SXSW 2009 Part 2

Here's the full list of acts that I saw in chronological order.

Day 1
Harlem Shakes
Cut Off Your Hands
Ulrich Schnauss
Ladyhawke
Boys Noize

Day 2
Schubas party
Joe Pug
The Uglysuit
Violens
Sleepercar
Langhorne Slim
Lissy Trullie
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Sybris

N.A.S.A.
The Hood Internet
Flosstradamus

Day 3
Woods
The Black Lips
M.A.N.D.Y.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
The Bird & The Bee

Day 4
Harlem Shakes
Princeton
Popo (this was awful)
Major Lazer
Solid Gold
Thunderheist
The Mae Shi
Bald Eagle
The Hood Internet


Harlem Shakes are excellent. I really like The Mae Shi's show. Ditto for Asteroids Galaxy Tour. Probably my favorite three of the trip.

N.A.S.A.
Nothing spices up a DJ set like costumes and girls painted like Martians.





Segway tour! Seen outside the brunch place we hit Friday morning.



Best Wurst is often called "The Hot Dougs" of Austin because they sell such amazing sausages. I made sure to take advantage and it was all I'd hoped for. The curry-ketchup really takes it up a notch.



Random street marketing. A common sight.



This year we set up SXSW-specific Twitter accounts so everyone I knew down there could just update once instead of constantly texting everyone to see where we all were. Due to an overloaded Twitter and like a million people on the 3G network, it was only moderately successful. It was still fun, however, so if you feel like a "nano-blogging", hour-by-hour perspective of the 5 day excursion, give this a gander.


The set list for the Pitchfork/Windish party at Emo's.



At the Fader/Levi's fort. This Canadian was our friend for a few hours.



Although we hit the hot tub/pool every day, Friday night was the "official" party. There were a good 15 Chicagoans in attendance. No "celebs" this year, but I did see Marni Stern up there the night before. Here's Hannah doing some lunges for some reason.



I can't stress how much better this trip was because of the rooftop tub.



The next Stay Smooth press photo?


There was dude that showed up extremely, dangerously drunk. He went around and bothered the other guests and after nearly exposing himself to our group I called security. It turned out to be the right move because minutes later he climbed on the roof of this 20 story building and stumbled around for a minute. After he made it back down from the roof, security came up and told him people were complaining and he put his clothes back and headed in. His drunk friend then came and acted like he was going to fight our large group of friends for raining on their parade. "I thought this was supposed to be a rock and roll festival?" Nothing happened, of course.



Random costumed dude outside Beauty Bar that night.



The Pains of Being Pure At Heart at Emos. Robert Loerzel took this.



Hannah and Inara George of The Bird and The Bee. They came on 45 min late, but it was totally worth it. Super-fun show.



Later that night we found ourselves loitering on the ledge outside of The Omni, watching people go by. It was very entertaining. Kid Cudi rolled up in the Red Bull bus, trying to lure girls on to go to the Red Bull House party. No guys were allowed though, and that was a deal breaker for the ladies so the bus just hung out while Kid Cudi took pictures with random girls.





Hannah and I enjoying the sponsored photo-booths opportunities.




I didn't go to this, but Steve and Aaron hung out all night at the Fort and ended up catching appearances by Kanye West, Common and Erika Badu at the G.O.O.D. showcase at the Fader fort. Metallica also did a surprise performance that weekend at Stubbs the night before.


We ended our final night in Austin with all of our friends at The Hood Internet and Bald Eagle's sets at some place called The Lodge. It turned out to be a great way to close out the trip. Everyone was dancing and Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene was there. He's a Hood Internet fan and freaked when they played their R. Kelly/BSS mashup. It was a pretty awesome thing to witness.



I didn't end up going to a lot of crazy late night parties like last year. The Playboy party was impossible to get into (although apparently not worth it at all) and the Mad Decent party was too far. We did hit the Perez Hilton party, which was pretty cool actually. Free top shelf booze and crazy lights. We were there during sets by Thunderheist (super fun) and Aaron LaCrate DJ'd in between sets. Perez giddily introduced each act before their sets.


So that's that. I had an awesome time and am honestly already looking forward to next year. Thanks to all the people I stole pictures from. Thanks Schubas for sending me!


p.s. Sound Opinions recently did their annual SXSW wrap up, discussing their discoveries. Lots of "in the field" commentary. Check it out if you're into them.