Live music review: SXSW 2025 finished with Space Agency Booking, Webberville Block Party

Austin’s South by Southwest finished things up with countless showcases that made the last two days of the music festival a pick-and-choose affair that didn’t let up until the crack of 2 a.m. on Saturday night. For most festival goers, energy can run slim on these last two days, and seeing what you can before the festival’s end is essential to closing the book on yet another March festival edition. Here’s who we closed out our SXSW with on the final two days of our festival experience at Hotel Vegas for Space Agency Booking’s annual showcase along with a closing festival celebration at the Webberville Block Party followed by a return to Hotel Vegas to close out SXSW 2025.

Friday 

Space Agency Booking brought their annual SXSW showcase to Hotel Vegas, a day party that turned official at sundown to fill the void for the now-absent Levitation Festival SX showcase. Quebec dance-punks La Sécurité made for an afternoon highlight, a signee of Canadian label Mothland that is home to a plethora of usual March festival highlights in the realm of Hot Garbage, TVOD, and CDSM. New York City’s The Thing took over the outdoor patio stage next, a familiar face given their association with local favorites Grandmaster and Sexpop. Their approach to garage rock and classic rock is emulated through means of Cream, The Kinks, and Steppenwolf, with the group possessing an affinity for the stripped-back antics of The Black Keys and The White Stripes.

After heading inside for what felt like an hours-long stint inside the venue’s grandstand, a stacked lineup of traveling acts captured the expected fuzzed-out indie rock that serves as the booked showcase’s focal point. Athens, Greece psychedelic rock spellcasters Acid Baby Jesus took the stage for one of their many festival appearances of the week, bringing retro sounds that stretched back to 50s pop hooks and relics of Brian Jones era Rolling Stones. The guitar-driven revivalism felt right at home at the Austin psych hub, reverberation and all.

Belgian punk party crashers Meltheads took the stage next, looking to make their mark in the states for their Austin, Texas debut. The Antwerp power-chorders wasted no time, slashing through every tune at an alarming rate in true 70s punk rock form. We reunited with Population II and Frankie And The Witch Fingers to close out our penultimate SXSW festival day, ready to punch in for one more around-the-clock day of ear-shattering rock and roll indulgence.

Saturday 

The Cosmic Clash and Play To The Plants joined forces again for unofficial SXSW programming, bringing the daytime bash to East Austin for what is likely to be the last Webberville Block Party. The third year of the event featured experimental and cutting edge music all day. Local gothic art punk up-and-comers The Opera opened things up on the Webberville Stage, one situated in the backyard of Matador Sphere who help organize and perform at the yearly event.

The Opera brings a synth-infused approach to the genre, a methodology that has seen them share the stage with experimental collective Xiu Xiu at downtown venue Parish. The jazz-crossed drumming went hand-in-hand with later performer YHWH Nailgun, combining the off-kilter oddities of unconventional song structure that makes the brain gears turn with sinister determination.

Hometown players Matador Sphere continued the trend of electronic rock experimentation, a collective spearheaded by Ed Gonzales for a project that’s reached a blossoming form with an original cache of tunes that keeps growing.

Heading back to Hotel Vegas, which should be a real-time hotel for us regular attendees during SX for how many all-day stayovers club regulars have enthusiastically endured, saw the return of Denver-based Swamp Co’s Fiesta Destructo. We were greeted by Austin institutions Gus Baldwin & The Sketch and Tear Dungeon, both making for flammably adequate precursors for the double-barreled headliners Denton to Austin’s Riverboat Gamblers and Oakland power trio High on Fire.

The Riverboat Gamblers played for a crowd that appeared to be split with new fans and old, with several audience members singing every word and some participating in the mosh festivities regardless of their knowledge of the Gamblers’ back catalog. High on Fire returned to the now 14-year-running Vegas patio after a three-year break, but the road warriorism of Matt Pike and company remains unscathed.

The stormbringer drumming from drummer Coady Willis has backed a handful of groups, including Big Business, Melvins, and The Murder City Devils, all taking a triumphant form for the long-running sludge metal overlords for every lick and riff picked for the infinite arsenal produced by guitarist Pike and bassman Jeff Matz. For a packed Hotel Vegas excursion that saw an at-capacity crowd with a line around the block, a cataclysmic end to the ten days of bouncing around the downtown music venues we know and love for yet another SXSW festival installment.

SXSW will return in 2026, with dates abbreviated to March 12 to March 18 for next year’s conference installment. Discounted credentials are available here for a limited time.

Featured photo of Tear Dungeon by Troy Gonzales