It’s been real. We’ve teamed up with iconic footwear brand Vans to present and curate our first showcase ever. Held at Austin’s legendary music venue, The Mohawk, on March 17 during the annual SXSW festival and conferences on film, interactive media, and music, the eclectic lineup included buzzing names such as Playboi Carti, Jazz Cartier, Towkio, HUNTR, Denzel Curry, DEAN, Lewis Del Mar and many more, who took the venue’s outdoor and indoor stages under their control. For the last several years, the House of Vans has taken over the Mohawk during the South by Southwest Music Festival. Their fifth return would be a special one, as Vans celebrated the brand’s 50th anniversary one day prior to the showcase, on Wednesday, March 16. Needless to say that the anniversary week provided the party with extra energy.
And what a fest it was. With the line already forming at 7 a.m. for a 12 p.m. entry, things looked beyond promising from (literally) early on. Our showcase received a more than appropriate introduction when Lewis Del Mar kicked things off on the outdoor stage around noon with an engaging set, defying the light rain. The energy continued to be on a high level and reached a first peak when the venue was at capacity by 3 p.m. And that’s when things started to turn up for real. Korean artist DEAN had loyal fans showing up in full force, Denzel Curry had the inside stage under what looked like a spell and Jazz Cartier walked on the hands of the crowd during their respective sets. Familiar faces like the A$AP Mob, Ian Connor, Yes Julz, showed up to live it up with the audience at the outdoor stage while Pro Era and WifisFuneral made surprise appearances on the inside stage. Accompanying Playboi Carti’s headlining set, social media phenomenon Julz took the crowd’s energy to a new level. Re-experience the vibe in our recap video above.
Click through our exclusive SXSW photo recap here.