Crashing Elon Musk’s Cyber Rodeo at the Texas Gigafactory

I had to admit that I was having a good time as I watched the white streaks of electric current at the sexy cowboy in the metal cage. The commitment to spectacle was impressive. The club music would sound like sparks were flying through the speakers. The dancer wearing a cowboy hat and shorts got down to the beat as the crowd around him cheered. What more do you want from a party?

The dance cage was one of many garish exhibitions I saw on my tour of the new Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. I passed two mechanical bulls, skirted by a petting zoo, and witnessed the most spectacular display of light-up drones in the night sky as I traveled through a metallic cactus forest.

It was just a small taste of what the opening party for the Austin Gigafactory would be like. I counted everything I saw as a blessing because I didn't think I'd make it. Thanks to some good timing and major life choices, I was able to find myself inside the Gigafactory, surrounded by car parts, twirling robots, lots of pink neon lighting, and thousands of drunkTesla fans shouting at the top of their lungs.

We moved to Austin, Texas, in March of 2021. I have a history with this town, unlike a lot of the transplants here. I lived here for four years when I attended the University of Texas. For better or worse, this state is in my blood.

Our move happened to coincide with Musk's move to Austin. He said in July 2020 that the city would be home to the largest car-making factory in the world. If you turned the whole thing on its side, it would be taller than the Burj Khalifa. The opening party for the factory was going to be called Cyber Rodeo and 15000 people were going to be invited. I decided to crash even though I didn't have an invite.

I cut my teeth on sneaking into parties in Austin because of the years of covering South by Southwest with and without a Badge. It is an Austin tradition to sneak your way into a bar on East Sixth or the Paramount and run into Richard Linklater or Mike Judge. There is no real strategy to it. You just need to be patient and willing to talk enough that people will let you in. I am not a car reporter. I am strictly a space reporter, which means the vehicles I cover need to cross the Kármán line before I will consider writing about them. I suppose one of the cars from the company is currently crossing the path of Mars, so perhaps my standards need an update. I have been covering the company for years. I figured I'd give it a try after finding my way into the Austin Gigafactory.

I called Sean O Kane to see if he would give me a ride. He is the car reporter, so it made sense that he would also be the driver. Combining forces felt right because I know very little about Sean and he moved to Austin during the Pandemic. Sean didn't have an invite, so we were in the same boat.

The morning of the event, I checked my phone to see one of the latest messages from the man. I sent the message to Sean. We would make it in at some point. I wore a cowboy hat and boots and left after the rodeo.

Photo by Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images

We didn't know what to do when we arrived. We parked in a dirt parking lot on the side of the highway and walked to the outer perimeter of the factory. The entire structure is just one massive squat gray fortress that seems to stretch forever into the horizon. There is a thin line of windows that cut through the middle of the exterior. No frills. The design is out of place in the Texas Hill Country, with its bungalows and modern wood-paneled homes.

We stood out there with other people. Some people still went to the factory site for a chance to see the inside, even though they didn't have aQR codes. This wasn't the real line to get in, it was a waypoint for people without an invite. A good showing of women and young men were included in the group. A woman has a baby. Some people with signs begging to be someone stood around the road, while others urged Musk to fix racism in Austin. A man did laps around the group on the Cyberquad. It was odd. Most people stood there and stared at the factory. It was as if the Gigafactory was the ark and we hadn't received our invites before the flood.

We made our way to the parking lot by flashing a bootleg code at the attendant and then walked to the security entrance, which was surrounded by metal barricades. The decree about security turned out to be false. If you didn't have a QR code in, you were escorted from the line. Our solution was to just stand there. We thought maybe at some point they'd read the message and let us in. The security team probably knew that this party occurred in the week in which it was thought that he would be on the board of the micro-blogging site. His tweets were binding. I think it works that way.

We might or might not have been there for a few hours. It helped that we were surrounded by others who were also lacking proper codes, milling about the entrance in case there was a sudden change of protocol. Two recent UT grads came up to us and asked if we had any luck. A dance team wearing bright red shorts with the word "S3XY" on the bottoms, called the "Tesla Booty Dancers", cheered and got down on the asphalt to dance. That didn't help them get in.

I told Sean I was ready to leave as the clock neared 8PM. The nice thing about being a journalist is that you don't have to actually write anything, which means less work. I could go home and relax with my dog. As soon as I decided to walk back to the car, I received a phone call from a friend who had extra on hand. I was overjoyed and sad at the same time. I had to tell a story.

We ran through the line as fast as we could and entered the Gigafactory, where I felt like I was in a nightclub. The place was very large and had a lot of square footage to people. It was too much space for it to be full. There is a giant neon sign showing the party's logo on the outline of Texas. Behind two DJs who spun some light and airy tunes, it was visible.

