We get in at midnight.   There’s an unmistakable energy buzzing throughout Austin Bergstrom International airport on the eve of SXSW.   The baggage carousels are full of guitar cases.   The air smells of leather.  All you see are tattoos and tambourines.

Every year dreams are made and lost here at the world’s biggest showcase for new music.    Over the next five days there will be more than 1900 musical performances, featuring countless genres and boundless excitement.  Every single square inch of the capital of Texas will be filled with artists with a dream, looking for their moment to shine.

It’s a land full of showcases and secret parties.   It’s the kind of place where you have to be in the know, to really know what’s going on.   Lineups form outside massive events thrown by Perez Hilton and Rachael Ray.   Complimentary drinks flow freely at parties thrown by corporate sponsors and the music industry illuminati.    Arguably some of which have outshined the official festival itself. At the annual Levis/ Fader Fort event, it’s become commonplace for big name artists to appear by surprise.   Last year’s appearance and secret set by Kanye West featured Common, Eryka Badhu and made headlines around the world.   The year before had Lou Reed come out onstage beside Moby.    Twitter’s buzzing with the possibilities of who will appear this year.  Will it be Thom Yorke?  Is Lady Gaga hiding out behind the curtain?  Is Die Antwoord going to make their North American debut here?

And for every band trying to reinvent itself, there are hundreds more trying to get that fifteen seconds of fame.   This year’s crop of heavily hyped artists include Neon Indian, Free Energy, Broken Bells, Miike Snow, the XX and Hey Champ!.    Bands like Canada’s amazing Dinosaur Bones trekking all across the continent for their moment to shine.

And we’ll be here.  With our eyes and ears wide open.

It begins.

Daniel Berkal leads the trendspotting team at The Palmerston Group, and will be mailing reports from Austin, Texas exclusively to andPOP throughout SXSW 2010.






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