Image via Complex Original
Where do we even begin? SXSW was absolute insanity. While the unfortunate sides of the festival got plenty of press, we’re happy to report an actually incredible celebration of local culture and music for those savvy enough to break from the major trends and go digging on their own. Forget waiting in the two-hour-long line for the showcase sponsored by your major brand of choice; SXSW proved immensely rewarding for niche sounds and the ardent fans that make those scenes alive. Here’s our journal of the SXSW that was — and how we all survived it on-budget and in one piece.
Surviving on $20 a day
This might actually be the best news of the whole festival: you can totally pull it off on $20 a day, and practically be balling at $50. Getting in to town from the airport is easiest by bus — a $1.50 ride that takes you to the heart of downtown Austin in about a half-hour. Hop off right around Sixth and Congress and you’re in the thick of it already. As for food, budget for trying out some of the food trucks and local eateries, you'll be glad you did. The biggest expenses for most people at SXSW are the travel to and from, and the lodging. If you have a full car of people splitting the cost of gas and sharing lodging, you're going to save money.
If you can lock a place close enough to walk in without paying for parking, you're golden. And the only thing you're really going to use a hotel room for is a shower and bed, as most of your day will be in town. A ton of people that we talked to booked rooms through AirBNB, and nobody that we talked to had any trouble with the service. It's a huge bonus if you can lock down a spot with a kitchen, as that means you can make some meals for yourself, necessary if you're doing the whole week and need to save dough. If you really luck out, you can score an apartment in a community with ammenities (some friends of ours had a pretty decent pool and hot tub). If last minute travel plans have you scrambling for a room, always investigate if you've got friends in Austin — locals are always the best guides to an unfamiliar city and will have critical knowledge that the tourists won't have around the SXSW season. If you didn't make it this year, you might want to use this as your chance to start buttering up that friend of a friend of a friend for 2015... or just be that dude and pay it forward.
While the afterparties and boat parties sound enticing for anyone that turns up professionally, a decent handful of these came with a cost. We stopped caring about boat parties once we got a couple emails about tickets being sold, and afterparties seemed to charge simply because they were allowed to host guests past curfew. Free shows are everywhere. Put your foot down. If you've locked down rental accomodations and have neighbors who don't mind a little music, that's all you need. Save your energy (and your money) for five to seven days of continual partying.
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for daytime events
Let's face it: waiting in lines is for the birds in all aspects of life. And if you were thinking a packed house event at SXSW was going to be a great place to make connections or meet your favorite artist, you're officially off your rocker. Reality is, there are a ton of events happening all over downtown (and surrounding areas) pretty much at all hours of the day. If you can manage to pull yourself out of bed from partying too much (or whatever the hell you were doing) the night before, chances are the daytime events will be swarming with artists linking with friends and industry folks looking to push their brands and make connections. And even at the showcases that appear slow and maybe even boring, instigating a conversation with the person standing behind you or in line at the bar can lead to so many things you don't even know. Basically, detach yourself from hype and be social because it's really the only way to go.
Venues and showcases that killed
Empire Garage and Control Room killed it with the Rice n Peas, LuckyMe, and Future Classic showcases. We walked right into the tail-end of the Future Classic showcase at Empire to catch Wave Racer and What So Not throw down amazing sets - with no line and no fee, as well as no credential requirement for entry. Seriously, you can walk right in to stuff like this all week long if you looked in the right spots and were unafraid to explore. Barcelona also had multiple, excellent, DJ-friendly showcases from a diverse array of sounds, and Chupacabra was on another level for the Do Androids Dance x Peligrosa x Karmaloop showcase over the weekend. Summit Rooftop Bar also had next-level lineups all week, with free entry during the day. Republic had the loudest bass of just about any American club for the SMOG vs. Firepower entry — which we also got into with no line, no fee, and no credentials at about 8:45PM.
MVP artists
Jubilee was everywhere, and was killing it everywhere. From the Rice n Peas Showcase at Empire Control Room to our event at Chupacabra to Summit Rooftop to Annie Mac Presents to a set at the W Hotel (and we're pretty sure we're forgetting a few). She's going to have a big year. Also, Buku played numerous sets that had entire crowds slackjawed and was ubiquitious in the best way. The Heatwave brought next level energy and carnival-worthy crowd involvement fresh from the UK - very few people left that showcase of ours not knowing who they were afterwards. Deejay Theory had an incredible week of daily gigging, while Giraffage posted on FB that he played 14 shows in seven days. The Nadastrom re-emergence was amazing and even got a nod in the LA Times, not to mention the whole of the Moombahton Massive family (Dave Nada, Matt Nordstrom, Sabo, Jen Lasher, Jessie Andrews, Fei-Fei) showed up for a massive B2B2B set at our own showcase. Unreal was an understatement. Soulection ran shit all week as well, their artists having a strong presence at a variety of showcases across the board, as well as a strong showcase from the collective themselves.
Cool things are everywhere, if you look for them
We'd be lying if we said we didn't luck out on some connections for a few of the cool things we got to do at SXSW, but really, who isn't? Everybody knows somebody who has a friend who can "get them in" to the big showcase, and even if that doesn't actually pan out half the time, the other half of the time it does. The homie Stylust Beats came through with a party bus invite for Nappy, which turned into a benefit for several of us. As we said earlier, be social. You never know who the person next to you is and the connection they might have to something really special. You'll make a ton of friends this way too — and you most definitely will be seeing the same people from venue to venue if you're following a particular type of music. Be open to experiencing events you might not otherwise try and letting your preconceived plans fall by the wayside and you'll have yourself a proper odyssey.
