At a festival with over 2000 bands, you thrive on the good ones to keep you going. At times you begin to feel as if mediocre is par for the course. You realize by the end of the first day, if it hadn’t already occurred to you, how important a good sound guy is and how energy becomes the most important thing in a live performance.

Forget creativity and tight harmonies, you can perfect those on the album. A good voice or some fast fingers? Those will only get you so far. What you need is stage presence and passion. If you can’t hold the attention of a crowd who’s been on their feet for eight hours in the Texas heat, you probably shouldn’t have the spot. SXSW is a natural selection bootcamp for bands and fans alike.

For those of you following our SXSW Scavenger Hunt, here’s what we were able to check off the list so far…

Find an Incredible Bluegrass Band – Trampled by Turtles

There should be at least one bluegrass band tucked away in a back corner or jamming collectively on a late night stage at every festival – especially SXSW. At 1AM on Tuesday, before the official music events even started, Trampled by Turtles stomped on the Bat Bar with a fiddle and acoustic bass. It didn’t hurt that our search for rail tequila started here (note: Cordoniz seems to be everywhere). READ ON for more from 3GM’s first day at SXSW…

Find the Band with the Best Stage Presence – Peelander-Z

Occasionally, we are provided with a unique opportunity to serendipitously stumble into music that can change our lives forever. Dressed like Teletubbies on acid (make that even more acid), Peelander-Z is a Japanese punk band that will stage dive your face – all three of us got owned, jump rope in tiger masks and make you crack up while screaming the nonsense lyrics of songs such as Ninja High School, So Many Mike and Taco, Taco, Taco. Life will never be the same.

Find the Oldest Party Animal – The Woggles

The Woggles simultaneously are in their 60s and dress like it is the ’60s. This music, however, would have been banned from just about every high school in America back then. These guys still kick ass, and they have fun doing it.

Find the Best Dance Party – Mexican Institute of Sound

3GM reunited around 1AM for what will be remembered as the best dance party of the week. The Mexican Institute of Sound is the perfect combination of live drums, bass, vocals and electronic party music – in Spanish. There has never been a late night performance more worthy of our sweat and spilled drinks.

Find the Best Street Performers

The sheer passion of lugging an upright bass into the middle of Sixth Street and singing like it’s their first and only showcase of the week sealed the deal for these guys. We don’t know their name, where they’re from or if we’ll ever see them again. But that’s the plight of a street performer – and we appreciate it.

Find a Famous Person in a Band – Michael Cera

Mr. Heavenly is not just the name of your high school prom date, it’s also a band that features the musical stylings of your favorite awkward actor/bass player – Michael Cera. They were underwhelming, if you ask us, but it’s a testament to the buzz factor at SXSW that the crowd of hipsters flashing iPhone pictures outside made Perez Hilton look like Annie Leibovitz and cleared out before the more deserving following act, Trampled by Turtles.

That’s all we’ve checked off our list so far, but the music didn’t end there. We caught Austin locals White Denim, who hit the stage decked out in bluejeans and stunning classic guitars for what we will argue was one of the most impressive showcase thus far. With their unique song structures and incredible chops, White Denim is one of the bands that will absolutely be coming home with us.

Philly based band Jukebox the Ghost played their first SXSW show in an auto repair garage parking lot and thoroughly impressed everyone. Their tight musicianship, infectious songwriting and funny on-stage banter was enough to make us want to hear more of them. Plus, finally a pop band we don’t mind endorsing.

Raphael Saadiq and his incredibly well rehearsed band brought the fire to an already warmed up crowd at Stubbs around 11:15 last night. Thanks to a tip from an Austin local, we found a secret ninja passage way to the front of the stage. Nothing rejuvenates aching feet and a Shiner Bock headache like a hard working soul band. This was the pick up we needed.

We’re about to hit the streets again. One of us has Dr. Scholls Insoles, two of us have diarrhea and all of us are irish today. Game on.

Three Grown Men

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