Wednesday kicks off the SXSW music festival. Here are some bands you shouldn't miss that night.
Austin Music Awards - Austin Convention Center:
We'll get started the way SXSW kicks off every year- with the Austin Music Awards. The show starts at 7:55 p.m. with a new venue -- the Austin Convention Center -- and new MC, yours truly. Not just an award show, there's plenty of music too- including sets from former Derek & The Domino Bobby Whitlock, Ian McLagan, Barabara K, and a tribute to Clifford Antone featuring Jimmie Vaughan, Derek O'Brien and Gary Clark Jr. Expect plenty of surprises on a night where Austin music gets to celebrate Austin music in front of an international audience of SXSW guests.
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Live wire
News 8 Austin's Andy Langer gives his picks on what not to miss Wednesday night.
 
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LZ Love, Scott H. Biram - Continental Club
There's more Austin music to celebrate at the Continental Club where you'll find the always soulful and always entertaining LZ Love at 9 p.m. and one of the city's hardest working men in show business -- one-man-band pioneer Scott H. Biram -- closing things down at 1 a.m.
Peter, Bjorn and John - La Zona Rosa:
One of the night's most buzzed about appearances comes from Peter, Bjorn and John, a band from Stockholm, Sweden that the music press and bloggers can't get enough. They're easy frontrunners in the SXSW 2007 bands-to-watch race and their single "Young Folks" is one of the best whistle-along tunes of 2007. They take the stage at 12:30 a.m., but get there earlier if you want to get in.
Ruthie Foster, Ray Wylie Hubbard - The Parish:
Back to an excellent Austin-heavy bill that ought to impress your out-of-town friends, The Parish hosts a showcase featuring both Ruthie Foster and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Foster is earning accolades nationally for her new record, the appropriately titled The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster, while Hubbard is still riding high on his Snake Farm record, which recently got a thumbs up as an album of the month from none other than Ringo Starr. Ruthie's at 11 p.m., Hubbard's at 12 a.m., but here's hoping you get there at 10 p.m. for gospel/blues legends The Holmes Brothers.
Lilly Allen, Razorlight, Stubb's:
It's quite an opening night bill for Stubb's: Lilly Allen, the object of desire and intrigue for bloggers everywhere and a bona fide tabloid superstar in her native U.K. heads into SXSW with huge next big thing buzz; this 11 p.m. set, which is her first-ever Austin appearance, should be packed with people seeing if she can live up to the hype. And then there's the U.K.'s Razorlight – a band that's twice as impressive live as on record, which to say very impressive. They're used to huge audiences – from summer festivals to Live 8- so seeing them at Stubb's, a much smaller stage by comparison, should be extra exciting.
