It was only Day 2 of music, but tempers seemed to be a little high. I'm not talking traffic type tempers. It was more like Dirty Sixth type tempers where fights break out over a Jello shot. For those of you who aren't familiar with Dirty Sixth, it's the area of Sixth Street from IH-35 to Congress. If you can't walk two feet without hearing “No Cover! Ladies Drink Free!" then you know you're there. The reason for this sentiment, and temper flare-ups, has to be because of the size that SXSW has grown to.
The most frequently overheard comment at SXSW this year had to be "this just seems to get bigger every year." I pondered that thought (which really isn't saying much since I also ponder how anyone can watch "The Big Bang Theory"), and I really had no answer. That is, until I saw all of the make shift stages that had been erected all over downtown. From rooftops to parking lots, stages were everywhere. Sure, these stages allowed people to watch free music, but they also substantially cut the parking down as well as increased the number of attendees. More music equals more people and since there weren't any hotels built in 2011 these people were locals. So, a quick recap: more people, yet the same amount of officers on the Austin Police Department. I was never very good at math, but this equation seems wrong to me. We were at Fiona Apple when someone exclaimed “There’s a brawl outside of the Hype Hotel!” Yes, he was reading that on Twitter. How can the APD possibly be expected to handle crowds of this size? It’s like “The Birds...” there are just too many attendees per officer. On Monday night there was an incident at The Parish where 4,000 people had RSVP’d to a party that would only accommodate 300-400 people so, again, APD had to step in. One of these years at SXSW we will see an incident like we did years ago here in Austin when Mardi Gras got out of control. Trust me, I go every year to SXSW and it is building.
Anyway, I don’t want to focus on something that I can’t control. I’d much rather discuss what I can control and that is my SXSW schedule. We started our day watching Fun. play an acoustic set in the Waterloo Records parking lot. Unreal. To see the band that has the #1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100 with "We Are Young" at the best record store in the world (sorry Amoeba) was pretty special. They are in elite company since they are the first rock band to top that chart since Coldplay in 2008. Before that it was Nickelback in 2001. Ok, so maybe it’s not so elite. We were on a mission to see Fiona Apple and, since we only had wristbands, we needed to move quickly so that we could stand in line at Stubb’s. We finally made it inside just as she was taking the stage. At least, I think it was her… we were very far back. She delivered a knock out performance. Her set list blended perfectly (with the exception of the acquired taste of “Extraordinary Machine”) and it’s nice to have her back. I hope she stays. Not here in Austin though. The APD can’t handle it.
The most frequently overheard comment at SXSW this year had to be "this just seems to get bigger every year." I pondered that thought (which really isn't saying much since I also ponder how anyone can watch "The Big Bang Theory"), and I really had no answer. That is, until I saw all of the make shift stages that had been erected all over downtown. From rooftops to parking lots, stages were everywhere. Sure, these stages allowed people to watch free music, but they also substantially cut the parking down as well as increased the number of attendees. More music equals more people and since there weren't any hotels built in 2011 these people were locals. So, a quick recap: more people, yet the same amount of officers on the Austin Police Department. I was never very good at math, but this equation seems wrong to me. We were at Fiona Apple when someone exclaimed “There’s a brawl outside of the Hype Hotel!” Yes, he was reading that on Twitter. How can the APD possibly be expected to handle crowds of this size? It’s like “The Birds...” there are just too many attendees per officer. On Monday night there was an incident at The Parish where 4,000 people had RSVP’d to a party that would only accommodate 300-400 people so, again, APD had to step in. One of these years at SXSW we will see an incident like we did years ago here in Austin when Mardi Gras got out of control. Trust me, I go every year to SXSW and it is building.
Anyway, I don’t want to focus on something that I can’t control. I’d much rather discuss what I can control and that is my SXSW schedule. We started our day watching Fun. play an acoustic set in the Waterloo Records parking lot. Unreal. To see the band that has the #1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100 with "We Are Young" at the best record store in the world (sorry Amoeba) was pretty special. They are in elite company since they are the first rock band to top that chart since Coldplay in 2008. Before that it was Nickelback in 2001. Ok, so maybe it’s not so elite. We were on a mission to see Fiona Apple and, since we only had wristbands, we needed to move quickly so that we could stand in line at Stubb’s. We finally made it inside just as she was taking the stage. At least, I think it was her… we were very far back. She delivered a knock out performance. Her set list blended perfectly (with the exception of the acquired taste of “Extraordinary Machine”) and it’s nice to have her back. I hope she stays. Not here in Austin though. The APD can’t handle it.
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