If you are going to be in London in June, the following might interest you
SXSW Austin is usually entertaining but also informative and great networking for some. In Austin, there is usually a lot of free activities and events.
It is all about music, movies, technology and media. There is something for everyone.
The conference began in Austin the mid 80's and now they re branching out to both Australia and London.
And just for the record, I have no affiliation with them.
I am already on their mailing list from last year. I didn't get round to seeing anything then. Maybe try to get out to something this year. I've been a to a few music business panel discussions out at Sonar Festival in Barcelona. Some friends have, but I've never put any records out. Find it quite interesting anyway. Thanks for the reminder.
I think SXSW really put Austin on the map globally. It's the first thing I think of when I think of Austin, Texas. Definitely a big thing for the city.
Of course Slacker was a great movie which I thought was the epitome of cool when it came out. That would be the second thing.
GerryM
I have been in Austin since 1972 and was active once a long time ago. My masters thesis, published in 1983, was on the music scene.
March gets real crazy here because of SXSW. They really take over the city and it can be challenging.
I would expect them to put on a good conference in London.
Maybe this June, you might be able to do some SXSW in London.
I posted the information because I think it would be a great thing to do for anyone living in London or visiting.
A Music Pass is £375 GBP , $493 and change USD. It's expensive, but it would be worth it if you have the time and energy to catch a lot of stuff. I'd need to dig a bit deeper to find the free things :) I'm not in touch with anyone in the press like I was a few years ago I could blag a pass from unfortunately. Too cheeky to ask.
Great to hear about your connections to Austin and music, bostonphil. Always enjoy reading your posts, even if I don't always comment. I'd be interested to to hear your thoughts on Austin, and Texas in general, for the visitor. I saw an ad on train here in London recently for tourism to Texas. It might be a good new thread somewhere.
GerryM
SXSW badges have now become very expensive in Austin. Residents grumble and with good reason. The cost has become outrageous but if you can afford a badge, you get so much. Some businesses send their employees and pay for the badges. If you are in specific industries, the networking might prove to be invaluable.
Here is a link to SXSW Austin for March 2026
Twitter which is now known as X was first introduced at a SXSW here in Austin.
Weather is a real problem. Summers are horrible. We hit 100 degrees as early as May. We have just entered fall. like yesterday. We get a couple of ice cold freezes every winter. Everything freezes over and no one can go anywhere for days to a full week. Austin has limited snow and ice equipment. We have droughts and then torrential rains
November is usually a nice month and sometimes we have a nice March and April but the weather is very often uncomfortable and problematic.
We have had extreme heat during SXSW and extreme cold. We have pouring rain sometimes. We never know what we are going to get weather wise. But sometimes we have very nice weather as well.
Austin is very cutting edge and trendy. It is a pretty city with a lot to do.
There is a great music scene as you know but also a very good film industry as well. Austin is extremely high tech. There is a film conference during SXSW but there is also one or two or maybe more film festivals besides SXSW film. The Austin Film Festival just ended and The Texas Book Festival which Laura Bush began when her husband was governor is next week.
Great barbecue and Tex-Mex. There is still some southern cooking out there which is extremely delicious but very unhealthy..
We have the largest bat colony in North America from about March to October when they fly back to Mexico. The bats that fly up from Mexico are only pregnant females. They give birth under the Congress Street Bridge and then fly back to Mexico about October or November. People come from all over the world to watch the bats fly out around dusk for their bug fest. About one to two million fly out almost every evening.
We have a very large Mexican and Mexican American population. Today is Day of The Dead and there will be celebrations all over Austin.
I have lived in Austin since 1972 but have done very little travel around Texas and I am sorry to say that. When i travel, I usually travel outside of the state and more recently outside of the country. I hate to admit that I have never been to San Antonio which is about 60 miles away. It is a huge state with so much to see and do. And I have seen very little of Texas.
I take one cruise a year. As you know, I have just returned from Japan / Korea and have already booked Iceland / Norway for 2027
I plan to travel more around the United States and Texas when I am too old for my yearly cruise or too broke, whichever comes first,
The entire city of Austin was only about 150,000 when I arrived in 1972. Now it is over one million. Austin was a cowtown when i arrived and now it is known all over the world.
It is good and bad. Something has been gained and something has been lost. I have gotten old while Austin has grown up. And it has grown into a beautiful city.
I think SXSW really put Austin on the map globally. It's the first thing I think of when I think of Austin, Texas.
The first thing I think of when it comes to Austin is Dirty 6th Street and barbecue. I enjoyed both very much when I visited about nine years ago with Blacks (OK, it was the Lockhart location but close enough) being the standout barbecue joint.
I liked Austin. Great music scene, attractive city and nicely laid back. A mate and I visited, rented a Mustang convertible and had a blast touring Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding areas in the search for great music and barbecue.
I wouldn't want to visit when SXSW is on though, far too busy and expensive.
Hi JC
Some years back, I was talking to a large group of visitors waiting in line to enter Antone's. They were all British and had taken a tour that was offered from London to Austin just to enjoy the live music scene.
I was surprised to find out that travel agencies in London had put together tours to come to Austin just for the purpose of enjoying live music.
SXSW London seems to fit in very well with London.
and yes, Austin during SXSW is outrageous. Flights cost three times what they normally would if you can get on one. They are usually full. Hotels are booked the year before.. And it has become chaotic. Often very bad things now happen during SXSW.
I know a man who does not work in film but is a big movie fan. He buys an expensive film badge just to hob knob and go to the parties and the panel discussions plus see the movies. For him, the cost of the badge is thoroughly worth the experience.
