Photos by Marco Torres

Somebody somewhere really did not want us to see Smashing Pumpkins at SXSW.

Security and Cops Gettin' Wild: Look, I get it. Every drunken dickhead in town "knows someone" or thinks he has pull at the door, but that doesn't mean the hammer goes down on everyone. I was stopped by two cops who didn't want me to walk 50 yards from where the Smashing Pumpkins would be playing an hour hence, for unknown reasons.

See also: The Best of SXSW

And then when you want to play the whimpering "I have a SXSW badge, though" card, you feel like a choad and don't. I don't know what function preventing people from walking in the middle of a closed street had, but I hope it somehow saved thousands of lives. --Craig Hlavaty

All the Garage-Rock Acts: Should just pool their beer, weed, and cigarette money together and start sending the Black Lips royalty checks. I steered clear of every obnoxious surf-, fuzz-, buzz- and ADHD-plagued group I could, and still some of it made its way into my earholes. I would say I am ready for the next big movement, but what if it involves garage and dubstep? What then? --Craig Hlavaty

More »

Marco Torres

Best Hat of SXSW 2013

This year, our sister papers the Dallas Observer and Houston Press teamed up to document the SXSW madness for you amusement and/or edification. Here are the 12 best shows and moments they saw.

12. Not In The Face: Not In The Face closed out my SXSW week at the Blackheart on Rainey Street, Austin's less shameful counterpart to the bastard Sixth Street, with a sound best described as Queens of the Stone Age mated with the Temptations. The trio is coming into their own around these parts, playing with ZZ Top and Reverend Horton Heat, solidifying their Texas rep as the new what's hot. Their new Walk EP shoves it on home. --Craig Hlavaty

See also: The Worst of SXSW

More »

Courtesy of Bang With Friends

The banned posters. What could SXSW have possibly had a problem with?

By Kiernan Maletsky

"All the single dudes put up your phone. Now all the single ladies put up your phone. Turn to the nearest person with a phone up. Now type in your phone number. Now you have something to do after this."

That was Chuck D, talking from the Doritos Main Stage. Or at least I think it was Chuck D. I was just passing by on the street and I couldn't see through the green mesh set up on the fence.

A lot of SXSW is experienced that way: In passing. People are looking for something new, for something that impresses them. Bands? Yes. "Professional" networking connections? Oh so exhaustingly yes. And also, you will not be surprised to hear, hookups. SXSW is the Olympic Village of music dorks, right down to the giving away condoms everywhere. I was offered over a dozen condoms in three days.

More »

Molly Bergen

Geoff Halliday of Hands

This was Los Angeles four-piece Hand's third trek to the festival in the past three years and by far the grandest. With a new van and a new album Synesthesia due to come out in April on Kill Rock Stars, the guys were feeling really good about this year. So good that they foolishly agreed to let me embed with them for the week.

It's the maiden voyage of their white, gleaming, newly purchased van and the guys are smitten with it. It has air conditioning! You can actually hear each other talk while it's moving! It won't cost them $1300 in gas money just to get there, like it did the first time they ventured to Austin.

More »

Marco Torres

SXSW is not a music festival so much as it is an experiment in excess. In honor of the world's most bloated city this week, we present the five biggest sellouts at SXSW.

1. Best Coast
Psh, I remember when you were all cool and tweeting as your cat. Now look at this, all done up in fancy lights and rock star hair with corporate logos behind you. HOW DARE YOU MAKE A LIVING???

More »

See the 12th Commandment.

By DC9 At Night

You're going to South by Southwest, right? Or you're already there? One of those things is bound to be true. Well, we here at DC9 have got some advice for you, and we've managed to format it all into the style of commandments, because one of our favorite things to do is pretend we're angry Gods. Or something like that. We're not really sure, but the doctor told us it was best to just go with it.

The Famous Faces of SXSW Film Festival 2013

So, here they are, the 50 Commandments of SXSW 2013.

More »

All photos by Audra Schroeder

Yes, that kid's shirt does say Sex, Drugs & Dubstep. This is our future.

See also:
*The Worst Moments of SXSW 2012
*The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012

By Audra Schroeder

During SXSW, and especially in the last five years or so, Sixth Street turns into one long, strange sensory overload. People nearly give you eyeball papercuts trying to get their fliers in your hands, before they're promptly tossed on the ground. If you get the right combo of marketing types hollerin' at you, it can make you question your life choices. If you get the wrong combo, well, ditto.

This year, Sixth Street felt especially like everything you look at was a billboard, right down to the controversial "homeless hotspots." These were a few of the more curious hawkers we saw.

More »

Under Pressure Screen Printing

By Nick Rallo

See also: SXSW: Ten Things Your Outfit Says About You

Flatstock is a dangerous place to be with a credit card. This year, Flatstock 33 (presented by the American Poster Institute) featured over 100 artists with enough completely badass concert posters to drain your checking account dry. No, seriously: five minutes of walking around the Convention Center, and you'll start to imagine which pieces of furniture you'll sell later to pay the rent.

The 10 posters below were favorites from the bunch.

More »

Ben Westhoff

See also:
*The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012
*Ten Awesome Concert Posters at SXSW

Spontaneous tattoo at the S.O. Terik-Filter showcase

On Friday, Samantha Urbani from Brooklyn indie band Friends did something to a fan he might forever regret. At the S.O.Terik-Filter showcase, beneath a blazing sun, she tattooed him using a safety pin and a lighter. (See above.) The ink -- a crude-looking planet with a ring around it on his right bicep -- was modeled after one Urbani has herself on her left middle finger. When pressed, Urbani declined to identify it as a specific planet, despite its similarities to Saturn. "It's just a planet," she said. "My own private planet!" She seemed annoyed, perhaps because she'd been asked this question many times before. As for her smitten devotee, he can look forward to a lifetime of explaining that he got a shitty tattoo from a member of a early-teens buzz band that he briefly liked with a song called "Friend Crush." - Ben Westhoff

More »

Nick Rallo

Justin Townes Earle at Stubb's BBQ

So, we come to it: the end of all things. Four days of madness, Doritos, Skrillex and finally, St. Patrick's Day. Before we bid SXSW 2012 farewell, allow us to share our favorite moments from SXSW day four. Later, we'll let you know which shows weren't so hot. Find our favorites below, and if there was a show that blew your hair back--let us know in the comments. To quote Raymond Chandler: "I went to brush something off my cheek, and it was the floor."

Grupo Fantasma - The Stage on Sixth
Anytime Grupo Fantasma plays, one has to fight the feeling that this might be the best band in the world, or at least the most fun. On Saturday the Grammy-winning Austin Latin funk-rock ensemble crammed nine musicians onto a small stage under a backyard tent, and put on the kind of party-rocking perfomance that can only be achieved with Latin rhythms, a three-piece horn section, and some seriously whammy'd-out guitar solos. Yes, the lyrics are in Spanish. But this group's endless energy and sunglassed cool spoke more than words ever could. When Grupo Fantasma plays, casual observers become blissed-out converts, and even the older ladies in the crowd get up to shake it. Having seen them twice now - both times in front of hometown crowds - I've learned to never underestimate this group's powers of seduction. The only thing this writer doesn't understand is why Grupo Fantasma isn't better known. -- Ian S. Port

More »