Two things particularly struck me about arriving in Texas for my first SXSW – the first was the extra-wide wheelchairs waiting at the airport to ferry the extra wide Texans through the airport, and the second is the huge milling crowd of musicians with regrettable haircuts, skinny jeans and a stack of guitars on their luggage trolleys.

South By South West has become one of the largest events in the music industry’s calendar over the last few years, and list of delegates shows the festival/convention hybrid’s appeal. Everybody from eMusic to Billy Bragg is here (including some guy from AutoTrader magazine), playing music, pitching their services and giving away free beer to each other.