St. Vincent, John C. Reilly, Grupo Frontera

SXSW 2025 headed into the weekend with a Friday night full of surprises. On one stage, an under-the-radar appearance from Texas’ own St. Vincent; on another, a vaudeville performance by actor John C. Reilly‘s new creation. In every other available space in town, there were great new artists, local legends, visiting superstars, and more. Here are the best things we saw at SXSW on Friday, March 14.

A Visit From St. Vincent 

Annie Clark grew up in Dallas, three hours north of Austin, and she’s made some unforgettable appearances at SXSW over the years. These days, she’s accustomed to roomier stages — in a few weeks, she’ll be back in town to headline the 5,000-capacity Moody Amphitheater — but on Friday night, the singular star best known as St. Vincent touched down on earth for a rare, stripped-down performance at the Rivian Electric Roadhouse, an electric-vehicle showroom just south of downtown. 

Around 7:45 p.m., Clark walked onstage in full film-noir glam (black leather trench coat, fishnets, heels) and smiled at the crowd before launching into a tight set of material from her last three albums, accompanied only by piano/keyboard player Rachel Eckroth. She performed “Flea” and “Hell Is Near,” from last year’s All Born Screaming, with an almost eerily calm intensity, pulling unshowy leads from her guitar, then gradually loosened up on the songs that followed. During 2017’s “Slow Disco,” she had some fun with the crowd, taking an audience member’s phone and filming a selfie video with it, then yoinking another attendee’s mesh trucker hat and placing it on her own head, all without interrupting the song or breaking her vocal poise. 

On “New York,” she got even sillier, drifting off midway through to ad-lib some new lyrics in an affected deep drawl: “This song makes me feel like Meat Loaf… ‘I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.’ What the fuck does that mean? No one knows. But you know what, he’s a Texan. Like meeeeee!” Maybe she was having a laugh at this strangely intimate gig, or maybe just deflating her song’s valedictory tone for reasons of her own. (“I’m sorry if I ruined your favorite song,” she added afterward.) She closed with a pair of ripping, distorted guitar solos on 2021’s “The Melting of the Sun,” then said good night. —S.V.L.

Jackie Venson Points to a Bright Future for the Blues

Antone’s, the legendary Austin nightclub founded by Clifford Antone back in 1975, is spending 2025 celebrating its 50th anniversary, an occasion that’s spawning a series of high-profile events, including a day of music at the Lincoln Center this June and the opening of a Blues Museum above the club’s current location on 5th Street. All these 2025 festivities kicked off with a pair of SXSW events at Antone’s: an official showcase on Friday night, preceded by a free party during the day. Local guitar hero Jackie Venson closed down the day party, playing her slippery and stylish modern blues. Antone’s is a familiar location for Venson. Every January, she has a residency at the club, and she noted during her SXSW set that she wasn’t able to play as long as she does during those regular concerts. In a way, Venson benefitted from tightening up her set. Fewer songs and a restricted space for jams turned her blues especially potent, making it easier to note how she modernized the blues with a heavy dose of modern funk. Steering away from familiar Southern blues-funk tropes, Venson copped a bit of Prince’s sexy synth swagger, a welcome addition that kept the music sounding fresh. Another element she’s borrowed from Prince is a sense of casual virtuosity. Where other guitar heroes ham it up as they shred, Venson dispenses with the mugging. She smiles as she embarks on dazzling runs up and down the fretboard, playing with verve and imagination that she retains even she plays a standard 12-bar blues. At a moment when Antone’s is in the thick of celebrating the past, Vernon points the way toward the future of the blues. —S.T.E.

Rema Rules the Night

“Shout out Rolling Stone, I love each and every one of y’all that came out to be here tonight,” Rema said at his headlining set on night four of Rolling Stone‘s Future of Music showcase, before reminding the crowd at the Moody Theater: “You know how it goes though — when Rema’s onstage, it’s a Rema party.” The sea of ardent fans answered his call to repeat his tagline, too. “When I say ‘Another,’ you say….” he led. “Banger!” they exclaimed. After opening with a set of songs from his acclaimed sophomore album, Heis, he slinked in and out of the varied vibes he’s curated over his six years in the limelight. To close out his electric set, Rema summoned the dark energy of “Ozeba,” a Heis hit modeled after a Nollywood horror film. “If you wanna take off your shoes, take off your shoes,” he said before it, “If you wanna take off your wig, take off your wig.” While shoes and wigs seemed to remain mostly intact, the crowd took the spirit of the invite to heart, jumping, screaming, and sweating to the sound of an Afrobeats visionary.  —M.C.

