SXSW, Part 1

Tonight, my friend Gretchen and I saw Sondre Lerche at The Stage on 6th Street.* (In case you're wondering, Sondre Lerche is Norwegian, and his name sounds like "SON-drah LER-ka.") His music was featured in the movie Dan in Real Life, and ever since I saw that movie, I liked his stuff. He uses a lot of minor chords and notes in his music, which I really love. Also, his music sounds happy, which I also love.

The show was great! He played a mix of acoustic and electric songs, and he seemed genuinely surprised that we clapped for him so loudly at the end of each. :)





After the show, we stayed at the same venue to watch Eisley for a few songs.


Most of the night, though, was actually spent just walking around downtown and trying to get into more shows. Unfortunately, those shows cost money. (Whereas Sondre Lerche and Eisley were free, thanks to Paste, an Atlanta-based company.) :)

We stopped at a hat shop and tried on hats . . .
Here I am pretending to be Texan:


And here's Gretchen pretending to be Southern:


Now, I can't fully express to you the magnitude of the crowd at SXSW. As I mentioned in SXSW, an Introduction, 6th Street -- well, several blocks of it -- is closed off from traffic. People just walk down the street willy-nilly.


Here's a video, which only begins to capture the amount and diversity of people you encounter at SXSW:

At SXSW, there are thousands of concerts and film screenings and conferences and parties. In all honesty, I find it to be quite overwhelming. In a way, I feel obligated to attend as many events as possible, since I am here and so many of my music- and film-loving friends are not. But it's all kind of a blur, and there's really no way I can see (or pay for!) everything I want. I think I'll save up for a badge next year, though . . . And then I'll really have things to post!


*To my Atlanta friends: Sondre Lerche is playing at The Variety Playhouse on Saturday, June 11. If you've never been to The Variety Playhouse, go! It's my favorite venue in the city!


Thing I'm thankful for: Cadbury Creme Eggs!