In my past life as an Artist-Manager / A&R exec I always looked forward to SXSW and got to watch it change from a simple and pure music conference to the behemoth it is today. THere was always a sense of pride in having your acts get one of the coveted official performing slots at the festival, but for all practical purposes the unofficial day parties were the real highlight. Many of those early parties were backyard shindigs with crappy sound systems, makeshift stages and hopefully a keg or two donated by one of the local breweries (before there were 10,000 breweries in the Austin area). The years before everyone had a camera in their pocket allowed celebrities to weave in and out of these events with the rest of us humans free of worry and you might happen to find yourself plopped in the grass of a South Austin backyard next to a famous celebrity that just happened to be a fan of the band playing on the back porch. It was a glorious time to participate in all Austin had to offer. Blah, blah… hush, old man. Ok..

That was a long winded way of leading into the good news about the current state of the conference. There are still unofficial day parties and they have multiplied like wet Gremlins. Below are a few picks for music over the next week that will be accessible to the public without need for an official SXSW badge or bracelet.

Please feel free to hit me up for more recommendations if none of these times or bands work for you. Also, enjoy the selected tunes below!

3/14 Bartees Strange @ Austin Motel (Noon)
3/15 The Zombies @ Waterloo Records (1PM)
3/16 Ron Gallo @ Valhalla (5PM)
3/17 The Silos (Performing their album: Cuba) @ ABGB (9PM)
3/18 Robert Ellis @ The Longtime (2PM)
3/19 The Iguanas @ C-Boy's Heart and Soul (1PM)

Lemon Thyme Smash

Unofficial Parties & Free SXSW Shows 2023