B-sides: _Music, film and interactive portions of South by Southwest feature pinnacle of festival-going_

The Coachella and Sasquatch festivals are like jewels. They are small, taking place in a single venue located out in the middle of nowhere (Indio in California for Coachella, The Gorge in Washington for Sasquatch) and are singularly devoted to one thing: music.

But from March 9 to 18, a music, film and interactive festival behemoth will be taking over the entire city of Austin, Texas. And it’s called South by Southwest (also known as SXSW).

Now, most of us have heard the name South by Southwest before, because so many different elements of entertainment are featured at the festival that you’re bound to hear “Coming to South by Southwest” in relation to advertisements about music, film and technological products (new Apple products, perhaps?). But we don’t really know what the festival is from that alone. It’s overwhelming, really, but it could very well be the pinnacle of festival-going for those who love the atmosphere.

South by Southwest really contains three festivals in one. First is the “interactive” festival, which lasts from March 9-13 and features panels and discussion sessions on anything from branding and marketing to journalism. The “film” portion of the festival overlaps the former, going from March 9-17 and presenting attendees with panels and more movie screenings than they can shake a bucket of popcorn at.

But while both sound wonderful, it is the music portion of the festival that makes me jump for joy.

Put simply, the music portion of South by Southwest is music happening everywhere all around the clock. Venues, of which there are an astounding 90, range from big to minuscule. Likewise, the bands range from unknowns (Nightmare and the Cat, anyone?) to stars of popular music (Bruce Springsteen will be giving a keynote address, and he and his E Street Band will also perform a small show).

Altogether, there are roughly 2,000 musical acts performing. That is mind-boggling. And because it’s impossible to be everywhere at once during a festival which takes place all across the capital of Texas, bands often perform more than once.

And when I say all around the clock, I really mean it. Want to go to a concert in the middle of the afternoon? Go for it. How about a concert that starts at 1 a.m.? That’s just as easy to do.

It all sounds too good to be true, but that’s why there is such a thing as ticket prices, which serve as quite the reality check for South by Southwest hopefuls such as myself. There are five “badges” available for purchase which provide varying degrees of admittance.

The platinum badge allows admittance into essentially everything happening at South by Southwest for its entire duration (it’s a whopping $1,395).

Then, there’s the gold badge, which admits you into the film and interactive portions ($1,150).

Finally, there are individual badges for the music festival, the film festival and the interactive festival ($750, $595 and $950, respectively).

Now, if that’s way more than you can spend (I think I heard a tiny bitter laugh coming from my wallet when I saw the price list), there are other ways to hear the music from the festival. One especially good way is by following the festival coverage from NPR’s “All Songs Considered” music program, which goes to countless shows and posts recordings of a fair amount of them for listeners to hear. It’s sure not going to the festival, but it’s better than nothing.

And there is always hope that, one day, we will all be able to head to Austin for an unforgettable time. It’s on my bucket list.

Is going to South by Southwest on your bucket list? Email Bain at [email protected]. “B-sides” runs every Monday.