Todd P's MtyMix Festival Doesn't Go as Planned

Photo by Gavin Paul

N.Y.-based promoter Todd P announced earlier this year that he’d hold a SXSW follow-up festival, MtyMix, in Monterrey, Mexico. The three-day event was meant to offer an inexpensive, all-ages alternative to Austin’s exclusive behemoth as well as an opportunity for cultural exchange. “We wanted to prove that we can do something hard,” Todd P said of the fest, for which he organized bus transportation from Austin. Unfortunately, the undertaking may have been a little too hard for organizers to pull off.

As the Village Voice reports in an excellent read, MtyMix was plagued by band cancellations, unrest in Mexico that prompted the State Department to advise against traveling there and logistical problems with the buses that caused even organizer Todd P to arrive late. Many of the last minute drop-outs were headliners, such as Washed Out and Tanlines.

It wasn’t a total bust, however. Dan Deacon and Andrew W.K. both made it, as did the many Mexican acts Todd P included in the schedule and about half of the 1,500-2,000 people who were expected to attend. Perhaps the best news of all: Those who did make it seemed to enjoy themselves. As Andrew W.K. wrote on his Twitter, “Vibe was off-the-hook!”

Most festivals are unsteady during their first year, and it would be unreasonable to expect that such an ambitious undertaking would have gone off without a hitch. As Todd P’s local partner in organizing, Ramirez Franco of Yo! Garage, told the Voice, “I wish it was more crowded, but we have been visited by the right people.”

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