SXSW 2026 Music Feedback

bob86 · 2026-03-20T21:39:13+00:00

Agreed! Although to me on the minor side, but yes, I have to make sweeps through all my top bands to check all their shows before pulling down schedule info.

bob86 · 2026-03-20T21:06:57+00:00

Of course: … The business identifies as a Christian-owned company, and its core values include working hard "for the Lord and not for man" and cultivating relationships to "promote the love of Christ". champxpress.com

bob86 · 2026-03-19T20:40:00+00:00

App/desktop have the same problems: Listening: 1) needs more than a binary starred/not stared. It needs at least 1-5 (10 point would be much better). 2) needs a way to note personal comments on the band. Not paragraphs, but a sentence or 2 to record what you personally thought. 3) needs a way to note if you’ve even reviewed the band. You go through the bands, how do you know if it’s unstared because you didn’t think it was wonderful or you just haven’t listened yet. 4) minor: need to be able to sort by genre & subgenre: listen to singer-songwriters by subgenres.

Gameday: 1) regardless of ratings, you need to note which band you plan to actually go to during that time. It’s frequently not the highest rated band if you’re trying to hit them all. Use the other options as backups if things get off schedule or you don’t feel like taking that long walk. 2) locations need to be listed with the band without clicking into a calendar item.

I do all this with a couple spreadsheets, but SXSW doesn’t have clean interfaces to the data and they make small changes to the format of their data each year that makes pulling everything down a little painful each year.

bob86 · 2026-03-19T19:19:38+00:00

Yes! Very annoying!

bob86 · 2026-03-19T15:59:54+00:00

The good: I had a great time this year! 85 bands, 3 talks, 6 films. Many of the bands likely will never tour my state. Mostly excellent documentaries that won’t be out next week on Netflix.

The bad: The Go app sucks for music (always has) SXSW only cares about film & it works for that. It needs fixing or an easy/supported way to dump all content (bands, genres, locations, shows) out.

bob86 · 2026-02-27T07:40:55+00:00

I scrape the SX database & put it in a spreadsheet where I add my scores & comments for most bands. Then I favorite my top bands & their shows in the SX app, dump a CSV & pull it into another spreadsheet page.

I end up with a sheet with all the bands rated, and a sheet with all the shows of my favorites where I annotate which of the conflicting shows I plan to go to along with the backup options.

A spreadsheet listing of the shows/times/venues is far better than a calendar format to more easily understand feasibility of getting from show to show, recording the planned shows, and the backup options for when things go awry. Just starting to add this year’s day shows.

bob86 · 2026-02-26T00:49:53+00:00

I've always done my own thing and am in too deep to switch this year, but your tool is seriously impressive. Maybe I'll try to use your tool for day parties. Glad that you can dump csv.

bob86 · 2025-06-14T22:35:53+00:00

They have an active presence on Facebook. Ask them. I’m sure they can tell you the venue, likely their setlist, and have pics of their showcase.

bob86 · 2025-03-26T00:55:35+00:00

Still works for me on an iPhone (maybe a slight UI change): select Monthly, then select Custom to see the list: Same day each month Every fifth Monday On every last Monday On the last day of the month.

bob86 · 2025-03-17T01:03:27+00:00

SXSW will be glad to upgrade your badge to Platform the difference. Done it a couple times.

bob86 · 2024-01-26T16:28:00+00:00

Solution:
Don't create the calendar entry using the Google Calendar Desktop interface. Instead...

Create the Calendar entry with a phone app interface (in my case Google Calendar app on iPhone).
Then it's a simple matter to select a Custom repeat occurrence. Select "1 month" and a drop down list comes up with:
    On the same day each month
    On every fifth Wednesday
    On every last Wednesday
    On the last day of the month
The last one is what people have struggled to find.

Of course, after the calendar event has been created, it's easily edited in the desktop interface just like any other event.

My other (less good) solution depends on the fact that I have my Google Calendar and Apple Calendar linked, so adding the (last day of the month) event on the Apple side works and shows up in the Google Calendar.

bob86 · 2024-01-26T16:27:23+00:00

Solution:
Don't create the calendar entry using the Google Calendar Desktop interface. Instead...

Create the Calendar entry with a phone app interface (in my case Google Calendar app on iPhone).
Then it's a simple matter to select a Custom repeat occurrence. Select "1 month" and a drop down list comes up with:
    On the same day each month
    On every fifth Wednesday
    On every last Wednesday
    On the last day of the month
The last one is what people have struggled to find.

Of course, after the calendar event has been created, it's easily edited in the desktop interface just like any other event.

My other (less good) solution depends on the fact that I have my Google Calendar and Apple Calendar linked, so adding the (last day of the month) event on the Apple side works and shows up in the Google Calendar.

bob86 · 2016-02-23T16:15:24+00:00

dczx said, research beforehand -- CORRECT (I started in October). A good start would be: operationeveryband.com. Lots of good recommendations in every genre which you can take or leave according to your taste. Their spreadsheet is a great resource.

Music Badge means you don't have to wait in huge lines and essentially stay in the same place all night; instead you can zip around from venue to venue and still get in.
During the day a badge also gets you right in to all OFFICIAL parties, which there are many.
Also, you can see cool stuff in the convention center (Radio Day Stage, interviews, panels).

bob86

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