Austin, TX (April 13, 2026)—Austin’s, ever-changing South by Southwest festival notched its 40th edition in March, with all three main components (music, film/TV and Innovation) running concurrently. Across its seven nights of showcases, the music festival hosted more than 1,000 acts—a feat that required dozens of venues, hordes of production professionals and deep planning and preparation. At more than 30 festival venues, Allen & Heath consoles were pressed into action; in fact, according to the UK manufacturer, every model in its console line up could be found in use somewhere in the festival.
At the British Music Embassy showcase at the Palm Door on 6th, the outdoor stage made extensive use of two dLive consoles and the flagship desks were used throughout the festival’s run, mixing a seemingly endless schedule of UK talent and rapid-fire changeovers. Inside the venue, more UK acts—and an Allen & Heath desk—could be found as the stage made use of an Avantis Solo and its compact footprint to mix shows without taking up ever-important real estate in the crowd.
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Across town at the Downright Hotel, the SXSW Radio Day Stage put a trio of the consoles to work, as a dLive desk was the focal point of the front of house mix position, while an Avantis console handled monitors at stageside. To ensure the music reached listeners at home, an Avantis Solo was used for the broadcast mix.
Topping off the week was a massive, packed-house performance by country star Charley Crockett at the legendary Stubb’s BBQ, where dLive S5000 control surfaces were deployed at both front of house and monitors.
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“Our return to SXSW this year really builds on more than a decade of supporting the festival,” said Jeff Hawley, Vice President of Marketing, Allen & Heath USA. “It’s always a highlight for us to spend time face-to-face with the engineers who rely on this gear every day, whether that’s simply connecting or providing hands-on training with the latest Allen & Heath systems in a real-world environment.”