For me, the true harbinger of spring is the arrival of the SXSW in Austin, Texas. Or rather, spring begins for me when I arrive in Austin for the annual event. With upwards of 1,500 artists and tens of thousands of attendees from around the world, SXSW is the world’s premiere music conference. Even better, it’s one heck of a party.
Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some of my highlights from SXSW 2023.
BY THE TIME WE GOT TO WOODSTOCK
SXSW has continued its return to the early days where the focus was on new and emerging bands. This year’s line-up was particularly light on superstars – something for which you’ll get no complaint from me. If you’re looking for big name headliners, there are more than enough festivals out there to fulfill your musical desires.
The beauty of SXSW is that it provides a platform for the countless artists that you won’t find on the festival circuit. Those could be the garage band that formed in the past year to the “middle class” artist launching a new album or project. Or it could be the artist celebrating their new record deal at a showcase sponsored by their new record label.
And it doesn’t matter what genre strikes your fancy – SXSW has you covered. I saw everything from Americana, of course, to rap. Although it didn’t fit into my schedule, there was a healthy jazz contingent this year as well.
(NO) PASSPORT REQUIRED
One of the particular, but arguably lesser recognized, benefits of SXSW is getting to see all the international artists who travel to Austin for the festival. These artists are often fortunate to come from countries that provide significant support for the arts and use SXSW to celebrate their homeland talent.
The UK and Australia, in particular, had strong showings – the UK with Somebody’s Child, The Heavy Heavy, Bilk, and Sports Team and Australia with Annie Hamilton and Civics. Canada also had impressive representation with William Prince, and The Hypochondriacs, and Boy Golden.
As a side note, many of the artists book US tours around SXSW so keep an eye out in your town.
THE NEXT GENERATION – THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
I was particularly impressed with the number of younger artists that I encountered during the week. The aforementioned Somebody’s Child and Annie Hamilton were atop that list, which also included S. Raekwon, Barrie, Julianna Riolino, and Jake Blount. Our musical future is in mighty fine hands.
REAL LIVE BLEEDING FINGERS AND BROKEN GUITAR STRINGS
Lucinda Williams has a great song called “Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings”. While Williams wasn’t at SXSW this year, the song was apropos for my Friday line-up. In the span of a couple of hours I saw three performers bloody their guitars. First up was Somebody’s Child guitarist Shea Tohill who was followed by Near Beer singer-guitarist Joey Siara. Both were bounding around their respective stages so the injuries weren’t much of a surprise. Bilk singer-guitarist Sol Abrahams took the title to heart – bloodying his hand and exploding a guitar string at the start of the band’s set.
It was quite a testament to the glorious intensity of the performances that I saw at this year’s event. No picture included to protect the queasy…
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.