The South By Southwest Send-Off Party is a celebration of Chicago’s music scene and a fundraiser to help local artists fund their trip to the Texas festival.
BUCKTOWN — The Hideout is bringing a taste of Texas to Chicago this weekend.
Since 2007, the bar and music venue has hosted an annual showcase for Chicago bands traveling to Austin, Texas, for the South By Southwest music fest, or SXSW. The party was canceled in 2020 and 2021, but it’s back for its 15th edition this year.
The SXSW Send-Off Party is a celebration of Chicago’s music scene and a fundraiser to help local artists “stay afloat on the road” to Austin and back, said Hideout co-owner Tim Tuten. That includes costs for travel expenses like a van, gas and hotel
To support the dozens of musicians headed to Austin, “We want everybody to bring all the money they can,” Tuten said.
At the SXSW Send-Off Party, Chicagoans can catch a variety of local talents performing in one place before they trek across the country next week, and each brings something unique to the stage, Tuten said. For example, Reilly Downes might do a folk song that’s followed up by dream pop from Samuel Aaron, he said.
“It’s perfect way for people who want to see different bands and they haven’t been able to get out [to SXSW],” Tuten said. “All of the bands are laid out right in front of you, right at The Hideout in an intimate room, like blasting off their best set.”
The shows also double as dress rehearsals for the bands, which are gearing up to perform on stages far from home, Tuten said. And while the party is a send-off for the bands, it’s a sort of homecoming for Chicagoans.
“This is like a time when a lot of people come out of hibernation, like music fans,” he said. “They’re just like, ‘All right, it’s March, let’s get out.’ … It’s not 10 o’clock at night with a blizzard, you know? So you’ll see all these old friends.”
Tuten said SXSW is like a musical Super Bowl, and the artists playing this weekend are like Chicago’s players. That’s why this party isn’t “a Hideout thing,” he said — it’s a show of support for Chicago.
“Not exaggerating, people from around the world, they will always be going to shows down in Austin and they’ll just be like, ‘The Chicago scene is super cool,’” Tuten said. “So we look at it like: Here’s our representatives, here’s our ambassadors. This is what’s happening right now in our city.”
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