Time to wrap up this SXSW coverage. My last day down town was Saturday and I spent it shooting for the Austin American-Statesman.
When I arrived around 4 p.m. I was a little surprised to see that everything was already being torn down in the Convention Center. It looked like SXSW was coming to a close. I contacted the Statesman team and there wasn’t anything in particular they needed until later that evening, so I went to Sixth Street to find something interesting to shoot.
I sent in a few photos early, so they’d have something to publish, then got a tip that the line for my big assignment of the night – Smashing Pumpkins – already had a long line. This was one of those secret shows. We knew it was going to happen on Saturday evening, but we didn’t find out a time or a place until it was announced on Twitter that morning.
Somehow the Statesman already had me on “the list” to shoot, so I thought I’d go check in for the show, then go shoot a few other things. Smashing Pumpkins didn’t go on until mid-night, but they had 4 acts before them on the same stage. All of those bands had already been photographed during SXSW, so they weren’t really a priority.
I got to the venue on Third Street and there was a line of hundreds (if not 1,000) people winding around the block. I went to the door, where there was a small group of photographers in the media line. After waiting for a little while, they started letting people in. I got my media badge and asked if I could leave and come back. The lady at the door told me the capacity of the place was 500 people, and after that was full, they couldn’t let anyone else in, media or not.
In some cases, I’d just leave anyway and hope to get back in later, but this time I stayed. I weighed the line outside, the importance of the assignment and the fact that I didn’t have any specific show the Statesman wanted me to cover, other than that one. Anyway, I stood near the stage, walking in and out of the photo pit for first three songs of each band, until finally Smashing Pumpkins arrived on stage.
In my opinion, it wasn’t worth the effort. We were packed in like sardines for a concert that the crowd didn’t get excited about until about three hours in. The lighting wasn’t good, the vocals were practically muted, and the only refreshments were cans of Red Bull. But I did my job, got my pictures and got out of there. It still beats an office job.
After standing in one spot for so long, I was ready to relax a little and shoot something fun. It was about 12:30 a.m. and I got a tip from a friend about a show at Maggie Mae’s Gibson Room. Man am I glad I found that show, it was exactly what I needed.
El Vez, a Mexican-American classic rock artist, was hilariously talented. He bombarded the stage with high energy dance moves and multiple tight, brightly colored Elvis suits. His band was equally hilarious and talented. It was a perfect way to close out my SXSW coverage!
I got home around 2:30 a.m. and worked until about 4:30 a.m., finally ending SXSW 2013. Thanks for bearing with me through the adventure!
Click here to see more photos from Saturday.
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