When South by Southwest first began in Austin, Texas, in 1987, the Shoreditch neighborhood in East London was still filled with empty warehouses. But it was beginning to attract a wave of artists who would help it eventually become synonymous with music and culture.
Almost 40 years later, this area will be the site of South by Southwest London, the organization’s first foray into Europe. And for some of the London-born musicians who are performing, it’s a huge opportunity that also reflects the area’s reputation and artistic cachet.
“It’s super exciting that it’s now finally arriving on home soil,” said Joel Bailey, an R&B and soul artist from Southwest London whose stage name is BAELY. He continued: “London’s got so many different hubs of, kind of like pockets of creative spaces and Shoreditch is definitely one of them. It’s thriving.”
Jojo Orme, who performs as Heartworms, was born in London and said she briefly lived in Shoreditch. “They just have the fingers on the pulse there. It’s always beating,” she said, adding that “so many people love to travel to Shoreditch for a show because it’s always a good time.”
South by Southwest London, which begins on Monday and runs through June 7, will feature performances by more than 500 artists across about 30 venues as part of its music festival. It will also include a film and conference series, just like the flagship festival in Austin. An Asia-Pacific branch of the event started in Sydney in 2023.
“It is such a big name, and it’s a festival that I’ve wanted to play for years, so I’m happy that I get to play it in my hometown and be the first round of people to kind of push the festival,” said Sasha Keable, an R&B artist from South London, in a video interview.
Adem Holness, the head of music for the London festival, said in a video interview that the challenge was being true to a brand that has already been well-established in Austin while also making it a distinctly London event.
“It’s got to have its own identity,” said Holness, who is from North London. “And for me, what makes London unique as a city is the fact that you can come out any tube stop and find yourself in a really distinct community.”
For Shoreditch, that community is rooted in the familiar tale of artists in search of cheap rent creating a hip pocket of a city that eventually draws in developers, tech companies and wealthier residents, leading to higher rents and concerns about gentrification.
But it has still maintained the creative scene that made it an appealing spot to hold South by Southwest: what Holness described as “a hub of music, culture, tech, business” that makes it “the perfect playground” for the festival.
He said he put together the lineup with the help of festival “co-curators” — various music industry outfits like Abbey Road or the Blues Project — with the aim of selecting a range of artists that reflected London’s diversity. So, Holness said, one venue will feature Caribbean music, and another will showcase queer South Asian artists. Another showcase called “Only in London” features a local mix of jazz, grime and electronic music.
“Those are the things I think when presented together is what’s going to make it feel like London,” Holness said.
He added that it was particularly important to him to highlight Britain’s R&B scene, which has been experiencing “a really important revival.” One of the festival’s major venues, Shoreditch Town Hall, will become “The House of R&B” for the week and feature some of the festival’s biggest artists, like Keable, Mabel and NAO, who all happen to be Londoners.
For some of the R&B artists, this is extremely welcome after years of seeing the genre overlooked in Britain and homegrown musicians overshadowed by those in America.
“It’s night and day, the difference between the respect that’s put on R&B when I first started out to now,” said Keable, “because it was you didn’t even want to say that you were an R&B artist.” She recalled that her management at the time suggested she call herself a “neo-soul” artist instead.
But now, she said, “you’d be silly to not pour some money into it and have some festivals dedicated to it, because people love it and the fans really do show up.”
BAELY, the R&B and soul artist, agreed that the genre was beginning to gain more traction. “I think it’s getting harder for people to kind of see R&B and soul as the underdog,” he said, adding that the genres are resonating with people both in and outside of Britain. “I’ve seen so many things online of American consumers being like, ‘What the hell is in that U.K. water?’”
South by Southwest London comes at a challenging time for Britain’s music scene in general, as skyrocketing costs have made it more difficult for up-and-coming artists to tour and smaller venues all over the country have been closing at rates that have alarmed the industry. This has prompted efforts to implement a 1 pound (about $1.34) fee for all ticket sales at large arenas, with the aim of directing proceeds toward smaller acts and venues.
That makes performing at a globally known festival like South by Southwest a crucial opportunity for artists who are trying to build their profiles. The music festival markets itself that way, with the website boasting that it’s “more than a stage — it’s a launchpad.”
“The exposure — not just in London, because so many people come from different places to London — is an incredible thing,” said Orme, the artist who performs as Heartworms.
Saeed Gadir, a singer-songwriter from West London who performs as The Halfway Kid, said in a video interview that these days there are “not really places where artists can go when they’re starting out to perform without the pressure of having to find an audience.” So, he continued, “any opportunity for musicians to be able to perform as much as possible is amazing. And something like South by Southwest coming to London is special for that.”
Gadir added that there’s another benefit to having it so close by: “I can be home in time for ‘Law & Order.’”
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