AUSTIN, Texas -- Bands brought the noise during Wednesday's transition between the interactive and music portions of the South by Southwest festival here.
After days of power-tweeting and foursquare badge wrangling during SXSWi, suddenly there's music everywhere: Bands play in hotel lobbies, on street corners and anywhere else there's a little bit of spare space and maybe a power outlet.
San Francisco band The Ferocious Few drew power from their car battery to amp up a sidewalk performance.
To make things just a little more off the hook, Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day: Green wigs, binge drinking and at least one strolling bagpipe player helped turn up the volume as Austin got its Irish on. (Yeah, we know the bagpipe is traditionally associated with the Scots, but it's close enough for rock 'n' roll.)
"I noticed a lack of Celtic music on Sixth Street on St. Patty's Day last year, said Andrew King, a Salt Lake City musician attending his second SXSW. "So I brought my own bagpipe this year."