John C. Reilly Brings Mister Romantic to SXSW

John C. Reilly announced his debut album as Mister Romantic on Thursday, and introduced his persona to a sold-out crowd at the Paramount Theater on Friday night night, performing a song-and-dance show that felt like an oasis in the middle of SXSW 2025. The longtime character actor has said he intends to have Mister Romantic function as an escape from all the turmoil in the modern world. While he’s looking back to the Great American Songbook for inspiration, the concert is very much focused on the here and now, which is why cell phones, pictures, and video were strictly prohibited at the Paramount. When one attendee attempted to bend the rules, Reilly admonished the punter, urging them to live in the moment and absorb the connection between the performer and the audience. Crowd work is a crucial element of Mister Romantic. Reilly repeatedly played off the patrons, racing through the aisles and bantering with attendees so effortlessly, you almost wondered if they were plants. The crowd adds an element of unpredictability to a show he’s workshopped over the past couple of years at the Largo in Los Angeles, while also gently emphasizing another key part of Mister Romantic: He’s on a search for a true eternal love from anyone and everyone. Mister Romantic may be an equal-opportunity flirt, but there’s no carnal undercurrent to his desires. He’s seeking love and affection, retreating to the solace of songs when his dreams fail to materialize. Reilly invests his creation with kindness and humor, qualities that make both the character and the show lovable. —S.T.E.

One of the most anticipated events of SXSW had to be cumbia stars Grupo Frontera headlining Billboard Presents, but just in case anyone didn’t get the message, they did once they heard the gigantic roars echoing for blocks outside the Moody Amphitheater. Grupo Frontera fans had assembled, and they stretched out into every corner of the venue, dancing along to the Texan band’s open-hearted hits. The voice of lead singer Adelaido “Payo” Solís III soared across the outdoor venue, crisply nailing every note on songs like “Hecha Pa’ Mi” and  “ALV.” (The band excitedly shared that they were playing some of their newer songs live for the first time ever.) When Frontera dove into smashes like “No Se Va,” Solís had the entire amphitheater singing with him. —J.L.

Maruja Get Rowdy in the Name of Love

Maruja are a band that defies description, but let’s give it a try. You walk into the outdoor patio at Mohawk around 10:30 p.m. to find a guy on saxophone holding long, atmospheric notes, a rhythm section locking in on a hazy backbeat, and a shirtless dude singing in hymn-like tones. Maybe they’re a jazz act? But then the vocals resolve into urgent declamatory shouts, the drummer switches to crashing blast beats, the bass player and the saxophonist start jumping around like they’re on fire, and the floor erupts into a frenetic mosh pit. So, no, not jazz. The U.K. quartet felt like they were reinventing themselves in real time as their set went on. Lead vocalist Harry Wilkinson struck poses that were somewhere between modern dance and pro wrestling, whipping the crowd up further with each song. The songs kept changing shape but losing no intensity; the energy only mounted higher and higher. “We may be aggressive,” Wilkinson announced, “but our message is one of peace.” And with that, the frontman of this blindingly original band asked everyone in the venue to raise a fist in the name of solidarity and love. —S.V.L.

Magna Charms a Party in the Park

Colombian singer Magna has been steadily releasing down-tempo, electronic-inspired R&B cuts, building a repertoire as a smooth-voiced rising star. On Friday, he showcased what he’s been working on at SXSW’s International Nights at Rivian Park, an apt place for him to get new fans into his dreamy sound. In between songs like “Cruz” and “Todo Puede Suceder,” he told the crowd how grateful and excited he was to be in Austin for the first time, letting them see his personality as a soft-spoken charmer as well. —J.L.

Quiet Light Holds an Ambient Session in a Church

Texas native Riya Mahesh, who performs as Quiet Light, hushed the room instantly at Central Presbyterian Church on Friday night. Her wispy, whimsical vocals hovered above glitchy pre-recorded montages of laughter, snippets of conversation, and glowing synth swells from a laptop to her right. She set the stage, then took a swig from a can and sat off to the side in a pew to let the audience sit with the sound for a second. The whole thing felt like an extremely meticulous art project, and when you find out that the 23-year-old is also a medical school student, it’s even more impressive — it’s clear that Mahesh is doing this for the love of the game, and it’s working. Really well.

Quiet Light can probably best be described as ambient-folk electronic americana with the occasional foray into (not cringy) spoken word. There were some movement aspects to the experience, too, as Mahesh accompanied her singing with small, choreographed hand motions. Halfway through the set, she closed her laptop and picked up a guitar, and it was like we were in her bedroom building dream worlds with her. Her stacked, lo-fi melodies are reminiscent of Ethel Cain’s, and her lyrics are lovelorn and narratively rich. (It’s great to hear someone sing “You’re always doing fuck shit like that” on a church stage.) Mahesh closed out her set with a cover of “As Tears Go By,” easing us out of her world and back into ours. —L.L.

Baths Keep Evolving

William Wiesenfeld has been making music  as Baths since 2010, and he’s never once balked at experimentation. His recent album Guts is another reinvention, and a much harder, delightfully unapologetic turn that delves into dubby club and rock. Wiesenfeld laid it all out at the Low Down on Friday night, standing shirtless and showcasing the sonic universe he’s been traipsing. At the end, he had a query for the audience: Did they want a five-minute song or a seven-minute one? They picked seven, and out came a sparkly melody that soon devolved into a full-bodied, deeply felt scream. —J.L.

(Full disclosure: In 2021, Rolling Stone’s parent company, P-MRC, acquired a 50 percent stake in the SXSW festival.)