Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Music Festival in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas’ Sips & Sounds Music Festival this past weekend was a truly incredible time. I thought everything down to the vendors, staff, location, and population created a fabulous atmosphere for music enjoyers of all ages. They even had a can/bottle recycling program where you can turn your recyclables in for official Sips and Sounds merch. I had never seen people, especially young kids, get so excited about recycling! The city of Austin fosters a wonderful community driven environment which definitely showed at this weekend’s festival.

Day one of the festival featured DJs “Dazzle Camouflage” and “Disko Cowboy” in the early afternoon. As the festival went on, we got performances from Ashe, Blusher, Suki Waterhouse, Khalid, Gus Dapperton, and to end the night: Halsey. Each set was incredible and each artist created an amazing atmosphere for the audience.

Khalid paid tribute to Texas as this was where he wrote his album “American Teen.” He was a great choice for this festival’s demographic, as he writes a lot about his experience as a teenager in high school. He was joined by very talented background dancers that added an extra flare to his performance.

Halsey used her performance in Texas as an opportunity to play more of her “line dance-esque” music rather than her radio hits. She played songs like “Panic Attack,” “Lonely is the Muse,” and “Hometown.” She even performed a grungier version of “Closer,” her collaborative song with The Chainsmokers.

All the way from London, Suki Waterhouse had an exceptional performance last weekend. She performed crowd favorite: “Good Looking Boy,” but also played one of her new songs, “Dream Woman.” She also brought out Ashe to sing a song with her.

Blusher, a pop trio from Australia, was a wonderful addition to the Sips and Sounds bill. They offer a unique perspective on self love and womanhood, and perform their songs with captivating choreography and musicianship. Their newest song “Racer” was popular amongst the crowd, along with the rest of the music in their discography.

Day two’s DJs were DJ Cassandra and Austin Ashtin who I had the pleasure of interviewing. Both put on captivating sets that got everyone at the festival on their feet and dancing. DJ Cassandra had a horn section accompany her set which I thought was very unique and a great addition to a DJ set. Aside from their skills as DJs and entertainers, during my interviews with them they proved to be very kind individuals, both inspiring in their own unique ways. Artists who performed alongside them were Paul Russell, Nessa Barrett, Chelsea Cutler & Jeremy Zucker, Arcy Drive, AJR, Claire Rosinkranz, and Benson Boone as the headliner.

Admittedly, I am not very well versed in Benson Boone’s music (besides his hit song “Beautiful Things”) but I really enjoyed his performance and have genuine interest in diving deeper into his discography. His live vocals are unbelievable, not to mention multiple backflips off of a grand piano. He teased his new album by performing an unreleased song, “Mama Song,” an emotionally charged song about how his parents have supported him throughout his booming career. 

AJR had a great performance as well, playing music from all of their albums like “Sober Up,” “Karma,” and “Yes, I’m a Mess.” They also did their iconic live production performance where they talk about how they produce all of their songs in their living room. In the middle of their set, they played a wonderfully “AJR coded” rendition of “All Star” by Smash Mouth, which got the audience really excited. They ended the performance with their hit song “Weak.”

Arcy Drive is an Indie Rock band on the come-up from Long Island, New York. They kept the crowd dancing with songs like “Louie,” “The Itch,” “Desert Song,” and their top song, “Roll My Stone.” I highly recommend checking them out, or catching them on their upcoming tour with Flipturn in the coming months!

Overall, Coca-Cola’s Sips and Sounds festival was a fantastic showcase of music, good food, fun people, and overall great vibes. I highly recommend the experience, and hope to be back next year!

Check out our interviews with Arcy Drive, Blusher, DJ Cassandra, and Austin Ashtin!