Diary of a SXSW Newbie: Austin Music Festival Day One, 'Welcome to the Apocalypse Zone'

Posted on Mar 14th 2013 12:55PM by Sarah Chazan

Sarah Chazan

Follow along daily as Spinner Editor Sarah takes on SXSW for the very first time.

Day 1: There were tiny hats as far as the eye could see: Fedoras, beanies, pageboys, all firmly planted atop the heads of men wearing various versions of the same skinny jean. Yep, this was the right gate for my SXSW flight to Austin.

I was lucky. My flight was only delayed slightly, while many of my friends spent hours sitting at various portions of JFK, looking for the airport bar and dreaming of the warmer Texas air and a taco. The only real excitement from the four-hour flight came courtesy of a German couple sitting next to me, who somehow managed to extricate a full-sized bed pillow out of a tiny backpack -- then proceeded to make out for the rest of the flight. Good times.

So what was the first thing I did once I got to Austin? Well that would be walking directly off the curb at the airport and falling face first into the middle of the street. Was this a bad omen of things to come? I'm going with no. First of all, I only scraped my hand and flashed half of the cab line, so no real harm there. And secondly, people actually rushed to make sure I was OK. Texans are so nice!

Alright, fast forward to the next morning and like a jerk, I got up early, thinking I'd start the day with the rest of the crowds around 10AM. Yeeeaaah, no one is up then. I basically walked around a very quiet Austin, occasionally passing a local person on their way to work or a crew member from one of the SXSW shows running an errand for the upcoming day. Eh, I got some sightseeing in though. Guess I can cross "Visiting the Texas state capitol building" off the ol' bucket list.

By 1:30, things had started to liven up, so I collected my badge and met up with some fellow Spinner folk on 6th Street for my first official SXSW show, which happened to be Bear Ceuse, a band made up of four guys, two of whom actually work for Spinner. (I know I'm biased, but they are great, and you should check them out ... seriously.) Like most up-and-coming bands at SXSW, BC was only allowed a short set at the bar they were playing in, so after about 5 songs, the show was done and we were back on 6th Street, off to the next venue.

"Welcome to the SXSW apocalypse zone," Spinner editor Theo Bark said to me as we made our way through the crowd. He meant that in a good way ... I think. All around us was a carnival of visual stimulation: Grannies posing for photos with a Bob Marley look-alike, hula-hooping girls in bikinis, trying to draw crowds into bars, a man dressed like The Hulk (I'm talking full green body makeup here, folks) navigating a pedi-cab. I could have sat there and people-watched all day, but there were shows to get to, so on we pushed.

I spent the rest of the afternoon showcase hopping with Theo and Spinner Editor Dan Reilly, so I'll let you read their recaps here. For me the afternoon was most memorable for the following reasons:

1.) I had my first SXSW taco from "the good taco truck." Here's my own personal tip if you are, or plan to, come down to Austin for SXSW. Be prepared to eat street meat and look like an asshole doing so. I shoved those two tacos in face as quickly as possible while hustling to get to a show with Dan. It was fast, they were delicious and I probably got a good amount of chicken grease and green salsa all over myself in the process. But no one cared, because everyone does it -- so forget your vanity and just enjoy the damn street food (but maybe grab a few extra napkins).

2.) I experienced love at a death metal showcase. In pursuit of a FIDLAR show, I ended up at The Mohawk with Dan and Theo, smack dab in the middle of Pitchfork's metal showcase. Now truth be told, metal isn't so much my jam, so I ended just scanning the crowd for most of the time. What did I see? A lot of cool tattoos, many, many beards, but surprisingly, more than a few couples straight-up snuggling while watching the show. Metal as snuggle-time music? Who knew!

3.) I saw first-hand the very best head-banging hair known to man. It was my first time catching the Thermals live -- which was memorable for the music alone. But bassist Kathy Foster's 'do goes down in my books as the best head-banding hair around. As she swung her head back and forth violently to the beat, I was mesmerized by her flying front halo of blonde curls, juxtaposed against the rest of her head, which sported a super-cropped cut. It was the perfect reverse mullet: All party in the front, but business in the back.

As the sun set, I was dying for a BBQ dinner, but there was no time -- I had to hustle to the Austin City Limits venue for our Spinner showcase, featuring Family of the Year, Lord Huron, Natalie Maines, Iron & Wine and Dawes. My personal favorites of the night were Lord Huron (sooo good live) and Natalie Maines (whose voice is so pure and powerful it makes you want to cry). You can get the official rundown here, which you should read, because it was a pretty kick-ass show.

After my first 24+ hours at SXSW, I decided to call it a night and miraculously found the one cab left in Austin to drive me back to the hotel. All in all, I saw nine bands on Day One, ate two tacos, considered buying a "Don't Mess With Texas" belt buckle and completely lost my voice by the end of it. My voice came back this morning (although I do still sound slightly like a 70-year-old smoker) ... but we'll see how long that lasts.

AOL Music's Complete Coverage of SXSW

Spinner's 2013 SXSW Showcase at ACL Live