@ZackTeibloom Here’s the deal. SXSW is beyond overwhelming. 2,000+ bands and it’s hard to make sense of it. Festival Crashers is going to try to make it a little more manageable. In the spirit of March Madness, we’re going to give you 64 (plus a play in game) bands to see at south by. This is a rough draft of the list. I’m still going through and ranking and adding and subtracting. Before we put the bracket together and start voting these bands off, I’d love for you to say who should and shouldn’t be on this list and let us know who’s ranked too high or low. In the next few days we’ll quickly vote off bands and let you vote for who you need to see so you at least can have some semblance of a game plan. Who’s missing? Who shouldn’t be here? (The # next to them is their tentative seeding)

1. Muse (Not officially announced, likely Friday or Saturday @ Stubbs)
2. Spoon Wednesday 3/17 @Stubbs
3. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – Wednesday 3/17 Stubbs
4. Bone Thugs N’ Harmony – Saturday 3/20 at Fader Fort
5. Broken Bells -2 Wed. 11 p.m. Stubbs
6. The Black Keys -2
7. Miike Snow 2
8. Stone Temple Pilots-2
9. Band of Horses -3
10. Ben Gibbard 3
11. She and Him-3 “The new album is a delight. Make sure you go. If nothing else, to see Zooey.”
    

    Mar 18 2010 10:00P	Cedar Street Courtyard	Austin, Texas
    Mar 19 2010 10:00P	Lustre Pearl	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 3:00P	Stubb’s	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 8:00P	Auditorium Shores	Austin, Texas

12. Ezra Furman & the Harpoons 3
13. Major Lazer-4
14. Lyrics Born -4
15. Ra Ra Riot-4
16. Andrew W.K. -4 You want to spend as many nights as possible drunk out of your mind at Andrew W.K. He makes it easy with this schedule.
    

    Mar 18 2010 12:00A	Buffalo Billiards	Austin, Texas
    Mar 18 2010 5:30P	Headhunters	Austin, Texas
    Mar 19 2010 3:00A	504 East Trinity	Austin, Texas
    Mar 19 2010 2:00P	Austin Convention Center	Austin, Texas
    Mar 19 2010 5:00P	The Blind Pig	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 3:00A	21st St. Co-op	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 1:00P	Stubb’s	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 2:30P	Mohawk	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 4:15P	Galaxy Room	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 6:30P	MWTX Lot	Austin, Texas

17. Toro y Moi -5
18. Neon Indian -5
19. Freelance Whales
    

    Mar 17 2010 3:00P	Galaxy Room — Paste Magazine SXSW Party	Austin, Texas
    Mar 17 2010 6:00P	The Fader Fort (SXSW)	Austin, Texas
    Mar 18 2010 1:00P	Eastbound and Found (SXSW)	Austin, Texas
    Mar 18 2010 4:15P	Yard Dog Gallery — Schubas & Threadless present: 14th Annual SXSW Roundup	Austin, Texas
    Mar 19 2010 4:00P	Gibson Musical Instruments — KEXP (SXSW)	Austin, Texas
    Mar 19 2010 8:00P	Galaxy Room — Frenchkiss Showcase (SXSW)	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 12:00P	Stubbs (inside) — Daytrotter Session (SXSW)	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 3:00P	The Mohawk — The MOG Party at SXSW	Austin, Texas
    Mar 20 2010 3:30P	Red Eye Fly — Coffee? No Pants! Party (SXSW)	Austin, Texas

20. Mayer Hawthorne -5
21. The Crystal Method 5
22. Ray Davies
23. Hole-6
24. Cheap Trick -6
25. The Walkmen -6
26. Japandroids -6
27. Cool Kids
28. Kid Sister & Flosstradamus
29. Deerhunt
30. Frightened Rabbit
31. Princeton
32. Steel Train
33. The Constellations
34. The xx
35. Nicole Atkins
36. Foxy Shazam
37. The Very Best
38. Ozomatli
39. Minus the Bear (3/18 @Filter 3:30 p.m., 3/19 Rusty Spurs 1 a.m. 3/19 3:15 p.m. Antone’s Relix party) 3/20 9 pm Stubbs)
40. Roky Erickson and Okkervil River
41. Wood Hands
42. Scissor Sisters
    

    Mar 20 2010 8:00P

    Stubb’s

    Austin

43. Ha Ha Tonka
44. Local Natives
45. Sleigh Bells
46. Band of Horses
47. Middle East
48. Soft Pack
49. Liars
50. Royal Bangs
51. Dan black
52. Best Coast
53. Warpaint
54. Marina and the Diamonds
55. We Are Scientists
56. Casiokids
57. Midlake
    

    Mar 18 2010 8:00P

    Bella Union SXSW Party @ Buffalo Billiards

    Austin, Texas

58. Fat Mike (Cokie The Clown)
59. Balmorhea
60. Dan Black
61. We Were Promised Jetpacks
62. Soulico
63. Bear in Heaven
64. Fucked Up

Play-in game:

1. Neiliyo
2. Quiet Company

Related posts:

1. SXSW: New batch of bands
2. Jennie crashes SXSW
3. SXSW starts early and rocks hard
4. Friday night was just right @SXSW
5. SXSW Lessons from The Boxing Lesson