The South by Southwest Interactive festival brought me to Austin, but it was the live music that made me want to come back. I came to Austin to surround my self with people who made digital media their lives—the people who tweeted, blogged, and facebooked and the people who made the digital applications. I got exactly what I asked for—a celebration of geekdom. Yes, I loved it, but the non-stop seminars in a cold, sterile convention center left me longing for something more real, and gritty, something alive and musical.

Thankfully, during the SXSW interactive festival, the live music clubs that have made the city famous do not close just because there are 10,000 geeks roaming around, me being one of them. After finally escaping the Austin Convention center, I headed down 6th street, Austin’s very own Bourbon Street. I turned down Red River Street and headed to Emo’s.

Emo’s is one of Austin’s most revered live music venues. It the place where there’s live music every single night of street. On the outside, the place did not look like a cavernous music venue. When I walked in, I entered a solid concrete room with a stage and a bar. While there were some people lingering in the first room, I saw everyone heading to the back. After walking though the corridor, I entered this vast open-air venue with at least 1,000 people taking in a burlesque show. I learned that I had stumbled upon the 2nd annual Pastries and Pasties show—a celebration of burlesque and cupcakes. After 10 minutes, I decided that I wasn’t quite the target audience for the event.

I returned back inside to the main stage area where John Pointer had just begun his guitar set. The MC announced that Pointer had recently been named as the Austin musician of the year. He had to prove to me what made him a great musician. His guitar playing was energetic. He matched that with a soulful singing voice that took me to the blue-eyed soul days of the 80s.

Then, he put down the guitar.

Then, he started to beatbox. I did not expect that. His beat-boxing took me back two decades to the time when all the boys in school wanted to beatbox.

Then he picked the guitar up again.

And he started to beatbox with the guitar.

I had come to Austin with the full expectation of seeing plenty of acoustic guitar playing. I did not expect to see a musician who did that and beatboxed at the same time.

I stood there with a $3 Heineken in hand, mesmerized by the music.

This is what I had come to Austin for--the type of live music that I couldn't find anywhere else. Whenever you visit Austin and want a chill night out with live music, make sure you stop by Emo’s.


Emo’s
603 Red River
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 505 8541

Posted in: Nightlife, Points of Interest
Features: Bars/Clubs/Pubs, Live Music