With the question of Team Panic Manual’s attendance at SXSW 2025 somewhat uncertain at the end of last year’s edition, we ultimately decided to keep the streak going, albeit in a slightly scaled back manner, shaving a few days off the start of the fest and arriving on the Tuesday. With that in mind, I made an effort to hit the ground running and make the most of my first day in Austin. What follows, then, is a quick breakdown of the best stuff I saw on Tuesday.
Lassy-Eskola: Nordic Stew @ Cooper’s BBQ
A couple of Finnish dudes playing New Orleans style jazz does not seem like the likeliest thing to see, but when those Finns put on perhaps the best set I saw all day. Backed up by a top notch team of actual New Orleans players, the duo of Timo Lassy and Jukka Eskola, two mainstays of the Finnish jazz scene, put on a fantastic performance. And unlike many acts who go hard playing multiple shows throughout the week, this would be the only performance of Nordic Stew for the week.
John Fogerty @ Stubb’s
When you get a chance to see a bona fide classic rock legend play live, you take it. Simple as that. And when said legend is former CCR frontman, John Fogerty, you’re sure to get a solid performance. I had seen Fogerty once before, about 12 years earlier, also at SXSW. What’s changed since then (despite Fogerty getting 12 years older) is that Fogerty has recently gotten back the publishing rights to all of his songs, something that Fogerty was quite excited about. “I got my songs back!” he exclaimed, adding that he was planning on playing them all. And while he may not have literally played them all, Fogerty and his band (which included his two sons) sure played a whole lot of them.
untitled (halo) @ Radio Day Stage
When I saw that Metallica’s Lars Ulrich would be speaking with Zane Lowe for an afternoon panel, I figured that, as a longtime Metallica fan, I had to check that one out. And as interesting as it was, a little Lars goes a long way and so after a while, I got the itch to check out some music again. Luckily, the outdoor Radio Day Stage was right nearby and so, I left the comfortable air-conditioned climes of the Austin Convention Center’s Ballroom D to take in the latter half of untitled (halo)’s set. It was getting increasingly hot outside and the LA-based band was very loud, especially without earplugs. Still worth it though.
