That post about why I didn’t go to the Colin Meloy show … it’ll have to wait ’til Monday (too many MP3s, videos, and scans involved). In the meantime, I am very excited to finally announce SOUTH BY STEREOGUM. For the first time ever I’ll be going to SXSW and, along with StereoJim and StereoJed, putting on a day party with our friends at Immediate Media.
More details coming soon. But I promise awesomeness. We’ll have limited-edition silkscreen posters, non-stop free liquor, and maybe even pony rides! As I said, details TK.
In the meantime, being newbies, we’ll take any and all SXSW survival advice. Flights are booked, as is the motel, but we’re not springing for the $450-a-head badges. From what I hear, they’re totally unnecessary. Apparently there are $75 wristbands you can buy instead? And lots of free day parties (like ours)!
But fuckin’ Ted Leo, Rogue Wave, Thunderbirds, Milwaukee, and Aloha! Playing for Stereogum? Crazy delicious.
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great lineup. if you can afford a badge get it. you’ll need it for the night shows.
I was singing Rogue Wave in my head literally two seconds before reading this……..cool!
Rock on guys!!! Its going to be a great time!
dude, i’ll be there. i’ll be volunteering for a music badge. i think the only plus perk is that you get access to sxsw music conference trade show and wednesday panels. also there’s a “music big bag” and a directory.
but yeah – SO many parties.
everyone walking down the streets.
one year we chatted with the sleepy jackson for quite a while at a corner store. bumped into pelle of the hives walking down the street. andrew wk randomly running across the street back and forth.
see ya there.
ok, now im just really curious why you didnt go the colin meloy show. too much suspense!
we have a pretty good info resource about badge vs. wristband over here:
http://www.donewaiting.com/sxsw/archives/2006/01/sxsw_music_fest.php
rawk on and promise details <3
yes, get the badge! wristbands are better than nothing, but for the good shows that EVERYBODY wants to see, even wristbands may not get you in. also, because shows are spread out at different clubs, it’s tough to see everything. it’s not like the austin city limits festival (or others like it) where you can walk a hundred yards to another stage. besides that, have fun!
this looks really cool, except is that supposed to imply what made milwaukee famous is being billed above aloha? because eww.
if you need an austin resident to wait in line for wristbands for you, holler. they get more expensive after the first round and they have to be bought in person (at least last year that was the case). and i’m not sure how pricey they’ll be this year, but they may well start out a bit higher than $75.
people might tell you to get a badge and you might consider it, but keep in mind – you still might not be able to get into some shows with a badge, and how dumb will you feel when you’re out all that money and you still didn’t see what you wanted?
Wristbands started at $110 last year, and they’ll likely be more this year. The price goes up as more are sold, and, this is key, the wristbands are only sold locally. Very, very worth it, but you have to be on your toes.
yeah. the badges are cool and all to get you into the special shows, but I mean, there are still shows that they won’t get you into. rumors abound about the “musician’s badge only” shows…
and if a venue fills up, badge or no, you’re not getting in until someone walks out. so, in my opinion, they’re good for nothing other than head of the line priveledges.
the wristbands are cool if you’ve got the cash lying around, but I’m mexican, so I don’t. practically every band will play more than one show throughout the festival and chances are extremely high that one will be free. so if I miss a band at a night show, I schlep my ass on over to the free day show they’ll be playing.
also…(I have a friend that swears by this)…venues that don’t have a day show but are hosting a night show will always be open way early. so he would go to the bar maybe an hour or so before the sxsw people got there, get some drinks, and sorta just slip in that way. hey, it’s how he saw the bloodshot records show last year.
also, don’t try driving in the city. ew. this place is gonna be packed like tom cruise’s fudge. if you can rent bikes or just walk everywhere…do it. and eat the gingerbread pancakes at magnolia cafe. la mexicana is the best (and cheap!) drunk food you will ever have, so be sure to try it out. of all the pizza by the slice places on sixth street, my favorite is domenick’s. none of them are that great, but that one is my personal favorite. when walking down the middle of sixth street, WATCH OUT FOR HORSE APPLES. those fuckers drop deuces all over the place. finally, drink lonestar beer…it’s the national beer of texas.
please never say crazy delicious again
If you’re going to plan to see a varied array of particular night-time shows, and you don’t spring for a badge, you’re going to be fucked. You’ll be waiting in line for hours and hours, bored to tears. Still, if you do have a wristband AND go to a particular venue EARLY and then stay there all night; that’ll work okay too. You just might have to sit through 4 awful bands waiting for the one good one. And the problem is, you’ll stand there and think, “god, they’re awful”, but you’ll also think, “god, I could be seeing X, Y, or Z right now instead.” Anyway, my point is: trying to “club-hop” using only a wristband, or god-forbid, just cash, will just prove to be a nightmare.