Great barbecue and Tex-Mex . I believe that Blacks now has one or two Austin locations. Lockhart now has a booming music scene, sort of an earlier Austin. Texas Monthly is doing their big huge barbecue festival in Lockhart. It is either this weekend or coming up very soon.
Lockhart now has a booming music scene, sort of an earlier Austin. Texas Monthly is doing their big huge barbecue festival in Lockhart. It is either this weekend or coming up very soon.
That sounds right up my alley, I might have to see if I can persuade my wife that a trip to Austin should be on the cards.
Yeah Austin sounds great.
Weather is a real problem.
I had thought Texas was much more consistently mild, with hot summers, but I guess it depends where you are in the state to some extent. I had to look up Austin on the map to see where it is geographically. I remember the huge ice storms being in the news a few years ago but I'm not sure if that affected Austin.
Great barbecue and Tex-Mex. There is still some southern cooking out there which is extremely delicious but very unhealthy..
Yes, food would be a big attraction in Texas. I wouldn't be looking for anything fancy. I think in Texas I would enjoy driving to mid-price chain BBQ joints, just to be doing what local folk are doing on the daily. I'm easily pleased. I'm fine with unhealthy, for my sins. I could see me becoming an expert on Texas-specific burger drive thrus. Is there a Texas equivalent to In-n-Out in California?
Austin is very cutting edge and trendy. It is a pretty city with a lot to do.
I just had a look at a few photos of downtown. It does look nice. Maybe a bit more walkable than other places in Texas. I'd be interested in neighbourhoods outside of downtown. If you're travelling to see music, that's often where the good stuff is, outside of SXSW of course.
I don't think I would come to Texas without making sure I had a car 24/7. I've watched some urban planning videos about the Dallas Fort Worth area and it would be impossible to get around sensibly without one. The huge sprawl of DFW is unique I think. There's nothing on that scale in Europe.
The scale of Texas is something that's interesting, and daunting at the same time. Being able to drive for hours and hundreds of miles and still be in Texas is something. I'd be interested in seeing small towns off the freeway to see how they're doing. I might be quite nervous in rural Texas in more conservative small towns. I think I'd need to be slightly disingenuous to stay safe and polite at times in conversation.
We have a very large Mexican and Mexican American population.
I think I'd be as likely to want to brush up on my Spanish going to Texas or California as I would be going to a Spanish city. I'd want to acknowledge the appropriate people with a Spanish greeting or thanks the same way I would in Spain.
I have lived in Austin since 1972 but have done very little travel around Texas
Tell me about it. I'm in London all the time and haven't seen as much of England as I should have in the 20 years I've lived here.
Yes, food would be a big attraction in Texas. I wouldn't be looking for anything fancy. I think in Texas I would enjoy driving to mid-price chain BBQ joints, just to be doing what local folk are doing on the daily.
No need to opt for chain BBQ joints as the majority of the independent ones are modestly priced. I'm pretty sure the majority of the ones we visited were populated by locals judging by the number of Ford F150 pick-ups parked in the car park.
I ate a lot of great food in Texas, one of the most memorable dishes was rattlesnake chilli pie, much nicer than you would imagine. I was also pleasantly surprised with the Texan wine I tried. Grits and biscuits with gravy not so much.
I might be quite nervous in rural Texas in more conservative small towns. I think I'd need to be slightly disingenuous to stay safe and polite at times in conversation.
No need for that. Everyone I spoke to was incredibly polite and welcoming (the one exception was the bloke trying to scam me in Dallas). I can't see that having opposing political views would be much of an issue. In general I found most people were interested in where I was from and why I was in Texas, pretty much the same warmth and friendliness I've encountered from the overwhelming majority of Americans in my decades of travel to the US.
pretty much the same warmth and friendliness I've encountered from the overwhelming majority of Americans in my decades of travel to the US.
Yeah. Overthinking it maybe.
number of Ford F150 pick-ups parked in the car park.
In theory I'd rent a truck in Texas. That would be fun. You'd need a double cab to keep your stuff that you couldn't leave out in the bed. Not the most practical, but I'd like to be driving a truck in Texas.
We have had extreme heat during SXSW and extreme cold
My husband and son went to Austin City Limits one year pre-pandemic. 2018, maybe? When they arrived it was sweltering. They were grateful for the window unit in their Air BnB. It rained during the night and they had to buy sweatshirts and beanies the next day at the festival because the temperature dropped into the 40s, with a bitter wind. I couldn't believe the pictures my husband sent of them looking miserably cold, because it had been so hot just the day before.
JC
Just be careful what month you come. May through September is uncomfortably hot and then you never know about October or April. .
kayla p
I do not even think about going to ACL but hordes of other people go regularly and oh they claim they have great times. The music is great but the weather is often not so great and the crowds ....
Last year or the year before, an international organized crime group came to ACL for the purpose of stealing iPhones . So much happens that I can not remember the whole story.
ACL is now held in October and the weather seems better than when it was being held in September but we had a very hot and humid October this year.
GerryM
We have ice storms in Austin almost every winter and we had a really bad one a few years ago. There were several deaths. People lost electricity for days or weeks.
My building is on the same grid as the city and we never lost our electricity because if that grid came down, all emergency services would have also come down.
When we have an ice storm, usually you can not do anything or go anywhere for a whole week. You know that it is coming so you have to stock up for food, batteries, candles, etc
A Canadian man was stuck in the Dallas airport for days on end and he was quoted as saying "I live in Canada and one inch of ice would do nothing" We do not have the equipment for winter storms even though we usually haove one almost every year.
I think that maybe people have the misconception that Texas weather is balmy and mild but it is really a rough climate..
When I first came to Texas, men wore Stetson's, a nice jacket and nice blue jeans. That was business dress. You do not see this dress any more in Austin but maybe outside of Austin. I don't know.
