Platinum Badge or a Music badge.  The second line will include those with a music wristband or any other type of badge.  Badges go on sale many months before the festival.

Another advantage of the badge is that each day you can request an “express” entry to two events.  A platinum badge can request this for any event, while a focused badge can only do this for the area of focus.  For example, if you have a music badge, you can request “express” entry for two music events each day.   You can request the express entry starting at 9 am. the day before the event.  This is done on-line. The express entry allows you entry to the event before the two above mentioned lines.  A limited number of slots are designated as express entry, so you need to book these early as they go fast for events of major interest.

WRISTBANDS:  Wristbands go on sale closer to the festival date and are about a quarter of the price of a badge.  Wristbands are sold with an event focus (i.e., a music wrist band, a film wristband and so forth).  To purchase directly from the SXSW website, you must have a credit card associated with a zip code near Austin.  The idea is to make the festival more economical for local residents.  There may be other options for obtaining wristbands (for example as part of a hotel package) but I am not sure.

GUEST PASS:  There are certain events that allow a person to attend with a guest pass.  The guest pass is obtained for free from the SXSW web site.  For example, a guest pass will let you into the 3 evenings of outdoor music at Lady Bird Lake.

PAY AT DOOR:  I am guessing that this only works for certain music venues.  Some of the venues are a distance from the downtown area and do not fill up.  In many of these cases, the venue lets badge and wristband holders in for free but also have a cover charge for others.  This is hit and miss depending on the day and time.  I will talk more about this in the below sections.

ATTEND FOR FREE:  Again, I am guessing this only work for some music events.  The other types of events have fewer venues and therefore more attendance by badge and wristband holders.

The music side of the festival has official SXSW showcases and also unofficial events.  As noted on the SXSW website “Showcases are curated by SXSW in collaboration with record labels, booking agencies, management and PR firms, export offices, publishers, media outlets, lifestyle brands, festivals, and more. Performances take place in bars, clubs, parks, churches, and hotels around downtown Austin”.

The music showcases typically start around 6 in the evening and last until 2:00 a.m  Many of the venues will have unofficial events earlier in the day, typically starting around noon..  By unofficial, I mean the venue works directly with the artists to book versus SXSW.  These unofficial events start earlier in the day and go until the showcases start.

Some venues charge a cover for the unofficial events and some are free.  At many venues, they do not clear the crowd between the end of the unofficial and the start of the showcases.  If you are in such a situation, you are getting into the showcases for free or for the price of the cover charge.  This is less expensive than buying the badge or wristband but is a very hit or miss situation.

Many of the unofficial events require a RSVP / VIP set (all free).  Not sure how this works but if you are looking to attend events for free, you will want to investigate this option.

• Where to Stay

The question here is how much are you willing to pay.  Obviously, the closer to downtown, the higher the price.  If you can afford staying within walking, cycling, scooter distance from the center of town, I recommend you go for it.  There are cycling and scooter rental stands throughout Austin.

I talked with a number of people who stayed a distance from downtown and regretted doing so.  Some had a rental car and planned on driving to activities.  In other cases, they took Uber.  However, finding parking is hard and expensive and driving is a real mess.  You may find options (such as Air BB) south of Lady Bird Lake a little less expensive and still within walking distance.  SXSW does run a shuttle service during the festival that has stops south of the lake.  Later in the evening the shuttle is not always reliable.

• How to Prepare

Regardless of how you plan to attend the festival, you will need a place to stay.  The sooner you book the better.  Again, some hotels include badges as part of the stay package.

Next is how you plan to attend.  Do you want to pay for entry or attend for free.  The badge prices increase in price each month until the start of the festival.  So the earlier you purchase the better.  Wristbands are way more economical but you will need to have a “local Austin” friend purchase for you or make part of your package with hotel.  If you plan to attend for free / pay cover charges, know that attendance is hit or miss and you will want to investigate the unofficial event RSVP / VIP set-up.

If you have a badge, the SWSW site allows you to have on-line connection to a listing of different event types, artists, venues and times.  You can highlight favorites, which then show as an on-line personal schedule.  Spending time before the festival to pick favorites is a great idea as it will provide some focus for each day of attendance.  The online schedule will highlight your favorites for each day, showing times and venue locations.

• How to spend the day

In general, two options exist for attending events.  The first option is to move around between venues in order to see your favorite picks.  The second option is to determine where a number of your favorites appear at the same venue and then focus on that venue for the day.  With a few exceptions, I chose the second option.  I attended the venue early (at least by the first official act of the day and in some cases for the unofficial acts) which allowed securing a good spot and then seeing many acts.  The music acts go for 45 minutes with a 15 minute stage change.   This means you will see a round 7 acts, give or take.

The move around option allows you to potentially see more of your favorite artists but less artists in total.

