The music portion of this year's South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, will take place March 17 to 22, and today the festival has announced its initial lineup. Some of the bigger names in the lineup include Jessie Ware, Thee Oh Sees, Courtney Barnett, The Pop Group, The Dodos, The Church and Bishop Nehru. You can check out the complete list over at the SXSW website. The interactive and film festival portions of SXSW 2015 begin March 13, a few days earlier than the music portion.
Earlier this month, SXSW stirred up some controversy by suggesting that it may be banning unofficial shows, which would be a devastating blow to the festival, as anybody who has ever gone will tell you that the weird, off-the-grid shows are half the fun.
"The current policy of the city with respect to the permitting process as 'first come/first served' and/or 'must treat everyone equally' appears to have become detrimental to event planning process and management of the key stakeholder interests," reported Texas Monthly. "The SXSW event is one of the largest events in the world and bespoke treatment is needed to facilitate a continuing safe event in Austin."
The festival planners also seemed to suggest that they may be forced to move to a different city in the future, saying, "It is very possible that SXSW will have no choice but to entertain notions of bidding their event to other cities to sustain their business model."
So if you wanted to see SXSW in its original, beloved format, 2015 might be your last chance.
