The large, long-running festival largely avoided crowd congestion, and offered an excellent sampling of artists young and less young.
Every festival I’ve attended over the past couple decades has grown steadily every year, and experienced growing pains. Lollapalooza was super fun and easy to navigate for it’s first couple years of it’s mid-2000s Chicago run. Then it became a literal shit show for a couple years as it struggled to keep up with the growing crowds. They briefly got it nearly perfect in 2012 with well-managed crowd flow, and probably the last great heavy band that ever played there, Black Sabbath. Riot Fest went through a similar transformation, as did Roadburn in the Netherlands. Multiple friends reported a lot of difficulties in the 2008 SXSW with impossibly long lines for most of the shows. This year, I’m not sure if it’s because the people attending the business conference mostly attended the mainstream events, or just went clubbin’, or the fact that we’re still in the thick of a pandemic, but very few of the shows I attended were uncomfortably crowded. I was able to social distance, a good thing because Tomiiko and I were often nearly the only people wearing masks in the indoor venues, despite the explicit rules requiring masks. Fuckin’ Texas, man. Except for The Dream Syndicate, where 99% of the crowd kept their masks on. Maybe cuz it was an older crowd, and aren’t willing to risk their lives and others for the privilege of spraying their slobbery saliva globules in the air.
1. The Dream Syndicate
BEST IN FEST: The Dream Syndicate plays The Days of Wine and Roses (1982) at St. David’s Historic Sanctuary. This album has been rattling in my head for nearly 40 years, so what a way for me to see The Dream Syndicate live for the first time, in the Psychedelic Church of the Paisley Underground. We sat in our pews and worshipped the hugely influential template of VU/Television/Crazy Horse garage psych noir. As Tomiiko said, having never heard the band before, “This is fuckin’ RAD.”
2. Rosegarden Funeral Party
Rosegarden Funeral Party at Valhalla. Dylan Stamas on drums with his Geezer circa 1975 ‘stache and Wil Farrier on bass could easily have come from a stoner doom/sludge band, and have the bottom end muscle to back it up, whereas keyboardist Michael Ortega could be in a sleek synthpop band. The hard and light mesh well, tied together by queen G Leah Lane, with a powerful siren voice and a fairly sizeable pedal board, like Siouxsie Sioux and John McGeoch in one.
3. DIO: Dreamers Never Die [Film]
Don Argott and Demian Fenton, the duo behind the Pentagram documentary Last Days Here (2011), are the perfect directors to handle a documentary on the mighty DIO. While Ronnie James Dio is on three of the most indisputable classic heavy metal albums — Rainbow’s Rising (1976), Black Sabbath’s Heaven And Hell (1980) and DIO’s Holy Diver (1983), his story has been overlooked in the mainstream by the more decadent (and frankly boring) stories of sex, drug addiction and murdering people in auto accidents. His career took a long, winding path, starting in the pre-Beatles ’50s, for a while chasing hits in styles of doo wop and jazz pop crooning. He decided to forge his own path, sticking to the music he loves with heavy psych rock with The Electric Elves, which distilled into the hard rock of Elf (he never actually referred his later work as heavy metal, sticking with hard rock, just as Deep Purple and Black Sabbath did). His refusal to compromise ended his tenure with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow after three albums, and he left Sabbath after two, when their conspicuous cocaine consumption clashed with Dio’s desire to focus solely on the music, and leave the partying to Mötley Crüe.
While a great portion of the film was about how Dio was metal’s Mr. Rogers, taking the time to talk to fans, and years later remembering details about their lives and families, it was balanced by how he kind of fucked over his band. He verbally promised he would promote them from relatively meager wages as hired hands, and get a real stake in the money. When hotshot guitarist Vivian Campbell pushed for him to make good on his promise, he was unceremoniously fired. Message from Wendy was that Dio may have been a near-saint in most ways, but don’t fuck with his money, which clashed from his lip service that money didn’t matter, it was all about the music. If that were true, Campbell would have stayed. Nevertheless, the good outweighed the bad, Dio was a true metal pioneer and legend, revered by everyone in the industry, and this film will hopefully boost interest in his albums and legacy.
Connected to the film’s premier was “The Enduring Power of Metal” in the Austin Convention Center with an amiable Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, chatting with fans afterward and signing autographs. It’s a bit rich, considering I didn’t see a single metal band in the entire SXSW lineup.
It was a great way to wrap up the SXSW experience, as Tomiiko Baker and I saw DIO on his last tour with Black Sabbath (e.g. Heaven and Hell) in 2009 at Northerly Island in Chicago. An intense microburst storm hit just an hour and a half earlier with winds blasting to over 60 mph. The rain fortunately stopped in time for the show, but the winds still whipped, and clouds were moving as if on fast forward above the stage, as Dio’s hair dramatically blew in the wind. An epic send-off.
