SXSW Recap

Thursday
After spending Wednesday night camping on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, my spring break crew made the trip to Austin just in time to grab some breakfast at Juan in a Million (if you haven't been before, I highly recommend it) and make it to The Parish right before The Joy Formidable got on stage. I've spent over a year and a half being obsessed with this band, so this moment was a little bit of a dream come true. Even in her appropriately stylish dress, Ritzy (lead guitar/vocals) jammed out all over the stage, played each song with remarkable likeness to the quality of its album version, and with relentless energy, captured the crowd's attention throughout the entire show.

When they finished, we hopped over to the MTV Garage Party where Matt & Kim were in the middle of their set. I watched the rest of their show from the top of a fence on the border of the party where there was a perfect view of the stage. As they ended and the crowd started coming out of the party, we ran inside and happened to come across Matt talking to fans near the stage. Talk about perfect timing...

Later we made our way across Lady Bird Lake to where the The Strokes were about to go on. The fenced off area was way past capacity but we found a perfect place to sit and listen to the show.

Friday
We had breakfast Friday morning at another Austin hot spot, Kerbey Lane Cafe, before going to see GIVERS perform at Emo's downtown. Even though this was my fourth time to see GIVERS live, I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. As always, they performed with a happy-go-lucky energy that pulls the entire crowd into the great time they are so obviously having. 

I don't know what you've heard before about Friendly Fires but with a frontman like Ed Macfarlane, they give the genre dancepunk a whole new meaning. Watching this guy perform is something I think everyone that has ever head-bobbed to one of their catchy songs should have to witness. These photos can hardly capture it so you've got to see it for yourself.

So overall, SXSW was a total success and we managed to see every band we REALLY wanted to just by hanging out at the free parties. After a weekend like this, I'll for sure be back next year.