Live music review: SXSW 2025 opening weekend ramble

The South By Southwest 2025 opening weekend kicked off with local acts welcoming out-of-towners to Austin’s diverse and fruitful music tree. With SXSW having music options starting the Thursday through the weekend before the official SX music festival begins, various venues open their doors for cover-free or low-cost showcases to get Austin residents and early fest-comers a taste of what makes the Central Texas scene a one-stop-shop for music that is still a hot commodity in Austin. The SXSW week began with opening all-day showcases such as the Hotel Vegas Anniversary Party, SX Soundcheck, Do512 Smokeout, and others, there’s plenty to keep music attendees busy before official music week begins the following Monday. Here’s what stood out to us in the opening days of SXSW, all of which will likely perform again before the week concludes. Follow these acts on social media for the most up-to-date information on live appearances throughout the festival. 

The Hotel Vegas 14th Anniversary Party kicked off the festivities on Thursday, March 6 with an all-day event commemorating yet another year of the three-stage indoor and outdoor venue that hosts both rising and mainstay talent in the city. Local staples in the realm of psychedelic punk quartet Gus Baldwin & The Sketch, indiegaze solo assembly Lauren Lakis, and the singer-songwriter Jim Campo-focused Magic Rockers Of Texas.

A Giant Dog offshoot Andrew Cashen & The Disciples Of Creation, indie pop trio Annabelle Chairlegs, and darkwave heavy-hitters Urban Heat all took the main stage at the east side venue during the anniversary celebration, with rapidly rising experimental rap duo Haha Laughing taking a later evening slot to get the audience moving for the venue-filling punk berserkers Die Spitz.

The evening continued on the Hotel Vegas indoor grandstand with Austin shoegazers Queen Serene, Night Ritualz, and J’Cuuzi to cap off the celebratory Thursday evening.

 

Do512‘s Smoke Show on Friday, March 7 brought a diversity of Austin acts to Hotel Vegas again in 2025 for a crowd at capacity hours before the headlining performance commenced. New up-and-comers So Many Cults delivered a dose of synth-fueled hard rock, with supercharged frontman Dave Pokk hacking through the indoor Vegas set with maximum Josh Homme-esque ferocity.

Touring shoegaze machines, Farmer’s Wife took the outdoor stage to immerse the attendees in a raging whirlpool of reverb and fuzzed-out instrumental prowess with impossibly fun hooks that strike chords of humorous and socially-aware activism.

A lesson in Texas legacy psychedelia came in the form of Strange Lot, with a promised upcoming record produced by none other than The Black Angels’ Alex Maas. Austin Talking Heads tribute institution HeartByrne closed out the Patio stage, playing all the hits and more while taking an explorative, jam-induced route with each cut that showcased the musical tenacity of each member of the ensemble.

The Hotel Vegas SX Soundcheck Saturday continued its yearly tradition with a lineup featuring some of the most coveted stage shows active in the Austin community today. Deezie Brown and Jake Lloyd-led Geto Gala appeared for a hip-hop masterclass that paid homage to the decades of the genre from all different angles. With a formidable partnership between the two rhyme-smiths backed by a rhythmically dexterous band that brought the rapped bars to life, Brown and Lloyd show that a scene for the genre is alive and well in the speedily gentrifying Austin.

The masked mega-ensemble Grandmaster returned for SX Soundcheck to not only deliver a performance that featured their signature costumes and Earth Wind & Fire-laced funk, but a set that cranked things up to 11 with a dozen or so members onstage to account for each sound of their monumentous vision. With the usual dual-keyboard, guitar, bass, and percussion intact, the Saturday evening performance also saw the return of a full horn section, making for a set from the nonet turned, at the very least, duodecet that saw new music outside of their recently released 2024 LP to prepare frequent Grandmaster flyers for their next era.

Spectacle-makers Golden Dawn Arkestra took the stage for the final Vegas patio Soundcheck set, bringing their genre-bending prowess in the realm of Parliament Funkadelic, jam-band type improvisation, and soul and R&B knowhow with musicians from a variety of musical backgrounds. A performance with 12 or so members taking the stage, including a performing company of dancers, the Topaz McGarrigle-conducted exhibition is worth repeated attendance.

Mas Music Records and Misti Watts monthly residency Club X returned to the Red River Cultural District at Black Angels-owned and operated The 13th Floor for handpicked, local, and world-curated talent that brought new discoveries and familiar faces. For the SX Club X installment, Austin acts French Film, Dead Canyon Family Reunion, and new-on-the scene Almost Heaven showed up for the now-quarterly joint residency.

Los Angeles psych duo Tremours also appeared, bringing a wall of sound for the TV Eye visuals that projected onto the stage for a mesmerizing collection of pulsating experiences that venue owners The Black Angels have employed for consecutive tours. Club X will continue throughout 2025, with another showcase tentatively planned for the future.

The 2025 South By Southwest Music Festival kicks off today, March 10 and runs until March 15. All official set times and artists can be found via the SXSW Website or SXSW GO mobile application. 

Featured photo by Drew Doggett