4. Dolly Parton (Grulke Prize winner)
Despite the heavy corporate business elements that SXSW has adopted in the past 15 years, it’s done a great job of maintaining focus on new and lesser known artists, thus avoiding the creative nadir of other megafests alike Lollapalooza. However, sometimes you just can’t resist a superstar, and Dolly Parton gets an exemption from the rule cuz she’s magic. A fan of Parton’s pioneering ultra-feminine style of feminism, Tomiiko attended her showcase and noted her wit is as sharp as ever. A fan cried out, “I love you Dolly!” Without missing a beat she replied, “I love you too, but I told you to stay in the truck!”
Playing across the street at Lambert’s was Tami Neilson, all the way from New Zealand. The night before she performed with Willie Nelson at his Luck Reunion ranch in Spicewood. It’s fitting that behind the statue of Willie on Willie Nelson Blvd, was a wall mural of Dolly.
5. Wet Leg
Wet Leg was by far the biggest BUZZ band on my itinerary, and sure enough, there was a line winding around the block. Luckily it was outdoors the couple hundred of us who couldn’t get in could still listen. Some of the slow bits remind me of early Breeders and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which was unexpected, as I had not yet heard the whole upcoming album.
Most of the artists I like are not fashionable like this, but they were pretty freakin delightful. I’d been running on minimal sleep the past few days and I thought this would be my only show for the night, but after they closed with “Chaise Longue,” I felt buoyant and re-energized. On to the next!
6. Mark Burgess of the Chameleons
Mark Burgess of the Chameleons at Hotel Vegas Patio played a painfully brief 30 minute solo set, but a very cool extended rendition of the classic “Souls in Isolation,” in which he included snippets of the Beatles, Smiths. It’s one of the many highlights of the third Chameleons album, Strange Times (1986), one of the most underrated classics of 80s psychedelic post-punk.
7. TEKE::TEKE
TEKE::TEKE at Swan Dive. This Japanese-Canadian surf-psych-prog big band exceeded expectations with their captivating visual stage show. Tomiiko has a girl crush on Maya Kuroki. Great fashion, uniquely mesmerizing vocal performance, and grrrl can wail on a cowbell better than Will Ferrell.
8. Deap Vally
Deap Vally at Creek and the Cave. Super fun and raucous guitar ‘n’ drums duo. I especially love tunes from their second album, Femejism (2016). Lia Braswell (Les Butcherettes, A Place to Bury Strangers) is filling in for drummer Julie Edwards on this tour in support of their third album, Marriage (2021).
9. Yoo Doo Right
We had a late start and had to snarf some food nearby, but I got to hear Yoo Doo Right’s motorik kosmische rhythms crescendo into a righteous feedback squall. Population II took a half hour to sound check, going way past their allotted time, so alas we had to leave just as they started playing.
10. Kristin Hersh
Showed up early to get a good pew (!) at St. David’s Historic Sanctuary before The Dream Syndicate’s showcase, and so glad we did. I’m a huge fan of Throwing Muses, and while I’m not super familiar with all of Kristin Hersh’s solo material, she was mesmerizing. A full band, even with her heavier grunge punk project 50 Foot Wave (3rd album Black Pearl is out Apr 15) would have been great, but I consider this an unexpected bonus.
11. SUSS
SUSS: Silver foxes n black guitars. A mellow way to ease into the fest with ambient country.
12. Kiwi Jr.
Kiwi Jr. at Elysium. Toronto Jangle/power indie pop band’s second album, Cooler Returns, ranked high in a handful of year-end lists last year, and is chock full of great tunes. Unfortunately they were down a guitarist/vocalist, and the discrepancy between their small crowd versus Wet Leg’s is unfair to say the least.
13. Yard Act (Grulke Prize winner)
Yard Act at British Music Embassy. A bit chatty, and could stand to be more battle hardened on the road, but they did show some convincing passion on “Rich.” A good start for a promising band.
Due to schedule conflicts, distance between venues, and human frailty, we would have liked to have seen these artists, but didn’t.
- Big Joanie
- Catcher
- Horsegirl (Grulke Prize winner)
- Tami Neilson
- Elephant Stone
- Ural Thomas & The Pain
- Spoon
- …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
- Just Mustard
- Zola Jesus
- New Candys
- Geese
- FIT
- Pom Poko
- Venus Twins
- Commando
- Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande [Film]
- Beck
- Steve Gunn
- Sunflower Bean
- Los Bitchos
- W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend To Cause Havoc)
- Park Jiha
- Japanese Breakfast
- Film School
- Ringo Deathstarr
- Tuyo
- Urban Heat
September 27, 2025
Metal Day at Levitation 2025
June 2, 2025
Spirit Adrift & Mean Mistreater Live at Empire
April 28, 2025
Austin Psych Fest 2025
