Inside South by Southwest, where tech bros and hippies battle for the soul of Austin

Tech is taking over Texas - but what does it mean for its free-spirited capital? CLAUDIA COCKERELL reports

- CLAUDIA COCKERELL

Keep Austin Weird” is the unofficial slogan of Texas’s capital. I lived there for a year in 2018 and saw the markers of that mantra everywhere. The locals were free-spirited, there was a thriving live music scene, most of the stores were independent and there was none of the prudishness you find elsewhere in the States. I lived next to a clothing-optional affordable student housing co-op, while everyone sunbathed topless at Barton Springs, the city’s beloved municipal pool. Austin was already gentrifying quickly, but it was still a little rough around the edges.

In the intervening seven years, the city has changed rapidly. Today’s Austin is more futuristic: self-driving cars and Tesla cybertrucks abound. The “live music capital of the world” is now better known as the new tech capital of America. South by Southwest (SXSW), the arts festival first held in Austin in 1987, took place last week in venues across town. It used to be one of the leading music and film festivals in the US: now, tech is the headline act, with a rich conference programme featuring BlueSky CEO Jay Garber, Peter Attia, and Scott Galloway.