More impressive than the energy brought the stage by some of the year’s most promising artists was the energy in the crowd that attended the 2017 MTV’s Woodies.

Held for the second year in a row during South by Southwest in the parking lot of the Austin-American Statesman, the Woodies had a typically Austin setting with bats streaming out from underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge as the night’s festivities got underway. But more important to this awards show than its perfect setting was the amount of support and excitement radiating from this crowd—of course, the free drinks, food and giveaways may have done well to soften their receptions.

Kicking off the evening was electro-pop group Muna, whose refreshing set of uplifting songs set the mood for a night performances and cameos by some of the music industry’s brightest and most promising stars.

Other highlights from the festival include crowd-favorite Khalid, a 19 year old Texan whose R&B talent was recognized later in the night with the Woodie to Watch award.

Bringing the festival portion of the night to a close, Lil Yachty brought to the stage his feel-good style which emphasized by the low-key casualness of his delivery.

To conclude the first half of the night, D.R.A.M. appeared on stage to hype up the crowd before kicking off the live MTV broadcast. When the show finally got started at 10, he was joined on stage by Lil Yachty to perform their smash hit Broccoli.

Filling in the rest of the hour-long live broad cast were a series of micro sets from some of the contenders for Woodies. Pop singer Starley dazzled the audience with use of backlights and neon paint in her performance, Jidenna brought his suave style to to the stage and Desiigner got the crowd jumping by bringing a full-on marching band to play with him.

Throughout the show, Woodies were given out by MTV to various artists including Partynextdoor and Ed Sheeran.

Finishing off a night of lively performances and award-giving, Rick Ross came to the stage to announce Woodie of the Year award to The Chainsmokers. The rapper then performed some songs from his new album, Wale made a guest appearance and the night was subsequently concluded in a rain of pink confetti.