The first thing I had to do was find the holy grail of free Bloody Marys that I didn’t get to enjoy yesterday.  I arrived at the purported hot spot with my friends, feeling as thought I had already conquered the day, but defeat fell upon me when I realized all the Samsung promotional event offered was juice. Disappointed, I spent some time hunting, and then I found one bar upstairs that was serving the alcoholic beverage. It tasted like success.

Feeling better about my day already, with part of a Bloody Mary in my belly and a plan in my pocket, I headed to Hotel Vegas for Meatbodies, another band on my too-see list. Before Meatbodies, I caught part of Sunflower Bean's dark psychedelic rock (below). I was definitely into it. An older man who was standing next to me at the show said that the musicians sounded like they broke into his house, stole all of his vinyl, and then made a record out of his collection.

(The first time he told me this, I missed the “sounds like” part, and I thought they had actually broken into his house.  I then asked if that was how he knows them. He cleared things up.)

Meatbodies (below) were up next. I think I saw the bassist's face only once because he was head banging the entire set. The guitarist jumped into the crowd a few times. They rocked hard, and I definitely want to see them again.  After their set, I stuck around for a few songs of Jacco Gardner, who I was going to see that night anyways. I decided to get pizza and meet up with my friends instead.

My trek from Hotel Vegas to the venue my friends were at downtown on 6th Street was a little under a mile. I was two and a half blocks into my journey when I heard some remarkable noises coming from somewhere, and I needed to find out where. The sound was bouncing off everything, and I circled two blocks, confused and lost. I eventually found my way into the backyard of a venue and discovered this awesome progressive rock band, Chon (below). I heard someone in the crowd yell “I bet you’re good at Guitar Hero.” I only caught the last song of their set, but it was pretty frickin’ good.

With friends waiting for me and a hungry stomach to tend to, I continued my journey. First stop: pizza. I ate it. It was good. I found some Minneapolis friends sitting on a curb so I chatted with them for a while I watched people flock to a truck next to me for free Monster Energy drinks.

Eventually, I found my way to my friends. Some guys I went to high school with, Kid Like Us, were playing a set two bars away from me. I stopped by and caught up with them, listened to the first few songs of their set.

The main goal of my day was to catch White Reaper (above), a garage-rock band from Louisville whose music I’ve been obsessed with for months. They were playing the Polyvinyl Showcase at Cheer Up Charlies, so of course I went. They are about to go on tour with Twin Peaks, another band that I have kept tabs on for a while, and they are going to tear things up. They were all what I expected and more, I can’t wait to see where this band is at a year from now.

I was completely fulfilled for the evening. I stayed for part of Jacco Gardner’s set (above) and headed off to the 720 Club, a small venue a block away. I caught part of a set from Krill (below), a band from Boston that a bunch of my friends in Minneapolis are obsessed with.

I tried not to let the FOMO sink in when I started to hear that Miley Cyrus made a surprise visit at Mike WiLL Made It’s set last night at the Fader Fort show. I got more pizza and I was glad to call it a night.

Bridget Bennett is a student at the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities.

Also on The Current

• 'Play something I can twerk to': SXSW dispatch, Day One (Bridget Bennett)

• Keep your hands off the security: SXSW dispatch, Day Two (Bridget Bennett)

• Day 1 at SXSW: Hitting the ground running (Jim McGuinn)

• Day 2 at SXSW: Local presence and live broadcasts (David Safar)