3GM: SXSW Day 1 – Game On
At a festival with over 2000 bands, you thrive on the good ones to keep you going. At times you begin to feel as if mediocre is par for the course. You realize by the end of the first day, if it hadn’t already occurred to you, how important a good sound guy is and how energy becomes the most important thing in a live performance.
Forget creativity and tight harmonies, you can perfect those on the album. A good voice or some fast fingers? Those will only get you so far. What you need is stage presence and passion. If you can’t hold the attention of a crowd who’s been on their feet for eight hours in the Texas heat, you probably shouldn’t have the spot. SXSW is a natural selection bootcamp for bands and fans alike.
For those of you following our SXSW Scavenger Hunt, here’s what we were able to check off the list so far…
Find an Incredible Bluegrass Band – Trampled by Turtles
There should be at least one bluegrass band tucked away in a back corner or jamming collectively on a late night stage at every festival – especially SXSW. At 1AM on Tuesday, before the official music events even started, Trampled by Turtles stomped on the Bat Bar with a fiddle and acoustic bass. It didn’t hurt that our search for rail tequila started here (note: Cordoniz seems to be everywhere). READ ON for more from 3GM’s first day at SXSW…
