2023 SXSW Recap: I Saw New Order and My Life Is Complete (Part One)

What is the correct way to spend spring break? If you ask me, it would be to see as many musical acts as possible. Something that started out as a childhood dream became a reality as I was blessed by the wonderful people at SXSW who allowed me to cover the music festival portion. For 7 days, I walked an average of 10 miles a day throughout the city of Austin, Texas to catch as many official and unofficial showcases and events as I could get my legs to. Here is the first portion of my SXSW Recap.

Sunday:

I drove into Austin Sunday afternoon to get comfortable before I grinded through the rest of the week and after linking up with a few buddies, I made my way to the downtown Austin area to see what was going on. After checking in at the Austin Convention Center where I received my SXSW badge, my bag tag, and my camera tag, I was ready for a week of fun. I stopped by at the Moody Theater where I caught some of the eMLS tournament that was ongoing. I also caught an event by Niantic where they were promoting their new app Truffel. One of the biggest events I just barely missed was the Roku City event where I missed the opportunity to fulfill my dream of residing in the greatest screensaver on earth even if it was for a few minutes. You live and learn.

The first musical event I caught was the final day of the Porsche X FADER event where for the three days before the music festival, FADER magazine brought some of their favorite artists with a majority not playing a single show outside of this event. I sadly missed Friday when MorMor, who happened to be one of my favorite early discoveries back when he only had one song to his name. I knew I wasn’t going to miss day 3 if it killed me, and I am so glad I made it. Outside was a statue of Optimus Prime and the new Porsche 911 variant of Mirage.

sadie

sadie is a newcomer in the genre of hyperpop, but she’s already killing it. With her second EP Tides just around the corner, sadie showcased a majority of her small discography for a brief 20-minute set, but that was all it took to turn me into a fan.

Kelela

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I was not going to miss Kelela. So far, she had one of the best albums of 2023 with Raven, and I was excited to see some of her tracks come to life. To put it bluntly, she was fantastic. Kelela had a fantastic stage presence and ran through the best of her discography including Contact and Happy Endings from Raven, the KAYTRANADA remix of Waitin, and a few cuts from her earlier works like Rewind and Go All Night. What a gem of a performance.

After the night ended, I tried to check out a surprise Leon Bridges show, but it was not SXSW-related, and I could not get in with a bag, so I took an L and ate In-N-Out with some long-time friends. Though, I did make some friends in line waiting to not get into the Leon show.

Monday:

Monday was the first official day of the SXSW music festival, but I had a lot of time to burn while I waited to catch some action. I explored the Slack pop-up and learned how it would benefit my business though it’s a service a little too overwhelming for a college radio station. I am not a Gex Xer, so I definitely did not fit the demographic of promotion here. I did get a free Slack-branded bandana that I will never use, but I rock with it. My favorite non-venue I visited was the Dolby House. Though it was a promotion of their products and services, the amount and care and detail put into the building made it such a trip. The Dolby Atmos room had surround sound audio where I got to hear De La Soul’s Eye Know and Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams in a beautiful soundscape. It was the first time I was truly sold on Dolby Atmos for music from how vibrant the mixes felt in a surround sound setting. Inside, they had a cool ambient AI wall, couches with XBox controllers to experience gaming with Dolby, a car with Dolby inside, and free beverages. After a quick questionnaire, I got access to free chicken and waffles at their food truck outside.

JAEL

A buddy in line at the Leon Bridges show and I bonded over our love of Soulection, and he DM’d me the following afternoon telling me Soulection’s JAEL was doing a DJ set with Echobox Radio and ADE. With my body full of chicken and waffles, I traveled over to the Coconut Club and caught his entire set that fused the sounds of hip-hop, afrobeats, and music from across the world. I made a stank face throughout the set, and I was glad I was able to check him out in person.

