this is life in austin & aspen

I am not the first or last person to muse on this year’s SXSW festival, all 11 days of it. But here’s my take: this year was unlike any other year. Wah wah wah, that’s what everyone always says. BUT this year there was an undeniable uptick in numbers: 20,000 interactive registrants instead of the usual 10,000; CNN and Pepsi instead of startups and fledglings.

I found that this year, the interactive portion of the festival was less about meeting people and making connections and more about partying—which, it’s worth noting, is usually how I feel about the music portion. But it’s a bummer of a shift when you’re interested in the interactive bit. It was the first year I’d ever said, maybe I should have bought a badge for interactive.

Like it or not, this year was definitely a tipping point. What will next year be like?

The music portion was as party-rific as ever, with major players in town this year … another sign the fest is bigger than ever. I didn’t attend film, but heavyweights were out and about; and music brought some of the biggest names in the biz to our fair city. The biggest:

Daytime:

The Alternative Apparel Lounge: Moby, Duran Duran, Duff McKagan, Linda Perry, American Idol runner-up Crystal Bowersox, Dirty Vegas, Bowling for Soup, and Jamie Burke.

Express Clothing Lounge: Chromeo, Skylar Grey (duetted with Enimem at Grammys), B.o.B, Jamie Burke and Diplo. I also sneakily got my hair cut here by the fabulous Vinnie of Proper Barbers LA, my “brother.”

Fast Company Lounge: Just wanted to point out that marketing works. I snagged a free copy of Fast Company magazine, which I’d never read, read it, loved it, and subscribed. So there.

Nighttime:

Red Bull Thre3style DJs: Z-Trip, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ QBert, Switch, Mick Boogie, DJ M-Squared and D-JR, and De La Soul. Surprise guest LL Cool J, who hasn’t performed live in years as he pursues an acting career, rocked and proved he’s still got it. LOVE! I snapped this pic from the pit:

Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin: What used to be the biggest party in town brought Kids of 88, Oh Land, Zowie, The Pretty Reckless (yep, that’s Gossip Girl Taylor Momsen’s band), Selah Sue, Liz Phair, DJ MNDR, Dirty Vegas, Frankmusik, NERVO, Mia Moretti and Caitlin Moe.

Vevo at Seaholm: By far, the talk of the town was the Vevo Party at Seaholm Power Plant, which was impossible to get into but if you did, you would see Kanye, Jay-Z, John Legend, Kid Cudi, Mos Def, Pusha T, Fonzworth Bentley, and Bon Iver singer Justin Vernon. Kanye performed more than he has in quite some time, though he didn’t take the stage til 2:30am. Diddy and Beyonce were reportedly in the audience, as were Brooklyn Decker and Andy Roddick.

With those names here for music, SXSW has tipped from indie fest to commercial giant. Rap isn’t indie, kids.