The top three free venue bands (we saw/heard)

Cardinals
The Thing
The Bends

We had ashes falling like snow Saturday from burnt orange clouds over downtown.

I missed being in SXSW all week. Getting the call that wristbands were going on sale that morning at Waterloo and dropping everything and driving from SA to get mine.

I literally kept one credit card with a Austin P.O. box for a decade just to prove that I was a Austin resident just for my wristband.

This was our first SXSW since 2001, and our first without a wristband. The Yeti and Rivian free showcases featured all the bands we wanted to see with no lines and lots of freebies. We had low expectations, but it was surprisingly good. We might skip the wristbands next year too. We are no longer in the up 'til three am, sleep 'til noon SXSW crowd.

It's so easy now with Spotify. We used to use the Chronicle and listen to bad radio for sound bites to find interesting bands.