Though the set ended at 5:00 PM, I made an executive decision to go to ACL Live and the Moody Theater to wait for the New Order show. It paid off because I ended up with a front-of-the-barricade spot for one of my favorite bands of all time. DJ Little Martin set the tone with a great mix of New Wave and modern indie

Loose Articles

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Manchester-based post-punk quartet Loose Articles opened up the show with a noisy and exorbitantly high-energy set with banger after banger. They were feminine and awesome. Sadly, after only being on for 30 minutes, they left the stage to make room for the next act. It felt like they were only getting started by the time their set ended, but it was awesome.

The Orielles

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The Orielles might’ve been my favorite new discovery from SXSW. Their modern twist on Neo-Psychedelia and Dream Rock won me over with the first song. Lead singer Esme was slow and quiet throughout the set while guitarist Henry was bringing all the energy with the craziest head bobs I had ever seen. You have to appreciate someone who puts all their energy into their playing, and Henry did that. They were the perfect opener and stage-setter for New Order

New Order

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They were worth the price of admission alone. New Order is one of my favorite bands to ever exist from how my dad raised me and all the time I was stuck listening to SiriusXM First Wave in his car as a kid. They were at the top of my concert bucket list, and SXSW made my dreams come true.

Focusing on their show, the band bounced through their extensive discography opening with their 2001 cut, Crystal followed by Regret. They then played one of my favorite New Order songs, Age of Consent. From that point forward, I put my camera down and became a fan of the art. Songs like Truth Faith, Bizarre Love Triangle, Subculture, and Blue Monday had the venue erupting with one of the most passionate sing-a-longs I have ever been in the middle of. Talking to the people around me, they had been fans of New Order since their rise in the 80s, and they were finally seeing them for the first time. The newer cuts like Plastic, Academic, and Be a Rebel got love too. Lasers flew everywhere. It was as much a light show as it was a concert. The screen behind them played visuals of their music videos as they performed the songs. The band closed with another favorite of mine, Temptation. This is the most passionate the crowd got the entire night and my entire trip to SXSW. Hearing everyone singing “I’ve never met anyone quite like you before” put chills all over my body.

As the band left the stage, the crowd was still hungry for more. Bernard Sumner came out on stage with the casual question “Do you guys like Joy Division?” with the crowd erupting in fanfare. The group played the Joy Division favorites Atmosphere and Transmission (which rips on the guitar) before closing with the classic Love Will Tear Us Apart. As the crowd emptied out, I stood in shock at the fact I just saw one of the greatest bands to ever exist.

As I stood there, the stage began being deconstructed. I stood in my same spot processing the night so far wondering how the rest of the week could top it. I suddenly came back to my senses and realized the most important mission of the week was to get my hands on a New Order setlist. The people next to me filled in eagerly screaming at the stage manager to give the setlist to them. I stood quietly like a sensei plotting my course of action. As the stage manager threw the paper down to the crowd in my direction, two guys tried to lean on top of the barricade to grab it without understanding the speed of descent for a piece of printer paper. As their hands missed the page, I quickly grabbed it and stepped back in shock at how I managed this. The friends I made around me during the show gave me props and asked for a picture of it. The two guys that were too slow threatened to beat me up and jump me right outside the venue as they said they waited 40 years to get their hands on one of these setlists. I guess they’re waiting for another 40. 

Armani White

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Armani White’s first show at SXSW was in a small venue for Amplify Philly’s SXSW event. Though he was going to get a huge stage at the Moody Amphitheater the following Thursday, seeing him with a more intimate crowd was the better choice. Before Billie Eilish put him on the map and gave him some TikTok success, I discovered his 2019 album Keep in Touch and his feature on the Carneyval song Jasmine. I was excited to see him skyrocket into success with Billie, but songs like Goated with Denzel Curry and his new cut with A$AP Ferg that he premiered at the show showed he had more staying power than a single TikTok hit. He has raw power in stage presence. He was one of the most engaging acts I saw for SXSW. He brought energy, talked to the crowd, and controlled the narrative for his brief 20-minute set. I really hope to see him grow into a bigger and bigger force of nature in the future.

My next realization was that it was 1 am and I had no food in my body, so I stopped at an outdoor burger bar and looked at some photos, and tried to get to my temporary home using the SXSW shuttle. I realized it was not the optimal way to get home, but I made it back to my car and got some rest.