In 2025, I was invited to participate in a panel presentation at South by Southwest (SXSW, or “South by,” if you’re cool) in Austin, Texas. As a native Texan, this was a Big Deal for me professionally; I grew up hearing about SXSW and we’d occasionally come to events as a kid, but to actually be asked to speak—that’s really something.

I’ll skip over the main reason I was there (speaking at SXSW), as that was a work activity, and I like to maintain some semblance of a boundary between work and play. In short, I spoke on a panel that is professionally near and dear to me—space robotics.

In the evenings, I tried to make the most of my Platinum badge (read: first dibs on basically everything), meaning shows and concerts and more. While I was pretty familiar with SXSW, actually having a badge was a brand new experience for me. I didn’t really know how to pick out fun events and concerts, so I stumbled my way through the agenda and tried to pick out things that roughly aligned with music I liked. So without further ado, here’s a list of bands I saw at SXSW.

While we’re at it, please enjoy my mediocre band photography skills.

Everclear

Yes, the band you know from the 90s and 2000s with hits such as “Santa Monica” and “Father of Mine.” Yes, they’re getting older, but they can still rock pretty hard. They played at Mohawk, immediately after an artist who was a very different genre. It was pretty entertaining to watch the Everclear fans accumulate at the back of the crowd and migrate forward before their set started.

West Texas Exiles

These guys were a lot of fun—really! They played a bit late at Lamberts on Friday, and it appeared that many people came out to watch them perform (or many people were out on the street and wanted to join the party). If you like Americana and rockabilly, you’ve got to check them out.

Angel White

Also at Lamberts (and immediately before West Texas Exiles), Angel White did a phenomenal job of bringing his unique voice to some good Texas country music. I’d recommend him to someone who enjoys country music but wants to hear something with a unique sound. According to the people I happened to sit down next to, he’s quite a rising star—so catch him before he hits the big venues!

Larry Seaman

Larry Seaman played at Zilker Brewing Co. (side note: if you haven’t tried their peach seltzer yet, do it now!). His style was chill pop punk, which made for a fun start to that evening.

Harvest Thieves

Another fun Americana band! Which makes sense because, well, Austin. They played at Coopers early in the week, so the venue was largely empty, which meant I got a great seat. I would love to see them again sometime.