I didn't know what the stuff in the factory was, but I started taking pictures. I want to make it clear that I don't coverTesla. Send your questions to Sean. The Alien theme I had created in my head was added to by one piece of machinery. There was a wall of car parts that were all pink. We couldn't linger too long because we knew that Elon was giving a presentation at 9PM. We had about an hour to see as much as we could before we found the main stage.

We followed the white lines on the floor to where it seemed like an important destination. We passed by robotic machines used to make cars. They twirled and danced as if the factory were open. I was amazed. It felt very open and available, unlike when you go to a rocket factory. The same technology used to create rockets is used in ICBMs. The knowledge of how to build rockets is subject to intense regulation. If you are allowed into a rocket factory, someone will follow you around, telling you not to take pictures from certain angles, and then forcing you to remove the pictures from your phone.

The robots were on display for everyone to see, and no one told me not to take pictures. It was unfair that the robots had to work while we were partying, though I enjoyed seeing them pirouette.

At one point, we passed a projection of a metallic Doge on a wall. I was fascinated by a fleet ofTeslas moving on trackless platforms across the floor, almost making me want to ride them like a ride at Disney World. I thought the crowd did not feel like 15,000 people. Either this party was a flop or we hadn't hit the main spot yet.

We found ourselves in a carnival. There was a petting zoo, cowboys painted in silver, and women on roller skates. There was a cowboy boot next to a cowboy hat. The rubber ducks were thrown into the pond for plush prizes. At one point, I passed by a tattoo parlor that was in an RV, but I didn't want to sit down for ink. In the midst of the outdoor section, two massiveTesla coils standing as high as the factory's ceiling shot sparks of current, playing The Imperial March from Star Wars. Gary Clark Jr. performed on the main stage at the back. The bar and food trucks were crowded with people waiting in line at the merchandise table. We were too late to see Bevo, the live longhorn mascot for the University of Texas, but I was reassured that he had visited these parts.

The carnival was more crowded than the factory, but it didn't feel like 15,000 people. We looked at the time. We haven't found the main stage yet. After asking around, we discovered it was upstairs and we went to a staircase. As we ascended in a stream of people, I could feel the sound of thousands of people talking and moving around on the floor above me.

It was a lot of people. As far as the eye could see, thousands of people crowded inside this second floor caverns, many trying to take pictures of a Cybertruck that was on display as well as a model of theTesla humanoid robot. Most of the crowd pushed themselves around the makeshift stage to get a good view of the CEO. A car hung from the ceiling over the stage between two screens with the party logo on it. I looked at all of the personal space they had with envy, because in the back of the room on large risers was clearly the VIP section.

It was the largest crowd of people I had ever seen indoors, so I was a little uneasy. Everyone was excited and slightly buzzed with alcohol as the speaking time neared. Sean and I knew that the speaking events would be delayed.

At 9:30PM, I checked my phone. There is still nothing.

Photo by Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images

The crowd cheered when the helicopter shots of the Gigafactory appeared on the screens. I didn't notice the Beeple art on the factory's facade because the drone display had begun. I was greeted with the Cyber Rodeo logo again, this time consisting of twinkly drones in the night sky. It was very cool. After morphing into what I thought was Elon Musk's face, they moved on to a car with rotating wheels, and finally the Cybertruck. The crowd cheered when the drones turned into the Doge. It's clear that Elon commits to a theme.

After a short video of a woman riding a horse in a field of wildTeslas, and wearing a Cyber Rodeo shirt, dark sunglasses, and a black cowboy hat, he drove onstage in a car. His appearance was greeted like a rock concert headliners agreeing to play an encore. In order to promote Texas and how big it is, Elon did his thing. The people standing next to me shouted jubilations into my ear after every major announcement. I was happy for them. I didn't like the future of my hearing.

At one point the Cybertruck drove on stage, and he announced that the factory was officially open. Sean and I swam upstream to get a look at the VIP section after the crowd dispersed. We recognized Maye and Kimbal, the brother and mother of Elon, who I am sure felt at home among the sea of cowboy hats. Sean spotted Harrison Ford above us. I took pictures of him in the mosh pit.

I settled into the crowd around the cowboy and basked in the wildness of the night. After seeing a lot of spectacle for the evening, we headed back to the car. Something hit me as we left. Was this my first rodeo? I've never been to a rodeo before, as a Texas native. It has been a dream of mine to go to one and tell everyone not to ask me questions, but this is my first rodeo.

Sean threatened to leave me in the Gigafactory after I told him about this revelation.

The photography was taken by Loren Grush.