After the thunderstorms it’s finally a baking 80 degrees at the South By South West music festival but Amy Winehouse’s beehive maintains its immaculate poise. The supposedly troubled star is hanging out on the San Jacinto Boulevard sidewalk, posing for pictures with some new fans.

“We’re having fun here, it’s a really great event,” she says after performing at a midday barbeque hosted by the DTI’s overseas trade mission to spread the gospel about British music. Winehouse is due to perform at record industry showcases, record shop signings and private parties before her weekend in Austin is through.

But she is nervously excited after being told that her Back To Black album could storm straight into the Billboard top ten in its first week of release. Incased in skintight jeans and a white T-shirt she performs a brief acoustic set of her break-up classics to an approving industry crowd who have been warmed up by Seth Lakeman’s contemporary take on folk fiddling.

On the patio of the Mohawk Lounge, revelers at the Rhapsody online music service party are treated to tacos, margaritas and a special collaboration. Robyn Hitchcock, the master of English psychedelic pop introduces REM guitarist Peter Buck, for an acoustic performance of their new album.

Except they are almost drowned out by the grungey sound emanating from the Club de Ville garden stage next door. “We are the small caterpillar of reason battling against the industrial machine of rock,” sighs Hitchcock. Buck looks happier strumming away in the sunshine than on any recent REM stadium tour.

At the Latitude 30 club off 6th Street, London hardcore punk band Gallows leave a packed club open-mouthed at Tea For Texas, another UK Government backed showcase. Lead shouter Frank Carter vacates the stage to howl from the bar while the guitarist heads out of the club’s bay windows into the street – possibly a logical response to the melody-free racket.

The British trade mission are delighted. The event is designed to encourage Houston oil companies to invest in Britain and apparently they think nothing is cooler than British punk. Gallows’ manager reveals the band have a number of US record deals on the table.

They could make a fine for signing for Nigel Gilroy, a leading UK music lawyer from the Davenport Lyons firm, who is on a mission to tap new talent and secure them that mythical lucrative record deal. Gilroy watches his latest charges, an Austin band called Tammany Hall Machine, whose classic Brit-rock inspired sound could find favour in the UK.

SXSW is famed for its off the wall offerings and the Brits have competition from Japan Music Night – Sake is doled out in the Brush Square tent as six guitar and trumpet-wielding schoolgirls take the stage in matching uniforms. They are Orestaband and their description as “high school girl ska punk” proves entirely accurate.

The evening belongs to Bloc Party, who pack out the Stubbs amphitheatre with 1,000

US fans willing them to become the new Radiohead. Previously reticent singer Kele Olereke takes them at their word, wading into the crowd and encouraging a Texan singalong of their Northern Line tribute, Waiting For The 7:18, “Let’s drive to Brighton on the weekend.”

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