SXSW Sydney’s music program: did the Austin festival survive in a city averse to nightlife?

Folayan Kunerede, one half of Flyana Boss, performs at the music stream of SXSW Sydney. The US TikTok stars treated a university bar like a world-class stage. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney

It’s 10.17 pm on a Wednesday and the Sydney part of SXSW Sydney has made itself apparent. “Sorry guys, we’ve got to close this area,” a security guard says to a group of people taking a breather at the Lansdowne’s upstairs beer garden.

Inside, it’s steamy: the venue, rebranded for the week as Spotify House, proves to be one of the most consistently packed of the festival, potentially due to the freebies – canapés, cocktails, tote bags – on offer all night. It also has some of the festival’s most ambivalent audiences. When Wednesday’s headliner, South Korean neo-soul singer So!YoON!, takes the stage, there’s a clear divide in the crowd.