SXSW Day 4 Round About: Jay-Z One-Ups Kanye, Yoko Ono, Riot at DFA 1979

youtube credit: mplstv

Kanye's not-so-secret show at the defunct Austin power plant Saturday was not the shocker of SXSW's last night. The big surprise was who joined him onstage.

Big-named, show-stopping surprise acts are typical for SXSW on the last night of the festival, and since this year's gathering was the biggest, most cramped, most frenzied one so far in its 25 year history - we knew something good was gonna go down.

Starting early Thursday word on the street (and the random ticket giveaway announcements on Twitter) revealed that Kanye would end the week playing at an undisclosed location - but nobody knew Jay-Z would join in. Jay-Z's probably the only other person alive who could eclipse Kanye - presently at the crux of his own monster-hyped PR juggernaut.

youtube credit: ArcadeFireTube2

In other rumor news, Arcade Fire was in town to promote their new short film by Spike Jonze, Scenes From The Suburbs, which led to big-time Saturday show chatter, but none of which materialized. SXSW's rowdiest year yet came to a near-boiling point at the secret Death From Above 1979 show when the venue reached capacity and all that separated hungry fans from the band was a flimsy chain link fence.