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Arts and Entertainment

LAist @ SXSW: The Finale - Big Freedia, Fresh & Onlys, Blaqstarr, Davila 666, Surfer Blood, Thee Oh Sees, Bubble Puppy

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The last "real" day of SXSW was full of mini festivals, secret shows, hot and windy weather, and raves held at the local mall (we didn't go, but we were shown a photo of 18 year olds dancing in front of a Wet Seal so we know it was true).

Feeling a little homesick, we decided to head to the Mess With Texas event, hosted by our good friends and LA locals of FYF. The MWTX festival within a festival sat near the Fader Fort, allowing people to easily move between the two - although we preferred the laid back atmosphere (and all the food trucks and Sailor Jerry's beverages) of the former.

We very much enjoyed seeing The Fresh & Onlys and Davila 666 for the first time, and loved (again) Surfer Blood and Thee Oh Sees. But it was Big Freedia, who we caught at MWTX 2010 and FYF 2010, who melted our faces off for the third time. We don't know if it was the vibe of the crowd or the fact that they had what seemed like another 4 booty shakers on stage that blew our mind, but we highly recommend seeing them perform live if you haven't. So much fun.

We skipped out on the last bits of MWTX to catch Blaqstarr having the world's worst technical difficulty experience at La Zona Rosa, which was a damn shame considering how much we dig his music. We bet his earlier shows of the week were amazing. Finding we were very close to the Austin Music Hall at this point, we snuck in and witnessed ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons give Roky Erickson two Austin Music Awards. Whoa. Afterward, old time Texas psych band Bubble Puppy played.

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We decided to grab some food nearby and headed out into the night. We were greeted by Austin locals all staring up at a beautiful fireworks display (for Kanye?) which capped our Saturday night perfectly.

PREVIOUSLY:
LAist @ SXSW: The Real March Madness Begins In Austin
LAist @ SXSW: Day 2 - Queens of the Stone Age, Duran Duran, Black Angels
LAist @ SXSW: Day 2 - Bad Brains, Duran Duran, OFF!, Trash Talk
LAist @ SXSW : Day 3 - TV On the Radio, The Bangles, The Kills, Portugal.The Man
LAist @ SXSW: Day 3 - Dominique Young Unique, Spank Rock, La Sera, Dum Dum Girls, Boys Noize, Gary Wilson
LAist @ SXSW: Day 4 - Chromeo (ohhhhh-oh!)
LAist @ SXSW: Day 4 - Das Racist, Deerhunter, Ty Segall, DEV, Slaughterhouse, Glasser, EMPD, Far East Movement, Tune-Yards, DJ Quik

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