Every year for the past decade SXSW has moved a little further away from its origins as a festival-styled music industry conference week for pros, towards a beer-soaked spring break music marathon for tourists. In 2014 that means the multi-night iTunes Festival, Lady Gaga headlining Stubb’s Doritos #BoldStage on Thursday and making a keynote address the following morning, radio-friendly punk courtesy of Against Me! and Green Day (albeit under their retro guise Foxboro Hot Tubs alias) and a bevy of appearances from mainstream rappers (B.o.B., 2 Chainz, Tyler the Creator, Nas, Action Bronson, the return of 50 Cent).

The iTunes Festival will take over ACL Live at the Moody Theater from March 11-15 for five nights of free shows featuring Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Pitbull, Keith Urban, ZEDD, Kendrick Lamar and others (stream these shows live or afterwards from the iTunes Store on an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV or computer). The highlight of the iTunes festival for rock fans of a certain age will no doubt be Soundgarden commemorating Superunknown’s 20th anniversary by performing it front-to-back for the first time ever on Thursday, March 13th.

SXSW also offers large, free, non-badge holder concerts at Auditorium Shores. For instance, last year’s Friday show featuring Jim James and the world première of The Flaming Lips’ The Terror drew the largest crowd in SXSW history. Due to construction, this year the series will host their concerts across the street at Butler Park. On Thursday night legendary MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer is curating A Jimi Hendrix Celebration with Slash, Dave & Phil Alvin, Robby Krieger, Perry & Etty Farrell and others. The program, presented by the US Postal Service, will be prefaced by the new limited edition Jimi Hendrix stamp unveiling at 8pm. Washed Out and Foster the People top Friday’s show and Saturday’s will be headlined by Childish Gambino. The complete lineup schedules for all three nights are here.

Rachael Ray is serving up Whiskey Chicken Drummer, 7-Hour Smoked Brisket Sliders, Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Sliders with Spicy Tahini at her open party with music by Green Day’s Foxboro Hot Tubs side project, Cee Lo Green and Blondie. SXSW 2014 even includes Edward Snowden – well, kind of. ACLU’s Ben Wizner and Christopher Soghoian will Skype with the NSA whistleblower at a SXSW Interactive conference tomorrow. [UPDATE – Watch the full hour with Snowden here].

The Samsung Concert Series starts with Jay Z and Kanye West on Wednesday, followed by Janelle Monae and Gary Clark Jr. on Thursday, Broken Bells on Friday, and Cut Copy and Holy Ghost! on Saturday. Samsung will give select complimentary tickets to Galaxy owners for all shows. Check available concerts, wristband pick-up times and full details here. Good luck getting into any of those shows!



The below guide highlights some of the lesser hyped but highly recommended performances scheduled for the next five days in the shadows of the bright light attractions described above. Also, if you’ve never been to SXSW and want a few tips on how to manage the barrage of showcases without a pro $795 badge, read up at NPR.

Tuesday, March 11

The world premiere screening of Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys’ American Interior film is 2pm on March 11th at the Alamo Ritz, followed by a performance by Gruff with Kliph Scurlock and Keith Bear. American Interior is being released this spring as a film, an album, a book and an app. More details on the project and its amusing backstory are here. Steve Lamacq interveiwed Gruff and world debuted music from the album – which features Kliph – earlier today on his BBC program. Listen here. Gruff is also playing Turnstile’s showcase on Thursday with Cate Le Bon, Christopher Owens (former Girls frontman) and others (more details on that below under the Thursday heading) and Under the Radar’s showcase on Friday (more details listed under Friday below).

Spotify is throwing a house party with Phantogram, Real Estate, Warpaint, Dum Dum Girls and many more on Tuesday; and Avi Buffalo headline SAG-AFTRA’s showcase at Buffalo Billards. Also on Tuesday Neil Young is set to finally unveil PonoPlayer, his high-quality digital music player. More details are here.

Wednesday, March 12