SXSW Trashes Fine Dining in Austin, Again
Once again that incredible excess of hubris (oh, and occasional glimpses of music) known as South by Southwest has stormed through Austin leaving a lot of dead nights for downtown fine dining restaurants.
How many bands came this year? If it was over 50 it was way too many. And it was WAY over 50. Then throw in the Film and Interactive Festivals and probably a few more festivals that I was unaware of, and you have one gigantic case of human gridlock. Yeah these people spend money; boatloads of it. But the spending is skewed toward burger and taco joints. The high-end restaurants might as well hang out a huge VACANCY sign and watch a week’s revenue disappear.
Why doesn’t SXSW take some of their enormous profit and build a gigantic full-time facility for the festival somewhere way south of downtown. I’m talking huge: enough to accomdate thousands of bands. They could have dozens of free shuttle busses to ferry fans back and forth. Food and drink vendors could set up on site a la ACL. The hotels would still benefit. But mercifully, downtown could function with some degree of normalcy. And those who would like to enjoy a quiet dinner at, say, Aquarelle, could do so with ease.
