SXSW Sydney: now in its second year, has the festival found its feet?
To get the most out of the SXSW music program, you have to make peace with some dissonance. En route to a conference session about the damaging impact of music streaming fraud on indie artists, you might pass an “immersive experience” reimagining email, or an electric vehicle “cityscape track” overlooking Darling Harbour. Later, you’ll snack on free Tim Tams while absorbing the infinite, world-altering possibilities of AI in a room that screams corporate off-site. That night, in a pub usually frequented by uni students, an artist will pour out their anti-establishment truths in front of a banner emblazoned with sponsor logos.
Such were the strange yet frequently enjoyable contradictions inherent in the second year of SXSW Sydney, whose not-that-profound slogan “The Future Belongs To The Curious” was inescapable across the city last week. Like the oversized original event in Austin, Texas – which has been licensed to run in Sydney for at least five years, in its first international iteration – this year’s program spanned music, technology, gaming and screen, with all streams crammed into one anxiety-tweaking app.
Also like the Austin event, each day and night was beset by brands, from the activation pile-up at Tumbalong Park (just steps from the calming Chinese Garden of Friendship) to the hot sauce-sponsored Rolling Stone House in the bowels of UTS Tower. For the music-inclined, most conference sessions took place at the International convention centre (ICC) in Darling Harbour, JMC Academy and UTS, while the night-time music program spread across various pubs, bars and music venues in and around Chippendale. Wherever you turned, a helpful volunteer was ready to scan your pass or point the way past the toilet paper pop-up.
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The music program got under way on Tuesday night with Jorja Smith playing at ICC Sydney Theatre. Despite the 8,000-seat venue possessing all the atmosphere of a multi-storey car park, the British R&B singer radiated easy warmth as she worked through a set list of more than 20 songs. Backed by an exceptionally tight band that occasionally overwhelmed her voice, Smith silenced the room with an unadorned version of break-up ballad Don’t Watch Me Cry, before a dance-y final stretch that had everyone on their feet.
Elsewhere across the week, international artists were largely lesser-known and aligned with specific showcases. On Wednesday night at the Lansdowne Hotel’s British Music Embassy takeover, punkish London rapper Jeshi marvelled at the intimacy of the crowd (“I can see all your faces”), while Thursday’s all-Taiwanese lineup at the Abercrombie Hotel featured a charming headline set from Taipei-based experimental pop band I’mdifficult. Meanwhile, at the conference, high-powered music agent Lucy Dickins regaled a packed auditorium with stories of discovering Adele and bringing Mumford & Sons to the New South Wales country town of Dungog. Later, in a much smaller room, panellists discussed the vast opportunities in India’s music market, including a very on-message catch-cry of “We love brands!”
On Saturday, Sydney’s own rap prodigy The Kid Laroi began his keynote at a packed-out Darling Harbour by admitting “this is probably the most nervous I’ve been in my life”. Joined onstage by friends and collaborators Nooky, Keanu Beats and Dopamine, the 21-year-old stayed mostly in the safety of platitudes (“trusting your own opinion on your music is really cool”) though the panel went “off the leash” – just slightly – at the mention of record labels and industry malpractice.
“If someone comes to you tomorrow and says, ‘You listen to everything I tell you and you’re gonna be the biggest artist in the world?’,” said Laroi. “Fuckin’ run!” To the crowd’s delight, the session ended with a surprise delivery from Laroi’s favourite Newtown chicken shop, Clem’s. Deeper insight from local success stories was found in smaller forums, such as The Mess Hall’s Jed Kurzel detailing his evolution to Hollywood film composer – delivered from the stage of an esports “arena” in Central Park Mall.
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At night, homegrown artists shone brightest. On the outdoor basketball court at a Chippendale coworking office, Sydney drill sensation Kahukx rapped through a balaclava while a huddle of offstage hype-men mimicked every word. On Friday, when the vibe was notably looser, APY Lands hip-hop group Dem Mob lit up the tiny Knox Street Bar with equal parts joy and righteous anger. Later that night, folk-pop singer-songwriter Beckah Amani played one of the week’s standout sets in the no-frills upstairs band room at neighbourhood bar Sneaky Possum. For a crowd many times smaller than her warm-up slot for Jorja Smith, Amani’s performance had a tingly intimacy that made all the branded noise fall away.
As a general rule, SXSW Sydney was at its best when exciting emerging artists were winning over new fans. The set-up of venues invited unplanned discoveries and pleasing vibe shifts – within five minutes of dancing to Kiwi pop artist Yahyah at Sneaky Possum, you could be inside the artfully refined performance space Phoenix Central Park soaking up the oddball energy of Filipino-Japanese performer Ena Mori.
In the downtime between performances, you might wonder who all this was for. With prices ranging from $140 for a music showcase wristband to $1,295 for a “primary access” badge, it could be hard to distinguish the curious attender from the professionally committed. But while the main event could feel annoyingly insular (especially for the lanyard-less regulars turned away from their favourite bars and pubs on Friday), organisers stepped up the free programming over the weekend, including a well-attended inner west street festival on Sunday with a host of local bands. Beyond all the grand ideas and corporate manoeuvres, good old grassroots passion gave SXSW Sydney its pulse.
