I’d be lying if I didn’t say SXSW Music Festival is a version of heaven for me. First of all, Austin is gorgeous: the weather, the food, the people, Tito’s, the bars, the venues, and at SXSW the open fields and abandoned parking garages that become venues…it’s a great time to see and discover live music all day and night for an entire week.
From this Friday March 8th to Sunday March 17th you not only get to experience summer-worthy weather, delicious food (TACOS, HORCHATA), you get to run around the entire city seeing and discovering bands and artists from all over the world. It’s great to have a festival pass but if you’re poor like me you can RSVP to day shows for free! Your best bet is to check out / follow Do512 who are always posting RSVPs to events and search “Austin” on Eventbrite and every event with a free RSVP coming up the next couple weeks including SXSW events will be there. I’m also really excited about this Vice Roller Disco party, and if I wasn’t just taking a carry-on bag I would bring my own roller skates.
From all of my years of going to SXSW I’ve learned a couple of things, the best one is if you know what your favorite artists/bands look like, you will probably run into them in the street. It’s great to say hi, especially to all my favorite UK bands that haven’t been able to tour America yet. With that said, make sure you check out my favorite showcase British Music Embassy at Latitude 30 hosted by Huw Stephens with the PRS Foundation. The daily lineup is listed here!
For a huge music fan SXSW can be extremely overwhelming, a lot of your favorite artists might be playing at different venues at the same time…but they are also probably playing at least 7 shows throughout the week. So what I like to do is to look at the lineups at each venue each day, and if you like two or more bands on it- go! Chances are the other bands you might not have heard of yet will be your new favorite bands. Speaking of which, here are some of the shows I am looking forward to checking out most:
De La Soul‘s epic album 3 Feet High and Rising turned 30 this week! Unfortunately as of now the streaming and sales of this album go 90% to Tommy Boy Records and 10% to De La Soul, make sure you listen to The Grind Date and and the Anonymous Nobody… and the upcoming album they are planning to release this year. Here is one of my favorite tracks from and the Anonymous Nobody…:
Another one of my favorite songs of all time is De La Soul featuring Q-Tip “A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays”, listen below! This better be played at the Vice party mentioned earlier…
De La Soul said of the video: “We shot this video at Lace’s roller rink on Long Island. Russell Simmons came through to shoot his part at the top of the track, that was big having him on the song. You’ll also catch Charlie Brown (of L.O.N.S.) and Chi Ali in the vid.”
If you want to see nine people fit on a stage and rock your face off don’t miss Sweet Spirit. They’re from Austin, so it will be great to see them rock their home stages in front of people from all over the word.
Since I’m living in the UK now, I have to feature some of my favorite bands playing the British Music Embassy showcase, for their lineup all week, click here! I will feature bands from the full lineup all this week. Here are the bands that are playing the DIY Magazine showcase next Monday you do not want to miss live:
The Ninth Wave are one of my favorite bands right now and I am so excited to check them out live for the first time at SXSW this year. The Ninth Wave are from Glasgow and will be playing the DIY Magazine party on Monday March 11th at the British Music Embassy along with Willie J Healey, Anteros, whenyoung, King Nun, and Sports Team. Check them all out below:
Don’t miss Oxford’s Willie J Healey, and support him and Yala! Records, his label started by one of our favorite boys, Felix White from The Maccabees. How great is this video?
I can’t wait to see London-based band Anteros, and catching them next week is the perfect time to hear some of their new songs which will be released on their debut album When We Land due out March 22nd! You can pre-order your copy now here.
Another great Yala! Records band is whenyoung, the band from Ireland recently covered the iconic song “Dreams” by The Cranberries. whenyoung will be playing a show at Mercury Lounge this Thursday for any East Coasters that can’t make it to Texas, tickets are available here!
I’m ready to fight off photographers to get my dance workout to London-based band King Nun. Signed to Dirty Hit Records, their EP I Have Love dropped last year, listen to it in full now here! Here’s an older song but I love it so I had to share:
I’ll never forget the first time I heard Sports Team‘s track “Kutcher”… the lyrics are so amazing, hilarious, and catchy AF. Check out their epic music video for it below and don’t miss them at the DIY Showcase next Monday!
Will you be attending SXSW? Let me know on all socials who you’re checking out [at]mylifeinsound!!!
xx Cher
