5 Things You Need To Know About SXSW: Day 1

You know you're at the annual SxSW musical clusterfuck in Austin once you've dashed from seeing a Sydney electro troubadour at a gay bar to catch alt.Americana in a church just up the road. You know you're at the annual SxSW musical clusterfuck in Austin when every sentence is dotted with at least two superbrand names (“Vans or Doritos?” is a musical choice here). But you can always learn a few more things:

1. COLDPLAY DIDN'T GET TO SXSW IN A PRIVATE JET

Nope, there was Chris Martin sharing an American Airlines flight into Ausin with half a planeload of Australians making their annual trek to the musical mecca. Okay, so Martin may have been on the “business class” side of the of the separator but have you flown AA – more of the “business” not so much of the “class”. Maybe he read about 'slumming it' on goop.com. (Incidentally, their set was mainly back catalogue, but there were four very tasty songs from their upcoming album slipped in for good measure.)

2. RESPECT YOUR POOP

It's not just bands that get buzzed about at SxSW. There's also film and interactive elements to stir up hype. While the film side was dominated by Veronica Mars, the interactive side's buzz was a little harder to figure out. But it seems Grumpy Cat has survived beyond the usual expiry date for internet stardom and was as close as cat could get to being a keynote speaker here this year. And then there's that app that analyses your shit – it seemed to be called LogLog… or that may have just been wishful thinking.

3. TOUR RUMOURS START HERE

While talking to Sweden's Little Dragon about their upcoming album Nabuma Rubberband (think Neneh Cherry let loose in Paisley Park), the Australian tour rumours had to be addressed (a festival later in the year, maybe). But the best bassist Fredrick Wallin would give up was: “Yes… that's been the rumours.” That's good enough for us.

4. DAY ONE'S LEADERS OF THE AUSSIE INVASION

While Vance Joy is yet to arrive in town, his Riptide is inescapable, it seems to be playing in every third shop or venue. And, The Preatures hit the ground stunning – their Jimmy Kimmel appearance is the talk of the streets (2nd to 7th at least) and their first show packed out the massive beer barn that is Haven (with impossibly long queues outside).

5. OLD IS THE NEW NEW

While everyone is falling over themselves in the rush to find the next band to sync on an insurance commercial (if today's response to Future Islands is anything to go by, it's them), it's satisfying to see how excited SXSW punters are about some of the oldies. It was hard to walk a block today without hearing someone mention catching Spandau Ballet, Gary Numan or X this week.

Andrew Mast was flown to SxSW as a guest of Warner.