Sunburned, sore, exhausted and not over yet – that pretty much sums up my Friday at South By Southwest. Today felt like a festival-wide “hangover” day as no venue seemed to run on time and if they did, the bands I wanted to see had massive technical difficulty resulting in this reporter catching a lot of sound checks only. However, what I did manage to fit in today wasn’t so bad…
Andrew McMahon @ Whole Foods Rooftop
Favorite Music Discovery Today:
Kimberly Nichole, hands down the more soulful, powerful and rockin’ female vocal I’ve heard in a long time. I actually didn’t even see her, just heard her from the patio of Rusty’s! Strangely enough, I discovered another band in a similar manner today called Flagship.
Favorite Moment:
I’m a big fan of all of Andrew McMahon’s bands over the years, but hearing him play “I Woke Up In A Car” (a song from his Something Corporate days) at the Quantum Collective event today brought out the 18 year old inside me.
Band/s you wanted to see but couldn’t make it in time? Are they playing again (where/when)?:
I had quite a few of these today: Youngblood Hawke (playing tomorrow at ASOS Music Lounge, 4:30p), NO (not sure if they have another gig), Shout Out Louds (again, not sure), and Afghan Whigs (won’t have another chance).
Longest walk?:
Fader Fort (1101 E 5th St) to Whole Foods Rooftop (550 Bowie St), yowzers! Luckily I took a pedicab…
Best swag today (maybe include a photo):
Today was really light on swag (aside from a cool denim tote bag from True Religion)… but it’s hard to top the new Jansport backpack, Sony MDR-X05 Headphones, and Liverpool Football Club Jersey/Shirt I collected over the last couple days.
Today’s best event/party:
The best executed event today was the True Religion/ELLE Magazine happy hour. Easy check-in, excellent eats from Moonshine Grill and great DJing/tunes by The Dolls: Mia Moretti & Caitlin Moe. Other than the loudness factor (I know, I know – if it’s too loud you’re too old) it was perfect.
Show worth waiting in line for:
Amazingly, I haven’t had to wait in one line all of SXSW thus far. However, you better believe I will be camping out for Prince or Justin Timberlake tomorrow!
SPOTTED (Random Run-Ins and Sightings):
Kevin Horan & Daniel Ryan from Irish band The Thrills outside the Little Green Cars show.
– Chelsea Schwartz