Hello loves, Nadeen AND Jacqueline here! We have been together for the past week and it has been the greatest. Today is a sad day, because all of our fun is about to be over and Jacque is about to go back to San Antonio. Instead of crying about this, we will blog about it and remember all the great times we had! This was our first south by south west ever!
Tip #1 for all you newbies: Making a set hour by hour schedule WILL NOT WORK. Play it day by day and it will all work well. HOWEVER: remember you CANNOT do everything. It is impossible to make it to every show, so you should figure out the ones you are dying to go to, and allow yourself travel time plus line time. Luckily we made it to all the artists we were dying to see, however we missed a few that we planned on seeing.
DAY 1: Waterloo Records and Spiderhouse.: All week, Waterloo Records on 6th and Lamar had free shows. I was confused when I first found out about this, because I didn’t understand how they’d be able to accommodate all the crazy hooligans in the streets. However, it worked out perfect. We grabbed lunch across the street at whole foods, sat on the patio and listened to the angelic voices of Tegan and Sara. A salad later, we decided to join the crowd for Macklemore.
We had to kinda linger behind the fence for a while like stoop kids on the street, we finally decided to stack on shoulders and move our way backwards. We got around to the back gate and surprisingly it was still open! But we still didn’t end up that close.. Macklemore has so much energy on stage that even far away we could see him bouncing around having so much fun.
I had fun too!
Tip #2: Always keep in contact with friends who are traveling around the city, they may guide you to a MUCH cooler show than the one you are heading to.
Day 2: WOODIE AWARDS. Our group relied on the bus to travel around Austin (sometimes helpful, sometimes not) because its pretty cheap and you won’t have to walk 10 miles. But we still had to walk a lot downtown. On the bus I got a text from a friend about the MTV Woodie awards, the most important words that I got in that text were “FREE, ALT-J, TEGAN AND SARA, FREE BOOZE” So while on the bus we rerouted and headed down to that. The line did not look very promising but it moved so quickly and before we knew it we were noming on free hibiscus popsickles listening to Atlas Genius.
This is what the MTV Woodie Awards included: Free entry, free beer, free mixed drinks, free doritos, free condoms, free sunglasses, free water + soda, free BBQ (we are vegetarian but they still had good options for us!), and free goodies.
Music included: The Lonely Biscuits ( I met them! we have friends in common because they are college students!) Jake Bugg, HAIM, Atlas Genius, Alt-J, Tegan and Sara, Macklemore, 21 Pilots, Zedd, and rappers named Travis Scott, Trinidad James, and T.I. showed up too!
^High School Hometown Friends!^
^The Lonely Biscuits (From Belmont University) ^ They won best college band of the year by MTV
Day 3: At this point, we were exhausted. As much as we wanted to just lounge around the apartment with the doggies, we fueled ourselves with coffee and eggs, and headed back onto downtown. I’ve recently been obsessed with wild child. This Austin based indie folk band was by far the best live show I’ve seen in a while. Their combination of instruments flowed so well and they all seemed to be a big happy family. I’ve been trying to catch a show the whole week and finally was able to get to this one at Shiner’s Saloon. (Jacque: I was REALLY scared we were going to miss it then we would have to all cry in the street)
This was the first day that we were actually able to meet some of our idols. After the show, we found the keyboardist of wild child, exchanged some words, where he redirected us to our next location. One minute after this exchange, we happen to notice wild child’s van. As the obnoxious fan that I am, I yell out how much I love them while Jacque silently smiles (I get really really nervous around people I want to meet). We react to these situations very differently. AND THEN, after I am recovering from this, we see alt-J in the street.
ARE WE NOT THE LUCKIEST GIRLS IN THE WORLD?
These foreigners told me how ecstatic they were to be in Austin and were nice enough to accept a photo with us. I was all smiles after being serenaded by their beautiful accents.
The only set plans we had for Austin was to see our friends shows on Friday night. I (Jacque) have some great friends from Houston I have gotten to know over the years, and Nadeen has slowly gotten to know them, along with our other friends and after staying with them in New Orleans we feel like one big happy family.
The show was at this awesome guy named Will’s house (THANKS WILL) and the setup was : My Fathers Rifle (NOLA), ArchAnimals (NOLA), Growl (ATX), and Donovan Wolfington (NOLA). We happened to know pretty much every person playing so it was the best way to end a sunny evening. As the beer started to sink in to peoples stomachs and the sun was setting absolutely every body was groovin.
These bands bring so much energy that you absolutely cannot stand still during their shows.
After the shows ended we walked to East Side King’s where we got some delicious squid ink ramen noodles! I stumbled into this place after a show at hole in the wall and was amazed at the unique conjunctions they make with my childhood ramen. Jacqueline and I felt extremely adventurous trying out this meal.
Tomorrow marks the day we teleport back into reality, homework calls our names, as well as a full nights rest. SXSW has felt like the longest and best dream we have had in a while. Even though sxsw is over, the good music still continues in this great city all the time, so life is always good. Be on the lookout for our NOLA post.
arrivederci,
NADEEN AND JACQUELINE
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