Flexibility is the key.  Some of my outstanding artists from the festival were not on my favorite list.  However, in most cases, the artists scheduled at a venue for a given day are from a similar genre.  If you like one artist, you will probably like the others at the venue for the day.

• Key to success

When asked about the festival, my reply was often “Total Chaos, yet Totally Perfect“.  Staying flexible and adaptive is the key.  Have fun!!!

Entry to some venues go smooth.  Others are a mad house.  Lines at some venues are well organized at others a cluster. Shuttles are nice after standing for 8 / 10 hours.  However, after midnight they are often a no-show.  People working the event are mainly volunteers and do their best but often provide dis-information.  An on and on ………..

• Non-Music events

There are less venues for the Interactive, Film, Gaming, and Comedy Events.  For the well know activity within each event area, you will have more people trying to attend.  For example, for one of the more publicized movies, a couple told me that even with a Platinum Badge they were worried that they might not get in.

My advice is to use the “express pass” and / or get to the event line early for the well know non-music events.

• Recommendation

If you have the time and money, grab a platinum badge, stay in close to the city center, and attend the whole two weeks of the festival, trying a sample of all event types.

During my past travels, the South by Southwest (SXSW) experience was recommended by many.  I am glad I took their advice.  What a great time!  I would describe it as “Total Chaos, Yet Totally Perfect”.

I am doing two posts on SXSW.  The first highlights my experience and the second is my take on a beginners guide to the Festival.  The guide will discuss things like official and unofficial SXSW music.

I spent 8 nights in Austin, focusing on the music portion of the festival.  I stayed at the Pecan Grove RV Park, which is a gem located less than a mile from downtown Austin.  A friend (Paul) from Ohio flew into Austin to join me for 3 nights.  Paul and I were able to meet up with my friends from Austin (Brian and Summer) for music, drinks and conversation.

Pics of friends:

MUSIC:

Highlights:

Many have asked who was the best musician / band that I saw.  This is a hard question to answer.  So much good music.  However, here are my picks broken down into 3 categories.

1. Best up and coming act: Angie McMahon, a singer songwriter from Melboune, Australia.  You can find some of her songs on you tube.  She is set to release her first album sometime in 2019.  I found out later that she received the SXSW Grulke Prize winner for Developing Non-U.S. Act is Angie McMahon.  Well deserved.  In my research on SXSW, it was often noted that you would just run across a great act by accident and that is what happened in this case.  I arrived early at the Continental Club to see a different band and Angie played before them.

2. Best Established Acts: I have always wanted to see Edie Brickell play.  I was not disappointed.  She played at St. Davids Historic Sanctuary.  What a great venue for her.  A number of bands played before her and some people (mostly younger) left before she was ready to play.  A lady next to me asked “where is everybody going”?   I noted that given their age, they probably never heard of Edie.

A second favorite was the Iguanas.  I have seen them a number of times in the past.  Really like their music.

3.  I am going to call this category “The Best Been around for a little while act“.  Pat Byrne is from Ireland.  He has a music history there, winning the Irish version of “The Voice”.  He recently moved to Austin and his band has members from the Austin area as well as from Ireland.  Paul and I had a chance to talk with them after their set.  Really neat bunch.

Music – Day by Day Breakdown:

Day 1:

After setting up camp, I walked downtown to the Convention Center to pick up my badge and get my festival “bearings”.  My focus for the evening was the Mohawk venue.  That afternoon, I walked to check out the location for later but plans changed.  Excellent music was already playing at 3:30 p.m. So, inside I went and remained until after midnight.  I meet a couple from Iowa and we exchanged travel stories in-between sets.  Cool people.  We had a nice balcony view of the stage.

The band line-up was Deerhunter, Priests, The Beths, Sweet Spirit, Fontaines DC, Black Midi, Dramatic Lovers, Combo Chimbita, and Murray Lightburn.   My favorites from the night were The Beths and Deehunter.  Each band played around 45 minutes with a quick 10 to 15 minute stage change.  It was a long / excellent day on the feet and a pleasant late night walk back to camp.

Some pics:

Day 2:

Paul flew into Austin and joined me at camp.  He got settled, we walked downtown to get his badge, and then had lunch at Coopers BBQ.  Back at camp, we had our usual drink of choice – Crown and Coke.  We had not seen each other for a year and a half, so we had a lot of catching up to do.  When we are on the road together, we usually “light it up” one night.  Well this was the day / night.

 

We headed to the Saxon Pub for music and sat at the bar for the duration.  Sitting at the bar has pros and cons.  Both of which are – you get served quickly.

The official SXSW music started at 9 pm but unofficial music started at 6 pm.  The photo below shows the official music list.

