This year’s SXSW Festival was littered with showcases but one of the more prominent stages was easily the Bud Light Factory. Held at Austin’s Brazos Hall, headliners included Santigold, Anderson .Paak and A$AP Ferg. Check out photos of the festivities, which included a jam session by The Roots on Saturday night (March 19) below and on the following pages. Peep the recap: March 16th Wednesday kicked off the first-ever Bud Light Factory event at SXSW, the brand played host to Stereogum’s Showcase featuring Into It. Over It.,Chairlift, Twin Peaks, KING, A$AP Ferg and Lower Dens. Lower Dens set the night off with an thrilling performance, followed by captivating sets by KING, into It. Over It, Twin Peaks, and Chairlift. HeadlinerA$AP Ferg closed out the night with an electrifying performance delivering fan favorite hits like “Work” “Shabba” and his new single “New Level” which sent the crowd at the Bud Light Factory into a dancing frenzy. March 17th Music has the ability to bring people together like nothing else, and with a Bud Light in hand, the fun at the Bud Light Factory never ends. The Bud Light Factory party continued when the Factory played host to the VIBE Showcase by day, featuring sets from Yo Gotti, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, BJ the Chicago Kid, Justine Skye, Nef the Pharaoh, Little Simz and Eearz. Justine Skye brought her beautiful voice to SXSW and entertained the crowd with original material along with a stunning cover of Rhianna’s “Work”. BJ The Chicago Kid provided a soul lift to the afternoon performing “Church” and “Woman’s World” off of his recent full length album, In my Mind. Anderson .Paak closed the afternoon showcase with a captivating performance that had the crowd dancing and in awe of his musical talent as he commanded the stage on the microphone, then jumped behind the drum kit to provide an added level of entertainment to the stage. Anderson also brought out BJ The chicago Kid to perform “The Water” off .Paak’s debut album, Malibu. By night, Bud Light Factory hosted the Interscope Showcase, with unique crowd-pumping performances from Rae Sremmurd, Tory Lanez, AlunaGeorge, The Struts, Gryffin and Clean Cut Kid. The Struts frontman Luke Spiller brought energy to the Bud Light Factory as he made his way off the stage and created a circle within the crowd where he engaged in a call and response with them for their song “Could have been me.” Aluna George keep the crowd dancing when they performed “You Know you Like it.” Tory Lanez turned the notch up another level as he walked on the crowd and made his way to the middle of the Bud Light Factory and performed a melody of songs including “Blow” “Trap House” and “Say It” while hanging from the venue’s rafters which sent the crowd into a frenzy. Rae Sremmurd closed out the night and brought the house down performing hits off their debut album, SremmLife, include “No Type” “No Flex Zone” “This could be Us,” “Come Get Her” and “Throw Sum Mo.” The due burned through their chart topping, high intensity set while quenching their thirst drinking cold Bud Light’s throughout the night. Friday March 17th. The action continued on Friday headlined by an exclusive performance from Bleachers, along with sets from MisterWives, Transviolet, Bob Moses and Emily King. Bleachers front man Jack Antonoff was happy to be performing for the first time as he announced to the crowd that the band has been in the studio working hard on their follow up album Strange Desire. During the set, Antonoff lead the crowd singing the band’s anthemic songs including “Rollercoaster,” Like a River Runs” “Wild Heart,” “Entropy” and closed their set performing their hit single, “I Wanna Get Better.” Saturday March 17th Spin started the day off with an energetic showcase at the Bud Light Factory featuring sets from Santigold, Bloc Party, Lissie, Lizzo and The Range. Lizzo had the crowd feeling good with her chart topping single “Good As Hell.” Lissie keep the energy high as she wowed the crowd with an acoustic cover of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.” Bloc Party kept the crowd moving as they performed fan favorite tracks including “Helicopter,” “Banquet” and “The Love Within.” Santigold capped off the afternoon with a fan favorite performance as she invited fans from the crowd to join her on stage as she rattled through hits including “Disparate Youth” “Who be lovin me,” “Shove it,” “Can’t get enough of myself” and “L.E.S Artistes.” — Photo: Courtesy of Bud Light
