This article is sponsored by StubHub
We made it. SXSW 2019 is in the books, along with new chapters in the careers of the thousands of musicians that descended on Austin this month. Since self-cloning technology is still a few years away, even SXSW attendees weren’t able to catch all of the memorable sets that went down last week. That’s okay, though; with spring also comes peak touring season, and the artists who you missed in Austin are already gearing up for tours that will take them a little closer to your home (wherever that may be).
Don’t believe us? Check out StubHub, the online ticket-selling superstars who give you easy access to rad shows and events in more than 50 countries around the world. In addition to helping you catch the hottest tours of the spring and summer, they also know how to throw a killer party: one of our favorite stages at SXSW this year happened to be the StubHub Sound Stage, where sets by rising stars like Judah and the Lion, Leikeli47, and Sir Sly gave attendees a glimpse at the songs they’ll be singing non-stop six months from now. Read on to find out about the rest of our SXSW favorites with upcoming tours in the works, and then head over to StubHub and book your next unforgettable night.
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Judah and the Lion
The mandolin and banjo are ancient instruments, but in the hands of Nashville’s Judah and the Lion, they’re 21st century hitmakers. On their first two records, the band expanded and subverted folk tradition with heady infusions of rock, hip-hop, and EDM; on their third, the upcoming Pep Talks, they’ll fuse that anything-goes spirit with a turn towards the confessionalism that earned folk music its place in the American musical rotation to begin with. Does it work? Ask the packed crowd that caught them in Austin last week.
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Leikeli47
Leikeli47, photo by Killian Young
There’s power behind a mask. Just ask Batman. Better yet, ask Leikeli47, the enigmatic hip-hop MC who brought her intricate, unapologetic flow to the SXSW leg of her wide-ranging spring tour last week. From behind her the bandanna mask that’s quickly become her signature look, the self-described “rockstar mixed with a ghetto chick” got crowds moving to the martial beat of “Tic Boom” and other cuts from her acclaimed 2018 record, Acrylic. Catch her now, and thank us later.
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Sir Sly
Sir Sly
As the midnight hour brought SXSW 2019’s Wednesday night to a close, the men of Sir Sly were only getting started. The trio behind 2017’s infectious single “High” kept the crowd at Bangers going on into Thursday morning with a tight set of their groove-laced indie rock. You’ll hear it, too, when Sir Sly descends on summer festivals including Napa’s BottleRock, Delaware’s Firefly, and Gulf Shores’ Hangout, where they’ll play featured sets all three days.
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Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish, photo by Heather Kaplan
We named Billie Eilish our musical Rookie of the Year in 2018, and she’s done absolutely nothing since then to sway our confidence. That includes her triumphant return to SXSW: two years after making her Austin debut as an anonymous 15-year-old, Eilish stormed back as a 17-year-old conqueror, treating a rapturous packed house to a live sneak peek at her upcoming debut LP, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
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Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene, SXSW 2019, photo by Heather Kaplan
Always the mellowest (and most critically beloved) of the indie rock supergroups to come out of Canada in the ’00s, Broken Social Scene nonetheless kept the schedule of a younger, hungrier band at this year’s SXSW; Kevin Drew and company played five shows in five days, including a full album run-through of 2003’s seminal You Forgot It in People that likely sent at least one thirtysomething attendee into a Proustian nostalgia spiral.
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Deerhunter
Deerhunter, photo by Philip Cosores
At his band’s lone SXSW set this year, mercurial Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox closed out Monday night like only he could: by preaching the gospel of ecological collapse and emotional entropy to a packed crowd of festivalgoers at the Mohawk’s outdoor stage. That may seem like an unnatural fit until you hear the band’s newest record, Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?, a “thoughtful meditation on destruction” that we found as irresistible as it is bleak.
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The Get Up Kids
The Get Up Kids, CoS x Brooklyn Bowl, SXSW 2019, photo by Heather Kaplan
When they chose their band name back in 1995, The Get Up Kids probably weren’t banking on retaining it into their 40s (or becoming emo legends in the process). We’re glad they did; we’re also glad they hit up SXSW for a pair of late-night sets in preparation for a new record and an upcoming European tour. Catch ’em when they come back through the States; as the Austin American-Statesman put it in their recap: “The Get Up Kids still got it.”
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Khalid
Khalid, photo by Heather Kaplan
Two years ago, Khalid made his SXSW debut in the 4 p.m. slot of a day party less than two weeks after the release of his album American Teen. Since then, the album’s gone multi-platinum, and the man himself has moved into the rarified air of SXSW prime time. If you didn’t catch his set at the Uber Eats House this year, never fear; with new album Free Spirit set to drop at the beginning of April, we think you’ll have plenty of chances to catch this rising star on the way up.
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Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers
Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers, photo by Bryce Mata
After a run of critically lauded records with her main band, Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace used a bout of songwriting frustration to explore a different side of her craft. The result is Bought to Rot, a garaged-up collection of power pop that was on full display during the band’s three appearances at SXSW. The band’s stops in Austin mark the beginning of their latest tour, which we’d recommend catching (even if she did diss our shared city on album standout “I Hate Chicago”).
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Lizzo
Lizzo on The Tonight Show, photo via Andrew Lipovsky/NBC
We’d only just gotten Lizzo’s rump-shaking 2018 single “Boys” out of our collective heads when her star-spangled showcase set at SXSW got it stuck in there all over again. She and her dancers, The Big Grrrls, put on one of the most talked-about sets of the festival (a headline over at Paste proclaimed “Shut It Down, Lizzo Just Won SXSW”), and they’ll be taking their singular show (and new music) on the road soon after new record Cuz I Love You drops in April.
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Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean, SXSW 2019, photo by Heather Kaplan
It’s hard to believe that 23 years have passed since the release of the Fugees’ seminal The Score, but it’s equally hard to remember a world without it (and why would you want to, anyway?). Wyclef Jean could rest on his successes from decades ago, but thankfully for us, he’s chosen not to; at SXSW, his attention was solely on his new project, Wyclef Jean Goes Back to School, which pairs his mastery with the talents of college students from around the country. We suspect a tour will soon follow.
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Big Boi
Big Boi, photo by Ben Kaye
It was family reunion time at Lady Bird Lake last Friday, as the legendary Atlanta hip-hop collective the Dungeon Family gave the crowd at SXSW a preview of its upcoming April tour. Though we were hoping for an Andre 3000 sighting (let’s be honest: that’s always true), the fired-up set from Big Boi, Goodie Mob, and Sleepy Brown conjured up a bygone ATL without any outside help.
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Alice Phoebe Lou
Alice Phoebe Lou
Alice Phoebe Lou’s appearance at SXSW also marks the beginning of her very first North American tour, but even though she’s just now hitting the road in the states, the 25-year-old South African singer-songwriter is an Austin veteran; she first appeared at SXSW in 2015 and has been coming back every year since. Our Artist of the Month for March certainly did us proud this time around, even appearing at our Brooklyn Bowl Family Reunion at the Scoot Inn.
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