It’s always a bit staggering to see how much free stuff companies are willing to give away, and this year was no exception. Even though I didn’t fork over the several hundred bucks for a festival wrist band, I still got the lion’s share of VIP treatment.

Take, for example, the co-sponsored Levi’s Jeans and FADER magazine area. I worked this joint venture back in 2006 when they rented a house on the end of 6th street, and even then they were giving out all-you-can-drink Red Stripes and So-Co Lime shots. In that case, they were only serving a backyard full of people, so it didn’t seem so excessive.

For this year’s festival, they rented out an acre or two of property on the east side of I-35. This place was fully decked out to look like a hip junkyard, and the plus-thousand people streaming in and out of this place got unlimited Budweiser and you-call it Southern Comfort drinks. Yeesh. It seems the music and jeans biz is not hurting right now.

They kept things in reason, however – you were only allowed one drink per visit to the bar. Drink responsibly you parasites.

Though the Levi/FADER place is an unusually large exception, it wasn’t the only SXSW event willing to feed, bribe, or krunkify its guests, even those who hadn’t spent a nickel (me) on festival wristbands. It’s an amazing spectacle that reaffirms your pride in capitalism and free swag.

I’m always pleased to see that, despite the unavoidable commercial excess that SXSW breeds, it still manages to put the emphasis on music and musicians. It’s pretty heartening to see a motley group of kids playing their hearts out in the middle of sixth street, or the stream of bands coming from Boston, Brooklyn, or beyond who still chase that dream of the big time. You see so many million dollar prima donnas on posters and reality TV that sometimes you really forget how much people sacrifice to play music for a living. These are the people who make you ashamed to download pirated music, and rightfully so. I just didn’t realize it took so many free koozies to understand that.