Each of the bands posed for pictures on the patio after their set, which allowed us to take pics and meet with the band members.  Pretty cool.  A Pat Byrne CD was the only one I bought during the festival.   It was close to 3:30 a.m. when we called it a night.

Day 3:

Breakfast at Uncle Billies which is next to Pecan Grove.  Good breakfast at a decent price.  We hung around camp and explored some of the trails around Lady Bird Lake.  Our music venue for the day was St. David’s Historic Sanctuary.  The bands were City of the Sun, J.S. Ondara, Madison Cunningham, Sweet Crude, The Comet is Coming and Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians.

My favorites were Madison Cunningham and Edie Brickell.  The original members of the New Bohemians came to play with Edie, pretty cool.  Awesome venue!

Edie finished at midnight, another late night walk back to campground.

Day 4:

Brian and Summer rode their bikes to the campground for a visit.  We had a good time catching up .   They headed back to their place via Uber and we locked their bikes up at camp.  Yes, we had a good afternoon.

Our Day 4 venue was the Continental Club.  We saw FIX8, Kalu and the Electric Joint, Lisa Morales, Cure for Paranola, Walker Lukens and Los Coast.  My favorite was Lisa Morales from San Antonio, TX.  What a voice!  And the lead guitar player, wow!

A long night and next day for Paul as he left the campground around 4 a.m. in the morning to get back for a family event.  Good times were had with Paul!!!!!!!

Day 5:

Brian and Summer stopped by camp and we then rode bikes around the south side of Austin.  We stopped by to check on the status of their new home in progress and I got to meet some of their future neighbors.  Fun afternoon.

Saxon Pub was my venue of choice for the day.  I arrived around 6 p.m. and caught some unofficial music (Denny Freeman).   Then the official SXSW acts started at 8 p.m. and included Nobody’s girl, Jared Deck, Charlie Faye and the Fayettes, Bonnie Whitmore, Karen Jonas, and Boketto the Wolf.  My favorites were Nobody’s Girl and Bonnie Whitmore.

Nobody’s Girl is a new trio formed by award-winning songwriters Betty Soo, Grace Pettis and Rebecca Loebe. Such great harmony singers and effortless instrumentalists.  Bonnie Whitmore is a singer – songwriter with a powerful voice.

The food truck outside of Saxon that night was awesome.  Veggies were grown in her garden.  Yummy.

Music ended at 2 a.m. and another late night walk back to camp.

Day 6:

Three venues for day 6.  I met up with Brian and Summer and we started the day at the British Music Embassy.  The British Embassy rents out the Latitude 30 club during the SWSX festival (I wonder how much that costs?).  The bands coming from Great Britain will play here at least once during the festival.  It collects a pretty “fired up crowd”.

The Bands playing the afternoon “unofficial SXSW” set are shown in the background of the below picture.

My favorites were Island and the Snuts.  More pics from the British Music Embassy:

After a few drinks at a hotel lounge near the British Music Embassy, we headed to the Victoria Room at the Driskill Hotel.    We saw an International mix of musicians, Susan Kocher (Germany), La Terza Classe (Italy), Jackie Bristow (New Zeland), and Quivers (Australia).  My favorite was Jackie Bristow, very good songwriter – singer!

I parted company with Brain and Summer and headed to the Continental club where I heard Hayes Carll, Angie McMahon, and the Iguanas.  As described above, Angie was a standout and the Iguanas is on of my favorite New Orleans bands.

Music ended at 2 a.m., so the usual late night walking back to camp.

Day 7:

Slept in, took a nice bike ride (around Lady Bird Lake, up Shoal Creel a ways and then into town for a coffee and pastry) and then headed to the Saxon Pub for more music.  SXSW had pretty much ended (there was a closing party at one venue downtown Sunday night).   However, a camping neighbor had mentioned that the Lost Austin Band was playing at the Saxon that afternoon.  The band leader is Bob Livingston.  His on-line bio says it best:

”  As a member of Austin’s legendary Lost Gonzo Band, Livingston toured and recorded with such musical visionaries as Jerry Jeff Walker, Michael Martin Murphey, Ray Wylie Hubbard and many more. Livingston played an integral role in helping to create the music that first earned Austin the designation of “Live Music Capital of the World” and helps explain why he was  inducted in to “Texas Music Legends Hall of Fame” in 2016 and the West Texas Walk of Fame in 2018. ”

This was a must for me.  I sat at the bar conversing with locals and was now also getting the “local beer price”.  Austin music community is pretty tight and many were at the Saxon to see the Lost Austin Band.

It was St. Paddy’s day and their was a pretty good party going at an Irish Bar close to Pecan Grove. However, once I returned from the Saxon Pub, it was lights out.

Day 8:  Pack up camp and head toward Colorado.  WHAT A GREAT TIME!!!!!!!!!!

Some more pics from my festival and my ride back to Colorado: