South By Southwest is by far the most overwhelming festival/conference out there. But it involves everything I love – tech, games, music, and film over the course of nine crazy days in Austin. Since I went for the Platinum Badge this year, I tried to do everything. Literally.
I quickly realized that wasn’t possible, but I sure gave it my darndest. For posterity’s sake, I tried to jot down every film, panel, and music set that I saw (or caught a part of) over the week. Add on all the parties and meet-ups with friends both new and old and it adds up to an exhausting, but amazing week.
A few notable highlights/awards:
Best Movie – Short Term 12
I don’t have the words to describe this incredible, emotional film, but Film Critc Hulk does.
Funniest Movie – Don Jon’s Addiction
Most Thrilling Movie – The East
Best New Song That I Have Been Playing On Repeat Constantly Since SXSW – Bastille – Pompeii
Top Three New Bands – Bastille, The 1975, CHVRCHES
I swear I’m not biased towards UK bands, it just turned out this way.
Most Emotional Song Performance – Stevie Nicks/Dave Grohl – Landslide
I have to admit getting a bit teary-eyed and having chills the entire time. Stevie Nicks has an amazing voice.
Coolest Song Performance – Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence
Singing along in unison with a packed crowd to Depeche Mode’s arguably most iconic song in a venue that has less than 900 capacity was pretty damn cool.
Best Panel – Jeffrey Tambor’s Acting Workshop
Despite never acting (or having ambitions to act), I laughed and learned more with Jeffrey Tambor about life and career than anywhere else during the week.
Best Food – Rachael Ray’s Feedback Party @ Stubbs
The menu was not only delicious, it was free!
Here’s the master list of events I participated in:
Movies
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Drinking Buddies – Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson, Joe Swanberg
- Downloaded – Alex Winter, Shawn Fanning, Sean Parker
- Short Term 12 – Destin Daniel Cretton, Brie Larson, entire cast
- Don Jon’s Addiction – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brie Larson, Tony Danza
- euphonia – Danny Madden
- Some Girl(s)
- Linsanity – Jeremy Lin’s Agent
- The East – Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgard, Brit Marling, Zal Batmanglij
Shows
- Andrew WK @ Viceland
- Talib Kweli @ Samsung Galaxy Soundstage
- Shakey Graves @ The Parish
- Atlas Genius @ The Main
- Tegan & Sara @ The Main
- Lord Huron @ Clive Bar
- Family of the Year @ ACL Moody Theatre
- Lord Huron @ ACL Moody Theatre
- Bastille @ Club de Ville
- The Chevin @ Buffalo Billiards
- Ash @ Buffalo Billiards
- Bastille @ Cedar Street
- CHVRCHES @ Hype Hotel
- Pusha T @ MTV Woodies
- Trinidad James @ MTV Woodies
- Joey Bada$$ @ MTV Woodies
- HAIM @ MTV Woodies
- Meat Puppets @ Stubbs
- Sound City Players @ Stubbs – Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Rick Springfield, Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine), Krist Novoselic, Chris Goss, Corey Taylor (Slipknot), Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age), Lee Ving (Fear)
- Local Natives @ Mohawk
- Divine Fits @ Radio Day Stage Austin Convention Center
- Alt-J @ Mohawk
- Feathers @ Brazos Hall
- The Neighbourhood @ Brazos Hall
- Depeche Mode @ Brazos Hall
- Fitz and the Tantrums @ Lustre Perl
- Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls @ Blackheart
- Eagles of Death Metal @ Stubbs
- The 1975 @ Stubbs
- Frightened Rabbit @ Stubbs
- Blue Sky Riders @ Stubbs
- Kenny Loggins @ Stubbs
- Talib Kweli @ Lustre Perl
- Chuck Ragan @ Cedar Street
- Matt Pryor (Get Up Kids) @ Cedar Street
- Twin Falls (Chris Carrabba) @ Cedar Street
- Frank Turner @ Cedar Street
Panels
- Machinima & Rooster Teeth Present “Blood, Sweat, and Online Videos: How to Achieve the Digital Dream”
- Virtual Reality: The Holy Grail of Gaming – Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War), Paul Bettner (Words With Friends), Chris Roberts (Wing Commander), Nate Mitchell (Oculus Rift), Palmer Luckey (Oculus Rift)
- A Conversation With Danny Boyle – Danny Boyle, Rick Smith (Underworld)
- Much Ado About Much Ado – Joss Whedon, Amy Acker, Clark Gregg, Nathan Fillion
- Innovation & Leadership in the Agile Age – Scott Cook (Intuit)
- Jeffrey Tambor’s Acting Workshop
- The Signal & the Noise – Nate Silver
- The New Serendipity? – Joichi Ito (MIT Media Lab), Kevin Rose (Digg, Google Ventures), John Perry Barlow, Colin Raney (IDEO)
- The Future of Google Search in a Mobile World – Guy Kawasaki, Amit Singhal
- A Conversation With Steve Case
- Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal) Keynote
- You Are Not A Lottery Ticket – Peter Thiel
- Deadmau5 & Richie Hawtin – Talk. Techno. Technology
- The Anatomy of Amanda Fucking Palmer: An Inside Look
- SXSW Keynote – Dave Grohl
- Music Curation in 2013 – Ryan Scheiber (Pitchfork), Steve Blatter (Sirius XM)
- SXSW Interview: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
9 movies, 17 panels, and 37 shows in 9 days? I think I can do better next year.
