Grande, Casiokids, Datarock, Love:Fi, Deleted Waveform Gatherings @ SXSW.
Austin, Texas 18th-22th March 2009
Austin Texas, March every year, the music, media and film festival/conference called South By Southwest (almost like the Hitchcock film) commonly known as SXSW. Other festivals aspire to be like it. Established in 1987 the festival keeps on growing and this year, with over 1,800 bands playing official showcases across 88 venues and 4 nights, it has to be the largest in the world. Austin does call itself ”The live music capital of the world” and I wouldn’t disagree. Planning your schedule is virtually impossible and for bands to be seen by ‘the right people’ they play additional free or invite-only day parties. This year 13 acts from Norway played at the festival (Ida Maria was also due to play two official showcases but arrived in town late and played a party on the Friday).
Most of the venues are found on or around East 6th Street in Downtown Austin. The official shows run from 8PM till 2AM but you can often find live music from 10AM until after 4AM — if you have the energy.
The festival is a great way to discover new music as well as catching established acts playing in small venues. For this reason I was looking forward to catching some bands from Norway that I didn’t already know.
Grande
The first night of the festival was Wednesday 18th. I caught Grande (from Oslo) playing at Mother Egan’s — an Irish pub that set up a great stage within a tent on its parking lot. By the time the band had played their first song their snare drum had broken and it took some time to get a replacement. Still, I believe the venue let the band play their full set and I really enjoyed it. Sadly the venue is on West 6th street and away from the crowds. If only more people had strolled by to watch them…
Casiokids
The next night I saw Casiokids (from Bergen) playing The Music Gym Patio. On the wrong side of the Interstate, but surprisingly close to the main East 6th Street area. Again we are met by a gazebo venue, which is handy in the Texas heat. Casiokids are more of a dance music act than I would normally go for but they quickly warmed up the crowd and won me over easily. Their style and fun poses are truly enjoyable, I could listen to one of their records and would gladly see them live again. (Ann, our other SXSW correspondent, disagrees… -ed.)
Datarock
Later that night I caught Datarock playing in Emo’s Annex at 1AM. Again this was held in a marquee within the parking lot of the main venue. This venue is right in the middle of East 6th Street and crowds gather outside trying to get a listen without paying any entry fee. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy them as much as I did actually, but their red suits and behaviour made the show mighty entertaining.
Love:Fi
On the Friday I saw Love:Fi (from Kristiansand) at 8PM in The Rio which is a restaurant close to the frenzy that is East 6th Street. Now, this is my kinda band — I really liked them and definitely want to catch them again. The band even handed out a four track EP with a candy on it. Sweet.
Deleted Waveform Gatherings
On the last night of the festival I caught Deleted Waveform Gatherings (from Oslo) in another Irish pub, BD Riley’s. Not only is the venue on East 6th, with the windows open to cool off the place, passers by get to sample the bands making it an excellent little venue to pull the crowd in. Despite all this, I missed most of their set, but liked what I saw and wouldn’t mind catching them another time.
For bands travelling to the festival it isn’t all about the showcase or any parties that they play but the networking and new contacts that they make by attending such an event. On the days that the festival runs I probably get to see at least 10-12 acts perform sets of around half-an-hour in length. Every year strange and wonderful things happen to me (like having someone sing to me whilst eating a Mexican meal) and I get to discover new music. Some of the day parties tempts you with free food and drinks, plus the people of Austin are really friendly. That is part of the reason why I’m a fan of the festival and the city and will gladly travel from Europe every year to enjoy the madness that is SXSW.
Related posts:
One Response to “Photos: Another glimpse of SXSW 2009”
Jenny Soep - April 6th, 2009 at 01:25
Great photos mate!