​SXSW 2016: The big and the small

I first started going to SXSW with a Minneapolis band with Fargo roots called The Deaths, who got accepted to perform at the festival. They never went anywhere but ended up playing the festival twice and I got hooked on it. I just realized this week that this year was my 10th year going to Austin,, a lovely city that is much like Fargo in that it is a cultural oasis in a very conservative state.

With tons of food trucks, beer flowing and bands playing outdoors, what more could you ask for? Well add in 30,000 festival goers and you can see how it’s not all perfect. But I really think it’s all in what you make it. Slagging SXSW has become a bit of a personal sport. But any festival you go to has its level of ridiculousness. Within an hour of landing, we were at private party featuring a performance from Rick Ross. In what can only described as a major meta moment that can only happen at an event like SXSW I snapped a picture of Rick Ross taking a picture of me.

The thing that makes SXSW appealing is that most of the events happen in clubs and theaters of 2,000 capacity or less. It’s not everyone at the festival watching all the acts at the same time, they are watching them at different venues and many of the smaller mid-level acts play 6 to 15 times over the course of one week offering plenty of chances to see them.

This year marked my 3rd year covering the festival for HPR and 2nd that I got a chance to take in the Film and Interactive sides of the festival. The conference headliners were President Obama and his wife Michelle Obama. You can’t get bigger headliners than the President and First Lady, they are the ultimate rock stars. Michelle Obama’s roundtable was focused on the program Let Girls Learn and featured rappers Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott. Let Girls Learn encourages female teenagers around the world to go to college following high school because it benefits everybody. Surprisingly, it is a major problem in third world countries where girls aren’t doing this in larger numbers than you might think. A new single “This is For My Girls" sung by Elliott and Kelly Clarkson among others has been released and Itunes sales benefit the Let Girls Learn program. Getting to cover the First Lady’s visit was a definite highlight for me, I’ve been in the same building as her before, but it never gets old and I never take it for granted. I joked afterwards that when Barack leaves office, Michelle will be forming a new rap supergroup featuring Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott.

I always try to mix the big with the small when visiting SXSW. This year among the large acts I saw at the festival who were all showcasing new records: Iggy Pop, Deftones and Loretta Lynn. At one of my first SXSW visits, I got to go on stage with Iggy and the Stooges for “No Fun”, this year saw Iggy’s new band featuring Josh Homme, who have a new record together and live focus their selections on Iggy’s vast and weird solo career. At the behest of her band, Loretta Lynn refused to play her new songs even after they cajoled her to do it. She threatened to fire the member who starting playing a new song anyway if he continued not listening to her. “The people don’t want it.” I’ve always wanted to see Deftones and they delivered in the intense, loud way you’d expect. Even bringing up Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys for a special guest appearance at the Spin party we saw them at, which also featured Scottish pop outfit Chrvches.

Among the new acts we caught were Spanish garage pop ladies Hinds who performed 16 times during the week, 90s rockers Dilly Dally, Swedish electro pop act Lust for Youth, dance spazz rockers Guerilla Toss, Texas pop punkers Radioactivity and up and coming hip hop act Anderson.Paak and the Free Nationals which features a funkified live band backing him up.

A lot of mid-level acts also play tons of shows during the week in hopes that the exposure will propel them to playing to a wider audience in larger clubs. We caught power pop quartet Beach Slang and indie folk rocker Kevin Morby twice during the week, both have put out records I love and seeing them live only confirmed my love for them. Mitski has a new record out this summer and she is about to explode, seeing her in the flesh only verified it. A Giant Dog plays some of the catchy pop punk you’ve ever heard, linking up with Merge Records will lead to more ears discovering that fact. British 90s rockers Yuck have survived the loss of their singer and not missed a beat. Indie punk trio Bleached have tweaked their sound a bit but not so much that old fans won’t recognize them. Minneapolis indie pop act Policia were everywhere and appear to be the biggest regional act on the verge of breaking through to bigger audiences and more festival appearances.

There are moments that can only happen at SXSW, one of them for me this year was meeting funk legend George Clinton after he performed with the Parliament Funkadelic at a Rachael Ray party. One year I met Roky Erickson but this was probably the biggest music legend I’ve ever bumped into at SXSW and of course I had to get my obligatory selfie with him.

The festival has been grappling with growth and while it has been scaled back, acts like Drake still manage to show up to perform surprise shows. It did feel like less people were there but that doesn’t mean events weren’t still packed. I had pretty good luck getting into most things I wanted to, only getting shut out of a performance by the Roots backing other rappers such as Big Boi and Naughty By Nature. But it just forced me to attend the Best Party Ever headlined by Har Mar Superstar where I caught up with a lot of Midwest friends attending the festival on its last night.

The corporate sponsor presence is everywhere and festival sponsors such as McDonald’s, Bud Light and Monster Energy had their own venues and their branding and brands were everywhere and overwhelming. It can be a little too much to take but sometimes the best parties and events are the ones where there are no sponsors. It’s all in what you choose.

The film side of the festival is always a nice escape from the loudness and the hustle and bustle of the music festival. You can sit down for a couple hours, eat some popcorn (or a meal if you are at the legendary Alamo Drafthouse), cool down in the AC and enjoy some tremendous films or even debuts of new TV shows. Seeing the world premiere of Pee Wee Herman’s new film “Pee Wee’s Big Holiday” which turned out to be pretty funny, benefiting no doubt from co-writer Paul Rudd and producer Judd Apatow. Actor Don Cheadle was in Austin for his work directing and starring as Miles Davis in the new biopic “Miles Apart. Seth Rogen unveiled the premier of “The Preacher” which is based on the comic book and will air on AMC. Rogen of course added tons of humor to the story line and it works surprisingly well. Among the breakout new films we enjoyed were “Slash”, a comedy about fan fiction writing teenagers and “Midnight Special”, a Jeff Nichols directed sci-fi thriller. SXSW film is quickly becoming one of our favorite parts of the festival. Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams also spoke on a panel watched fulfilling all our nerd dreams.

I wrapped my time in Austin after the festival had ended with a visit to Torchy’s Taco’s for breakfast tacos,, Little Ginny’s Little Bighorn Saloon for chicken shit bingo and some classic southern BBQ at Ruby’s, doing things you can only do in Austin and some of them uniquely Texas. All in all, I was pretty satisfied I got the most out of my visit even if 16 hour days had me severe exhausted. Until next year SXSW, now time for naps.