South-by-Southwest returned to Austin this year, Tuesday-to-Saturday, March 17th to 21st. It was once again a massive event, spreading well beyond its Sixth Street ground zero, to such stages as Auditorium Shores Stage to the south and FADER Fort to the east and further. Admittedly, the weather wasn’t the best that SXSW has seen, but for those coming from the frozen rest of the country, it was a welcome respite.
In recent years, Saturday at South-by-Southwest has declined a little bit, from being the all-star weekend to being when acts get out of town early. And it didn’t help that it rained in 2015.
The Noise party @ Des Moines Embassy
Air Bag One
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
For some reason the capitol of Iowa had an “embassy” in the capitol of Texas. I blame Rick Perry & Ted Cruz…
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Do512 party @ Empire Garage
A lot of the events at SXSW had their official event pages on event listings site Do512.com, so Do512 threw its own party with the hard-hitting likes of Gang of Four, Diarrhea Planet, and Palma Violets.
Palma Violets
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
Diarrhea Planet
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
Gang of Four
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
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Quantum Collective party @ Whole Foods
Of course Austin has a downtown Whole Foods, and of course it had performances during SXSW, including Rocky Dawuni and the iconic Zombies.
Rocky Dawuni
Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck
The Zombies
Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck
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SPIN Magazine/Axe White Label party @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
SPIN Magazine teamed up with Axe White Label to bring John Legend and Lolawolf to SXSW.
Lolawolf
Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck
John Legend
Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck
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FADER Fort Presented by Converse
Alex G
Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase
Final day of SXSW, final day of FADER Fort. The rain pushed everyone under the big tent with holes, and the bartenders started enforcing the drink tokens. You would be forgiven for thinking that Alex G was going to be a rapper when you saw his name on the schedule, but instead was some moody alt-rock that the crowd wasn’t into. He made some joke about McDonald’s, and then hinted that the special guest was either in Space Jam, Chicago Bulls & Hanes Underwear, or had the initials M.M. and was in True Detective, for no apparent reason. It felt a bit like he could tell that the crowd wasn’t into his sound, and he wasn’t taking his appearance seriously, just snarkily getting through it.
Kevin Gates
Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase
But nothing was harder to get through than the fans for Kevin Gates. His gangsta-rap had the clusterfuck crowd (though, not to sound like Bill Cosby, should pull his sweatpants up, as they seemed to threaten to drop to the stage floor his whole performance), but even FADER Fort was wearing thin by this point.
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Rachael Ray House
So headed to a much easier to swallow spot, Rachael Ray House, for the enjoyable, if not particularly original, blues-rock of Roto’s Magic Act, The Cringe (Rachael Ray’s husband’s band), and the more energetic Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Bird.
Roto’s Magic Act
Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase
The Cringe
Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Bird
Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase
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Converse/Thrasher Magazine showcase @ Gypsy Lounge
Converse Shoes and Thrasher Magazine teamed up to bring the thrash to Gypsy Lounge during SXSW, with such acts as Sick of It All, Ceremony, Power Trip, and Code Orange:
Code Orange
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
Power Trip
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
Ceremony
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
Sick of it All
Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker
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Other notes:
-You know you’ve been doing SXSW for a long time when your favorite moment isn’t some performance or even some fan, but security. The ones working at FADER Fort were very nice to your correspondent, recognizing him from multiple appearances, waving him in at the entrance, and pulling him from the packed crowd into the photo pit (after waving aside a would-be photographer without credentials in front of him…).
Unfortunately missed:
-Mew (QRO live review) @ Red 7, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
-Rubblebucket (QRO live review) @ Scoot Inn, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM. The rain made the main crowd area at Scoot Inn a mud pit.
-Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (QRO spotlight on) & Delta Spirit (QRO album review) @ Stubb’s. Rachael Ray’s big SXSW party.
-Not In the Face! @ Holy Mountain Backyard, 1:00 AM – 2:00 AM.