That being said, if you ignore that whole night-show scheduling aspect completely, and just focus on seeing day shows and getting invites to special parties (which shouldn’t be a problem for you, Scott), you can have a helluva time pretty much for free.
First things first: as with *any* event like this, immediately seek out the Cornerstone/Fader/Etc. area and gain admittance, so that you will always be able to fall back on free Red Stripe and Sparks.
Send me a free badge if you find one; I wanna go, too!
Ryan
Ex-Stereogum Cool Kid
dude sweet! I will hopefuly definitely be going to this. amaaazing. I think with the badges, they have a priority of getting into the shows.
http://www.sxswbaby.com/node/159
badges are for douchebags. day shows and vip parties are where it’s at and you dont need a badge for either. get me a +1, pls.
I’ve never been shut out of a showcase with a wristband, though you may have to arrive early and stay for a while if the act you want to see goes on at 12:00.
The Austin Showlist – http://showlistaustin.com/ – has already started posting info on some of the free day shows. They’re an excellent resource.
Everyone is going to tell you where you have to go to get the best breakfast tacos (Maria’s or Juan In A Million or La Mexicana) or barbecue (Ben’s Longbranch BBQ, Salt Lick if you have a car) or whatever else, but they’re all wrong, even me. Put me on your list?
i know this is kind of a dick move, but i just wanted to tell everyone about my blog. i’m doing my best to gain a following, and so far that’s not really happening. I urge you all to check out my site, make a few comments, download a few songs, maybe bookmark the site, or even add it as a link on your blogs. I’m just doin’ my best. thanks so much.
-jon
http://iknowmusic.blogspot.com
test comment
Don’t listen to that Catbirdseat kid. Sonofabitch was too busy schmoozing with Lou Barlow last year while Dogs Die in Hot Cars were playing to pay any attention to me.
Hey Catbird, my company is paying for my trip this year including the mega-badge.
screw the wristband and paying for a badge. try to get press credentials for stereogum. SXSW definitely gives them away for websites and magazines that cover the fest.
Good luck trying to get press badges — I have two friends who are editors in chief of print magazines and they report having trouble this year. Everything is just way too high in demand.
Everyone here has obviously had a different experience at the festival, so here’s my three years of experience…
1) GET A WRISTBAND! I’ve had both the wristband and the badge (got it for free, shit is waaaay to expensive to actually shell out for), and the badge experience was just marginally better than the wristband. Seriously, if you do any kind of research before the fest, you will find loads of GREAT pre-buzz/hype bands playing all over the place, meaning club hopping can be a real breeze if you’ve done your homework. But if you’re the standard pfork obsessor and only care about seeing block party, cyhsy, the arctic monkeys, and all the other overhyped thing-of-the-moment bands, be prepared to wait. The most awesome thing to me is that you could see only local austin bands for the entire fest and have a GREAT experience. The place is friggin bursting at the seams with talent. Badges will be atleast $110, which is what they started at last year. And they will go FAST!!!
2) BE AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY PERSON – Yeah, I realize this may be a bit hard to accomplish in the next couple months, but having connections for this damn festival in particular can make it or break it. I remember having a badge last year and thinking that I would be able to walk into all of the restricted day parties. WRONG! Only hot-shit cool types get behind those velvet ropes. Also, Ryan is dead on when he says to hit fader/cornerstone asap because they will fill up and become guest list only very quickly, if not from the beginning this year.
3) http://WWW.SHOWLISTAUSTIN.COM – As someone mentioned above, this is the one stop shop for everything unofficial sxsw. this guy is amazing at compiling everything going on in the city for that one week (and the rest of the year for us austinites). Print this page before heading out for the day. Also obviously check http://www.donewaiting.com/sxsw and http://www.seeyouinthepit.com for some great news and tunes, respectively.
I’m sure there’s more than this, but just thought I’d drop some advice from a local that has been several times.
That sounds amazing. I think I am going to head down there-have a place to stay…with my ex-girlfriend. Is the drama worth the savings? Hmm…
Scott, Scott, Scott. You need a badge. Ryan Catbird is right, if you want to zip around and see 6 bands a night, you need it. I’ve done SXSW for too many years to count. Trust me on this one.
I do did a wristband the past 3 years (and if you can believe it, I used to pay by the show back in the day — but it’s near-impossible to do that now though), but the interminable waiting in line, or the wasting a whole night seeing shitty bands to see one good act at a particularly crowded showcase — that got old real fast. I imagine that you’re the kind of person who wants to see a mix of weird, rare stuff as well as some of the bigger shows. Seriously, man. If you can swing it, badge. (Alternatively, I will be in line buying w-bands this year for friends coming in from out of town, so if you need one…let me know. Also, I can totally vouch for that Karen girl who also offered to stand in line for you!)
