They1 said it was a record that would never be broken: One band, eight sets, five days of SXSW2.
Never say never—especially when it comes to a music based challenge involving your favorite active live touring band (I think3).
I was on a mission to make up for my shoddy attendance last year when Benji Hughes conflicts and a friend’s out of town birthday celebration broke my streak of 16 consecutive Austin Pink Stones gigs with a 1.5 out of 5 showing in 2025. 🙁
And make up for it I did. 3 new songs! 6 new venues! 2 groupie van rides!
Refresh your memory on 2024’s adventures, then read on for the usual overly detailed play by play.
First Show: Friday 3/13/26, Yeti Flagship, 2:40pm
“Not my first night in a hometown hotel…”
In 2024, the first of eight Pink Stones shows was how I kicked off my SXSW experience. In 2026 I was already 2 days and 8 bands deep with old pal Nate Pepper in town from Houston4 and along for the ride. The act immediately preceding the Stones here were local Austin darlings Grocery Bag. Pretty good but VERY LOUD, making for a jarring juxtaposition when The Pink Stones led off with three quiet, brand new songs before dipping into last year’s Thank The Lord… for the second half of the laid back 7 song set.
Yeti (and its cooler supported stage5) is always a wonderfully weird place to catch a SXSW showcase and dip a toe in to the whirlwind to come. Also, Adam cut his hair.
Rank: #7
Second Show: Friday 3/13/26, East End Ballroom, 5:30pm
“Like the four gray walls of where we have to stay…”
A jaunt across town (with a stopover for a tasty muffuletta at ABGB during Bob Schneider’s set ala 2024) brought us to part two of day one’s doubleheader. I’d never been to the East End Ballroom before. Neat little venue, but calling it a ballroom is generous to say the least since the place was about the size of this webpage.
Sound was surprisingly good for a makeshift space. Band was augmented with John Cherry on keys, and the dancers made the most of the limited floor.
Set was slightly longer, kicking off with the same seven songs from Yeti in the same order but tacking on “Real Sad Movies,” “If I Can’t Win (With You),” and “Hometown Hotel” with the extra time.6
So far we’re squarely in line with the Pink Stone SXSW tradition of debuting unreleased new stuff and skewing towards the most recent album, but the fest is still young…
Rank: #6
Third Show: Saturday 3/14/26, The White Horse Outdoor Stage, 9pm
“I put both feet down on it, and headed back your way…”
2024 & 2025 included some surprisingly long for South By full length sets, though most of this 2026 run consisted of 30-45 minute slots. Tonight’s White Horse performance was the longest at exactly an hour. Same core setlist as the first two shows, but the expansion continued as it grew from 7 to 10 and now 14 songs. First two albums got repped, as did the classic one-two closing punch of “Baby, I’m Still Right Here (With You)” and “Barroom Blues.”
A fun extended set on a pleasant evening is peak SXSW. Can’t wait to catch a full headlining gig later this year when they can really let loose.
Rank: #3
Fourth Show: Sunday 3/15/26, Punch Bowl Social, 2:30pm
“‘Let’s sit down, and let’s get spent…”
I walked into Punch Bowl Social to find Hunter & Caleb sitting at a table near the entrance. This one was going to be just them playing as a duo by request of the promoter/venue. I replied I was going to ask for a curve ball but guess I didn’t have to.
The set was jokingly called the “Electric Duo Experience” before later modifying the last word to “Experiments.”7 Either way, it was something new that infused the dreamy trippiness of the debut record into the newer songs in a groovy kinda way.
“Blueberry Dream” made an appearance as the opening number with “Thank The Lord” as closer. The brand new songs came towards the end vs. the start. Slightly different arrangement made me notice what I thought was a line that went “one or two for me and one for you” was actually “one or ten for me…”, making a gut punch of a breakup drinking song even more so8.
A new-ish bit this tour has been adding a little of “Friend of the Devil” to the “Too Busy” jam. A table full of folks near the stage went from chit-chatting to rapt attention as soon as this kicked in and seemed to enjoy the rest of the set.
My only nitpicky quibble was overhearing talk of playing “Stoned & Alone” got my hopes up, but a late start and a need to boogie to the next leg of today’s second booking caused it to get cut. Such is the way of the South By lightning round. Fun change of pace as we hit the midpoint.
Rank: #2
Fifth Show: Sunday 3/15/26, Hole in the Wall, 4:15pm
“Now I drive alone in the car your friends always hated…”
I hitched a ride with the band in their van since we were going to the same place on a tight schedule and they had an extra seat. Hole in the Wall is an iconic venue adjacent to the UT campus I somehow never went to before a couple days prior when I caught Danny Malone on their back outdoor(ish) stage. Today The Pink Stones played9 the smaller indoor stage by the bar. I parked the van while they set up, jokingly requesting “Time’s Standing Still” as my fee and they happily obliged.
Bookending this set with sister songs “Time’s Standing Still” & “If I Can’t Win (With You)” in a classic venue on an unseasonably warm day made this my favorite show of the run.
Rank: #1
Sixth Show: Monday 3/16/26, Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue, 9pm
“Until a storm came through and blew off all the walls…”
If a blue norther is a Texas weather phenomenon where temperatures drop 20-30 degrees in a matter of hours/minutes, a pink souther is when the temperature swings 50 degrees between two Pink Stones concerts. We went from 98 degrees at Hole in the Wall to 46 at Lambert’s 28 hours later. Brrrr!
