We've reached our last day in Austin, and I think now, as we cross the skies of North America towards new adventures, it's fitting to recap the cool things we saw and experienced during the 10 days of the South By Southwest Festival ( @sxsw ).
I think the first noteworthy thing is the unique nature, it seems to me, of a festival that aims, above all, to connect. Countless talents from music, film, games, interactivity, and technological innovations are all meeting and connecting with other talents and with companies and initiatives that may be interested in promoting them. And all concentrated in the same city, during a short period of time.
But more than that, so to speak, corporate aspect, the best part to keep and take with us are the personal connections created in the encounters between individuals from the most diverse backgrounds, which happen in the interludes of the festival. We met a lot of cool people and some became friends we'll definitely see again. There was the local girl who struck up a conversation at the Bourbon tasting because we ordered the same thing, there was the Canadian who had just arrived, already in the middle of the festival, who shared a table with us to devour some Chinese street food, there was Carly, who offered us a ride in her pedicab whose shift was already booked for a new TV show, there was Stephen, one of the official photographers of the event, whom we met in several places throughout the days and whose slow physical disintegration due to pure exhaustion we witnessed, and there was also a very dear couple, Lucy and Pedro, she English, at SXSW to photograph, and he, Portuguese, there to participate in a conference. We ended up enjoying several shows with them, including the closing party, seeing the irreverent Koreans from Balming Tiger ( @balmingtiger ) and the great multinational band Los Bitchos ( @losbitchos ) on stage, and we left with guaranteed accommodation if we ever go to Liverpool, where our new friends live.
We also had wonderful encounters with all the people we interacted with during our coverage of the shows themselves or while conducting interviews, which resulted in great stories. I especially want to highlight, from the Brazilian crowd, the good energy of Akeem , Zuana and Felipe from Akeem Music ( @akeem.music ), as well as the very dear Gabriel Gonti ( @gabrielgonti ) and Paulo Pimenta , the feminine power of Bivolt ( @bivolt ) and her entourage, the super friendly Felipe from Tagua Tagua ( @tagua.tagua ) and Conrado and Gabriel from Atalhos ( @atalhosbanda ), and the tireless Bruno Montalvão from Brain Productions ( @brainproductions ). From abroad, Chris Lowe and Eleot Reich from Volk ( @volk_band ), Dani Miller from Surfbort ( @therealsurfbort ) and brothers Myles and Layne Ulrich , from Taipei Houston ( @taipei_houston ), and their manager Carina .
And then there are those famous figures, with whom it would be delusional to say we became friends there or even exchanged a word, but whose proximity, so natural and commonplace at the festival, makes you remember them fondly afterward. There was our selfie with the great Sebastian Bach just a few meters away from Geezer Butler , there was Ethan Hawke passing by us at the premiere of Richard Linklater and going to sit in an even worse spot than ours, which wasn't the best to begin with, and there was Nicolas Cage , whom we saw along with Pedro Pascal, on the red carpet at the premiere of that film in which he plays a fictionalized version of himself.
This encounter was a bit bittersweet because we waited ages in a secondary line with our specific Music Festival credentials, and the theater filled up before it was our turn. Honestly, in the end, Nicolas Cage was the one who lost out the most, because I had an illustration I did in 2020 for the 30th anniversary of Wild at Heart (which he starred in with Laura Dern ) in my backpack, and I was determined to give him the artwork during the Q&A they were going to do after the film screening. He missed that chance, Nick, but I love you anyway!
Another peculiar thing about Austin that deserves mention is the absurd number of bars and venues. It's not a case of one specific neighborhood or street with many music venues. There are several neighborhoods with venues of all different styles, and one of the most interesting formats is the one with a main building, which usually already has a stage, and from that building, other adjacent secondary spaces, with one or more extra stages, of which the outdoor area, or patio, ends up being the most prestigious. Allow me a minor philosophical digression: I was thinking that the whole thing is a kind of fractal, with the bar being the smallest fraction of this whole "Stage City" that is Austin. You can hold (and they probably do) small festivals inside these venues, and we would then call the patio the " outdoor stage " of that festival.
And speaking of music venues, I'd mention two that I grew a little fond of, let's say: Continental Club ( @continentalclubatx ) and Hotel Vegas ( @hotelvegastexas Volk and Surfbort perform there, respectively . I think it's more a matter of taste, and Austin has room for everything, but both places have a more rock and roll and very authentic identity, and perhaps because they're a little further from the more central and bustling area of the city, they require a bit more intention from the attendees. In other words, it seems to me that those who were there really wanted to be there to see those bands, which immediately creates a connection between the crowd enjoying themselves, whereas in some of the more central venues, some people are just passing by and end up "slipping" inside. But I don't know, that can also be a good thing, because that's how some great surprises happen. In any case, the atmosphere of the places, the ideas we exchanged with the Volk duo after the show, and especially my adventure photographing Surfbort from the middle of a sensational punk mosh pit, earned Continental Club and Hotel Vegas a few extra points in my notebook.
We saw a lot at this festival, and yet I'm aware that our experience was just one among many possible ones. You could read a completely different account from someone who was in Austin covering this festival for another publication (although I have the impression that the Brazilian specialized press doesn't give due attention to what happens here), and yet the account could still be completely different. I thought of a story for a science fiction film: two people are in the same place at the same time, but in parallel dimensions, seeing and hearing different things. Okay, it's not exactly a story, but you get the point. SXSW is a bit like that. The day after each day of activities, I received an email from the Festival with some of the highlights of the previous day, and the impression I got, once or twice, was that some of those things had happened in another dimension, because what I saw was a different set of things, equally incredible and remarkable.
On Monday, the first official post-festival day, we were still in the city and thought about taking one last walk and maybe taking some outdoor photos. Walking the streets of central Congress Avenue the day after SXSW makes you realize that although Austin is a very cool city, worthy of the slogan "Keep Austin weird!" (which rightly highlights the city's cultural distinction within the conservative state of Texas), much of the magic you experience during the festival on the city streets is a product of the festival itself. On Monday, feeling a bit hungover, we didn't see any more cheerful groups of people from all over, their credentials waving in the wind, heading to a movie, show, or conference, or even approaching us out of the blue in some lounge to find out more about us, and there wasn't any Texas sunshine warming our walk. In fact, the rather bad weather even led to a tornado warning for the city later on. The last straw that made us understand it was time to leave was passing in front of the majestic Paramount Theatre and seeing that the classic sign on the facade displayed the name of the musician Kenny G. as the main attraction of the night. Nothing against Kenny G. personally, but the somewhat abrupt change in style hit me like a sign that it was time to leave.
Goodbye, South by Southwest! Hope to see you next year!
