This spring break, instead of going to the beach or skiing, I decided to cross enemy lines for four days to revel in the musical lovers' bliss that is South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.

The weeklong interactive music and film festival was created to give artists an opportunity to gain exposure among the media and entertainment corporations.

Over 1,000 bands from all over the world came to play in over 50 different venues scattered around downtown Austin. Bands from Chamillionaire to Poison the Well could be found performing throughout the clubs of Austin.

Due to the "Real World," the event has gained more attention within the last year and despite popular belief, you don't have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for an all-access pass to enjoy SXSW.

Although you might want to be 21 to fully enjoy it.

Despite the fact that I didn't pay for a badge and I am not 21, I still had the opportunity to see some of my favorite bands and learn about some new ones.

The first day I was there I saw Norman's very own The Evangelicals play at Emo's. They showed Austin that Oklahoma can produce more than good sporting teams and "rocked out" (I don't know that I like that term but I'm going to go with it).

Another band I saw that day that caught my attention, perhaps because of their tight black leather pants and cowboy boots combined with '80s dance moves and synthesizers, was Gil Mantera's Party Dream.

The band from Youngstown, Ohio, was what you would expect if Grand Buffet and Of Montreal had a baby and sent it to dance school.

Canadian bands are clearly still trying to take over the U.S. music scene. The Most Serene Republic, from Ontario, combines trombones, keyboard, synthesizer, guitar and four different vocalists for a sound that Broken Social Scene lovers will surely catch on to.

Probably the most disappointing set I witnessed was Head Automatica. The side project of Glassjaw lead singer, Daryl Palumbo, who has Crohn's disease, wasn't able to put enough energy into his set as I had hoped.

Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance and Palumbo teamed up for a duet of Head Automatica's new song "Graduation Day." I don't know if it was my distaste for My Chemical Romance or if they didn't do a good job that led me to not like this song.

Perhaps the set that left me most in awe was The Fall of Troy. Front man Thomas Erak is possibly one of the most intense guitar players I have seen in a long time. I don't know how he does it. As I said, I'm in awe.

My favorite set of all was Say Anything's first-ever live acoustic set. The mysterious Max Bemis, who has been in and out of mental hospitals over the past two years, got it together to perform a set that was more about raw lyrical honesty than petty stage presence.

The crowd clapped for the parts that were intended for the drums and acted as the back up vocals as a strange aura of unity seemed to cast among the crowd.

The motto "keep Austin weird" was upheld at SXSW this year.

The claimed live music capital of the world accomplished what it was made for and housed some of the most progressive forms of art to be shown off for a whole week.

It was impossible to see all the acts that I wanted to see, but in four days I was able to see over 50 bands for free. God bless SXSW.
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