Without question, this was the best SXSW I have ever attended. I hope you’ll forgive me for moving past a simple list of the best things I saw, and bear with me for a few honest and heartfelt reflections on this year’s event. No pictures or visual stimulation.
First, I love SXSW. It really is my favorite week of the year. And that stems from a deep love of the bands and the music. SXSW has at times done things I feel are horrendously wrong to me, some of my close friends, and many bands I know. However, it’s also a lifeline of Austin, and I value what it does for music, musicians, filmmakers, and my city, despite its flaws. I, unlike most others, even love the chaos and the extra couple hundred thousand visitors.
Each year, I find myself downtown sometime in the month or so before mid-March. The banners for the impending installment of SXSW adorn lampposts. A shiver of excitement shoots through me and I can almost feel the whir of the soon-to-be crowd around me. For a music lover, it can be likened to the advent of Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Although I have covered SXSW informally for my first music blog that existed between 2005-2007 and have attended the music festival in some capacity for the past 12 years, this was my first year to cover it as a member of the press. Despite the fact that we’re a small blog, I felt an enormous sense of obligation to the festival to do right by it—to cover absolutely everything that I could–waking early to produce content, and skipping meals to see more bands.
By following the SXSW buzz I saw two acts deliver great sets that I hadn’t expected: Alt-J and The Joy Formidable. By doing my homework I watched Body Parts deliver an outstanding set to a modestly filled room at Valhalla. I watched some of Austin’s best bands play sets to crowded rooms and sponsored unofficial shows with some of Austin’s greatest artists like Sour Notes and Good Field and small but outstanding out of town bands like Pageants, Dog Bite. SXSW afforded me the chance to see my favorite live band, The Flaming Lips, not once but twice. And I also got to see my first favorite band ever, The Smashing Pumpkins.
There are always drawbacks to a large festival, but the assets greatly outweigh them. After hearing the manager of one notable band severely badmouth the festival, I smiled, and tried to point out what a great opportunity exists for fans to enjoy intimate sets by bands in the small venue format that defines SXSW. In many ways, to me, SXSW is Austin. While, I found some mild frustration at not being able to gain press access to some of the lottery shows, it all worked out in the end, as I got to see the show I had most hoped to see—Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Youth Lagoon—and scored some photos of which I’m very proud.
When I think about the three shows that Pop Press International sponsored, helped organize and book, along with actually attending events, I can’t believe I was able to generate as much content as I was and I am damn proud of it. Below you’ll find a rundown of all the content we put up outside of general festival lineup announcements. We hope to see you out in Austin much sooner than next year, but we are already looking forward to SXSW 2014.
The 12 Best SXSW 2013 Performances
Field Report Day 1 from Chris Witte
Field Report Day 2 from Chris Witte
Field Report Day 3 from Chris Witte
25 Must See Bands at SXSW 2013
Photo Gallery of Pop Press INTL. Day Show at New Movement