The wacky weather plus new song “Stormy Afternoons” in its typical second slot had me thinking it would’ve been a good day for a themed setlist of weather related songs. Didn’t fully finalize this concept until a few days later, but here are some potential selections.
(Open with “Stormy Afternoons,” play the also unreleased “Oh We Could’ve Had It All” second to last, and otherwise it’s this playlist)10
Actual setlist was the same tried & true core seven from most shows, with “Real Sad Movies” and “If I Can’t Win (With You)11” to close. (The East End Ballroom set, minus “Hometown Hotel”). Since when can a weatherman predict the weather, let alone a setlist?
Rank: #4
Seventh Show: 3/17/26, High Noon, 5:30pm
“And 5 o’clock is such a sight…”
I declined yesterday’s after show invite to hang out at either Sam’s Town Point or The White Horse because I had to start work early in order to leave early to make it to this penultimate matinee. Got slightly delayed on a client call and had more traffic than anticipated, but walked up to the venue and got my wristband 2 minutes before showtime to keep the streak alive12. Phew!
Fun fact: bassist Adam accidentally left his pedals at Lambert’s the night before and played this gig without them.
“Best Paste Party Ever” might be hyperbole, but the abbreviated set started with the standard opening five before skipping “Hard to Kill” and “Cold Eye of Leaving13” in favor of “Real Sad Movies” and “Can’t Win”—the latter taking on closing duties for the third consecutive show. (I am starting to dig it as the set-ender.)
I saw more people singing along and/or filming than I had at any of the other gigs. “Real Sad Movies” had one woman in the crowd near tears (hopefully of joy?) with the song doing it’s titular job.
RANK: #8
EIGHTH SHOW: 3/17/26, The Continental Club, 11pm
“I hate to break it to you but I don’t think I’m coming back…”
And so we’ve come to the end of another epic run…
Having some of my own time to kill between gigs, I tagged along with the band to see The Bures Band play at Zilker Brewing14 before hitching another van ride to Continental (with a stopover at Lambert’s for Adam’s forgotten gear). In gratitude for the rides, the jams, the general joy, and letting me play groupie/roadie/obsessive weirdo for the extended weekend I treated the band to Home Slice Pizza as a show of thanks15.
Also ran into former Pink Stones drummer Gideon Johnston at the club, playing the same Athens in Austin show with two other groups. He amusingly said “I knew they were going to be here, but forgot that meant you’d probably be here too.” My reputation precedes me. I’ll take that as a compliment 🙂
I was bummed to miss last year’s Continental gig, so excitement was high for this one. Despite some sound issues on stage it played great in the crowd. “Cold Eye” returned, as did “Hometown Hotel” and traditional closer “Baby, I’m Still Right Here (With You)” to put a bow on SXSW.16
RANK: #5
Stealing 2024’s final sentiment since I can’t say it much better: You don’t go see a band eight times in seven five days if they’re just okay17. I’ve been to enough shows in my life to sense when there’s magic in the air, and it was off the charts here no matter the size of the crowd or the time of the set. Of course I’d take a different oldie every night to spice things up, but I also wouldn’t trade the memories of the rockin’ week(end) I had for anything. See ya next year! (and/or hopefully later this year…)
Setlist Setup18:
FOOTNOTES
- The royal they. I said that. ↩︎
- 2024 was actually 8 shows in 7 days, so technically this is a new record… ↩︎
- It’s a t-shirt joke. I don’t think, I know. ↩︎
- We call this annual foray Haüs by Haüswest after our senior year college living arrangements. ↩︎
- It’d be a lot cooler if you did! ↩︎
- This was my first time hearing “Hometown Hotel” (and it’s extended jam segment) live, which was a nice treat. ↩︎
- Experients / experimence. ↩︎
- And also giving this year’s recap a title. ↩︎
- I suggested to Adam this should be “the other half of the duo” show with a drum & bass set. ↩︎
- “Sweat Me Out” would’ve been quite the deep cut pull, but oh so perfect! ↩︎
- I somewhat embarrassingly just noticed at this point in my recap (With You) and/or (Without You) is the parenthetical ending to three different Pink Stones songs, which is hilarious. Kinda makes me wish they used “Start (With You)r Name” to continue the pattern. ↩︎
- In an amusing side story, Hunter tried to put me on the guest list only to have the venue worker give him a funny look before saying “You know this show is free…” ↩︎
- Despite trying to take good notes, I’m second guessing myself if “Cold Eye” was actually played here or not. I didn’t write it down, but there’s a chance I got distracted talking to Adam’s parents mid-set. I’m sure “Hard to Kill” was skipped. ↩︎
- Where Benji Hughes played last SXSW! ↩︎
- Thank the lord, you taught me how to love (music). But seriously, I appreciate all the band does so it was the least I could do. ↩︎
- Shout out to Caleb for waiting in front of the club and chatting with me for my long-delayed late night rideshare home! ↩︎
- Or as I sincerely told the guys at Lambert’s: “It’s hard being the best band in the room.” ↩︎
- Inspired by this fascinating comparison of In Utero era Nirvana setlist construction. (Yes, I’m a nerd.) ↩︎