Dark Meat plays the Vice Party at South by Southwest. Photo by .
The Denver Post asked various people throughout Colorado’s music scene to write about their experiences at the music festival.
Kathleen St. John writes the Clubs and Family Fun columns for the Denver Post, as well as for the Denver/Boulder edition of . Her love of warm weather, beer and live music runs deep, thus 2008 was her fourth year at SXSW.
By Kathleen St. John
I went to South by Southwest last week already thinking I’d need a break next year. It was my fourth SXSW in a row, and I was excited for the vacation, but also fearful of the hangovers and crankiness to come. And not a little jaded about the whole enormous enterprise.
I spoke to my mom last Monday after arriving back home. I was aching all over and completely exhausted. It seemed I was on the brink of a horrible cold or flu.
“You sound like this every year when you get back,” Mom sighed. “Why do you do this to yourself?”
I said “because it’s fun,” but that doesn’t even remotely cover it.
My boyfriend and I call them “SXSW moments.” It happens at least once or twice every year. You find yourself watching a band, or maybe just listening to one (or 20) in the distance, and a surge of complete contentment rises up like a wave: This is precisely where I want to be right now. Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes.
I had a lot of SXSW moments this year, which is why it’s going down in my record book as possibly my best SXSW ever.
Sitting on the sunny patio at Emo’s, drinking a cold tall-boy and laughing with some of my best friends in the world, then watching , a loud indie-pop outfit from Champaign, Ill.
Dark Meat at the Vice Party in Austin last week.
Seeing — a gang of psychedelic lunatics who spend a lot of money at the party store — in 90-degree-plus heat, grinning like an idiot and gazing up through the trees. I think one of the cops on the premises was having a moment, too. He nodded his head with the music and smiled as he was showered with another blast of confetti.
Walking into the set on a gravelly patio at Bourbon Rocks and getting immediately sucked into the rock vortex. Within moments I realized this was probably the best show I’d see all year.
I didn’t even get that bitchy or hungover.
Part of it is being on vacation. I’m sure if I were in Austin, Texas with a work-related mission, it would all seem less fun. In fact, I have done that, and it kind of does suck.
Reading SXSW blogs on some music websites, the festival doesn’t sound all that great. Long lines, irritating crowds of hipsters, pressure to catch “THE BAND OF 2009!!!” Blech.
But I recommend that any music fan give it a try just once. Don’t get a badge, maybe get a wristband, but don’t get stressed out. I’ve found it’s best to bounce along on the barbecue-scented Texas breeze, taking recommendations from strangers and being prepared for whatever comes along. It’s also good to get out of downtown and eat some migas, or just wander around away from 6th Street.
“SXSW moments” can happen in Denver, too, it’s just different when you’re at home, in a venue you’ve been to a hundred times, surrounded by all the regulars. It’s great in its own way.
But nothing’s better than Austin in March. Am I taking next year off? Hell, no.