And omg, AGH! I can’t believe YOU nabbed WMMF — thinking about booking them for our party! I mean, I KNOW THEM. Whatevs, man. (;
Drop me an email if I can be of assistance in any way, okay? I’d love to meet you as well — I mean, I have been reading you since the LJ days and all.
Can someone tell me what exactly Immediate Media is? Are they a promotions company? An intermediary between labels and venues/distributors?
Well, I was going to mention my showlist – http://www.showlistaustin.com – but a couple of people already did! Not much there yet, but it’s starting to trickle in. As for wristbands, they completely sold out last year for the first time and I would expect that they will this year. Find a friend in Austin to wait in line the day they go on sale to get them for you. They go up in price with every so many sold and the price was already $150 by the end of the first couple of days. They usually go on sale around valentine’s day.
hey eric, this is lizz form immediate media. we’re a music-focused division of a promotional marketing agency in chicago. we do a lot of database-driven market reporting for artists, labels, and venues…so we basically keep track of what music fans are up to, what shows they’re seeing, and what merch they’re buying. our parent company also does a lot of concert sponsorship programs for brand clients.
hope that helps and see you all in austin!
hey eric, this is lizz from Immediate Media. we’re a music-focused division of a promotional marketing agency in chicago. we do a lot of database-driven market reporting for artists, labels, and venues…so we basically keep track of what music fans are up to, what shows they’re seeing, and what merch they’re buying. our parent company also does a lot of concert sponsorship programs for brand clients.
hope that helps and see you all in austin!
http://callmemickey.blogspot.com/2006/01/sxsw-2006-mp3s-228-from-to-z-for-ease.html
228 mp3s for download from the best bands (my opinion) that will be at sxsw 06…
enjoy
can an Austinite buy a wristband for me please? I mean I can’t do anything in return unlike Scott but still….please?
here’s a map of downtown with just the bars marked. it’s not completely comprehensive, but it has a bunch:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/ware_map.htm
sigh. some of those bars are okay. but most of them are “upscale”. if you want the seedier places, either don’t go downtown or stay closer to the freeway. and you can’t go wrong with anything north of sixth on red river. those bars kick ass.
i only do free shows during sxsw. i only paid for one show last year for the entire week.
i will definetely check this show out.
What’s all this nonsense about “Butt fuckin’ Ted Leo”?
Oh wait.
eh? nobody picks on ted leo.
I just bought my Belle & Sebastian tickets for Dallas, and I am doing my damndest to make sure I can be at Stubbs in Austin the next night as well. I’ve seen so many shows there, but amazingly none during SXSW. Needless to say, I’m fucking excited!!
What a great looking line up. can’t wait to see this one. have fun at South by!!! Rogue Wave is so good.
Fuck Lone Star beer. Drink Shiner Bock. It’s much better and is brewed in Texas too.
Rogue Wave is great.. them touring with nada surf is a wicked combo.. i can’t wait to see them in March
-mike
http://www.pondracket.com
man, everyone is annoying.
“Fuck Lone Star beer. Drink Shiner Bock. It’s much better and is brewed in Texas too.”
Agreed. Go with Shiner.
nice lineup Stereogum!
i didn’t know schlitz had a musical career.
har har har!
i will be there duder! one tip: FREE BOOZE RULES, so get on it!
Hey scott, is this show 21+? Cause Ill be at SXSW but im only 19.
who cares what beer you have, lone star and shiner all goes down the same pie hole, are you really going to care when you are at any of the day parties and free beer is being distributed by the good people at red stripe….
shiner is crap. you got no cred in ATX unless you consume lone star talls…And you NYCers bring your good cocaine. we like that shit down here. and you won’t survive sxsw without it.
uh, shiner definitely gets cred. the only reason lonestar survives is because it’s the “national beer of texas” and it’s dirt cheap.
im pissed. i used to go to sxsw in high school as a volunteer (equals free badge for stuffing bags). now my spring break is 2 weeks too early…
uh, shiner definitely gets cred. the only reason lonestar survives is because it’s the “national beer of texas” and it’s dirt cheap.
im pissed. i used to go to sxsw in high school as a volunteer (equals free badge for stuffing bags). now my spring break is 2 weeks too early…
whoops, didnt mean to post twice!
Cocaine is stupid.
Veteran game show host Bob Barker is stepping down from hosting The Price is Right after 35 years…
A big list of free / unofficial SXSW shows for this year: http://www.FiddleWhileYouBurn.com/2007/03/sxsw-2007-badges-we-dont-need-no.html
Hi, we’ve got Andrew WK on VBS today.
Click on the link below and check it out.
http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bctid=626967009
Peace.
Is that some real UPs for ALOHA!!!! HOLY BATMAN!
I thought no one cared after the tards at P4 who can’t truly appreciate a band from OUTER SPACE! This has to be my first SXSW and it is all cuz of you STEREO dudes!
I think Xmas just came early…..
in my pants.