(Mind you, this show was only partly about music. Timberlake, now a beer spokesman, was here to promote the newly renovated MySpace web site, of which he's a major investor, in a concert sponsored by Chevrolet.) Timberlake, backed by a 16-piece band, played for an hour. This writer did not gain admission -- I just reviewed his record, and we'll have plenty of chances to discuss JT further all year long -- but there are good reviews here, here and here.

Across town, Prince played the larger club La Zona Rosa, leading a 22-piece band and performing more covers than his own songs. The nearly three-hour show -- in which Prince never played guitar (fail) -- did bring something to SXSW that is often hard to find: lots of R&B and funk."They called our people and said they wanted some funk in Austin," said Prince, before belting out the last bars of a gentle rendition of "Purple Rain."At least this show sounds like it was better than his previous Chicago fiascoes. Reviews here, here and here

You won't see a lot of photos from the Prince show online today, however. Notoriously prickly about photos at his shows, Prince banned all cameras. Even simply using a cell phone got some fans tossed -- a biting irony, given that the concert was thrown by Samsung Galaxy and promoters worked the crowd beforehand offering customers fresh phone batteries or device test-drives. But intrepid Chicago photographer Michael Jackson (yup, his real name), shooting for the Sun-Times, landed the image above.

In other news: Today is Billy Corgan's birthday -- happy 46th! -- an occasion the Chicago rocker rang in at midnight on stage at SXSW. The Smashing Pumpkins, still busy and ahead of a new world tour, played a set mixed with hits ("Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "Tonight, Tonight") and newer songs from the excellent "Oceania" album, even a cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity." Review here, or see the detailed run-down on the Twitter feed from Hipsters United.

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