Recap: SXSW 2019 [Day 2]

Photos and Words by Bryan Lasky

A slightly slow start as panels and movies aren’t being looked into on my trip due to my badge, but also there is so much going on outside. There were plenty of activation spots to look into. Viceland’s roller rink saw a ton of people having a blast and looking like there were right out of the ’70s. Free food and drinks were plentiful all over the city. The Daily Show’s Presidential Twitter Library was just as hilarious, but also as frightening as you would think. As I was there, the President tweeted twice, and as it happened an alarm went off and everyone in the library rushed over and laughed uncontrollably. Again, it was hilarious, but also ridiculous that this is our current state of affairs.

The music of the day, while not a ton for myself, was one of the most wild affairs to be had for sure. Tom Morello, playing most of his latest album, as well as some Rage Against The Machine songs and one Audioslave song (with Chris Cornell’s vocals being pumped through the speakers, much to the crowd’s delight) had the crowd in an absolute frenzy for this entire set. Morello is one of those performers that always gives everything you everything in his arsenal and you just watch in amazement and head bang away. Part way through K. Flay came out to accompany Tom and his band on a few songs and brought the energy up even further. For the end of the show, as Tom is known to do, he invited the crowd on stage and while it looked and felt very dangerous as about a hundred people were on the stage, nothing bad happened and everyone just rocked out in the dusty parking lot. After everyone finally left the stage Questlove began his DJ set and had everyone dancing for the next two hours.

My next stop was over to Pour Choices for the Amplify Philly event. Last Generation on Film were the first act I saw and they are a duo that has an indie rock pop mash up and had the crowd ready for the rest of the night. Next up, who I came for since a friend was playing, were Worldtown Soundsystem. This crew had the floor literally shaking and the crowd dancing non-stop. Think of what you would want out of a late night festival set and then bump that up a few notches and you get Worldtown Soundsystem. It’s the perfect music to let go of everything and just get lost in the music blaring for an hour. As I left, 6th street was getting a little wild, so it was definitely time to go home and recharge.