Despite the horror stories you hear from the locals in Austin, I found the citywide festival to be a breeze. I was ready for crowds and chaos, but SXSW was nowhere near as bad as anticipated.
It was last minute, when I decided to purchase a wristband for access to hundreds of performances across the city last week. I had some reservations. I thought I would hate it. I thought the crowds would be stifling and that I wouldn’t even be able to get into half of the showcases I wanted to attend. I guess I was listening to the locals too much. Many of them avoid this week by all costs. Some of them even leave town until it’s over.
Instead of being met with headache-inducing crowds, I got to see and discover lots of new music as well as meeting friendly strangers. It was a great feeling to knock off work at 5 and head downtown to catch an evening showcase. I was able to duck in and out the whole week and that’s what I loved about it—the fact that it’s a festival that you can commit to as much or as little as you want.
The reality about SXSW, at least from what I saw across the four days I went, was a massive festival that was extremely well organized, efficient, and no more crowded than any city dweller should be able to handle. Sure, 6th Street was a shit show, but we aren’t talking Mardi Gras levels of catastrophe. Plus, most of it was kept to that one stretch of road. The rest of Downtown Austin was fine and hardly a traffic jam in sight, which made attending events a pleasure. The whole week, I kept thinking how an event of this size would have made New York unbearable if it was held there.
Don’t believe the hype. If you want to go to SXSW, do it. Come next March and discover some great music.