A picture of some Austin awesomeness.
The full day by day wrap up is in several posts below — they start with Wednesday and go on down through Saturday night. If you want to see who we saw, here’s the list and links:
Helio Sequence
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
We arrived in gorgeous Austin, Texas. Our mission for today, other than getting our badges and hotel room: getting close enough for R.E.M. tonight.
The badges were key. We were in a line of no more than 30 people. It was 7pm and R.E.M. set was scheduled for midnight. Meanwhile, two really phenomenal Stubb’s BBQ sandwiches later, we were in the venue with 4 opening bands to go.
When the first band opened, we had to check to make sure it wasn’t Michael Stipe on the vocals. Summerbirds in the Cellar were quite good - they also took the honor of the band with the most-impossible-to-remember name. We heard people calling them everything from Summerwind Birds to Dead Birds in the Basement.
The second act, Johnathon Rice, was pretty unremarkable — except to remark that I wasn’t a fan of theirs the first time around when they were the Allman Brothers. Next up was the Papercranes. I can’t remember much — in part because of the Tecate intake level at that point — because I was too distracted by the vocalist. Which leads us to a recurring theme for the week: Distracting Band Member Feature. For the Papercranes, we spent much of the time trying to figure out what era her Anne Wilson hair and long-overcoat-over-minidress ensemble recalled. [Update — apparently the Vocalist is Rain Phoenix.]
Right before R.E.M., the showcase finally took a turn towards the RAWK! Dead Confederate delivered a huge, loud, and mesmerizing live show. I can’t imagine what their show the next day behind Home Slice Pizza would be like — the place might not need to turn their ovens on. While comparisons leave out subtleties that make many acts deserving of their SXSW invitations, I could hear strains of Mellon Collie-era Smashing Pumpkins.
Finally, at midnight R.E.M. came on:
Damn they look old. Damn they sound great. Lots of new material (which is good…not great). So I know what you want to know: what did they play from their back catalog?
Fall on Me (amazing)
Second Guessing (omg)
Drive
The Great Beyond (never liked it, but live it was great)
Electrolite (made my entire trip worth it)
There may have been more - Tecate-brain prevents perfect recall.
Or at least Peter anyway. We hit our first day party at the Yard Dog Gallery and got there in time to catch Peter Moren’s solo set. We grabbed some free beer and BBQ while he concluded by saying he’s playing several SXSW shows and wants to do a different cover each time. Then he launched into a very faithful cover of “Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard”.
We figured we’d grab another free beer with plenty of time to get a spot for Okkervil River, who was playing after the Cool Kids. What - ho? Is there a high school field trip scheduled? There were dozens of 14 - 16 year olds cramming the tent for the Cool Kids. Isn’t this a weekday? One kid’s mother tells him he has an hour before she comes back. She’s about my age.
I like hip-hop and I love to support Chicago artists, but I don’t get the hype on this act.
Most, not all, of the 14 year-olds in the crowd for the Cool Kids cleared out so we could get a bit closer for Okkervil River. The Stage Names was my favorite album of 2007, and a conflict kept me from their show at the Logan Square Auditorium last fall, so I was quite anxious to get to hear them live.
Distracting Band Member Feature: What’s a Chexican?
Okkervil River’s (extremely kick-ass) drummer was sporting this T-shirt. Apparently, as he told us after their set, it was supposed to be “Czechican” for a Czech friend, but got misspelled. We think it’s funnier this way.
Okkervil River sounds great on their records - catchy melodies supported by a range of delicate to forceful instrumentation and underscored by extremely dark and articulate lyrics. Live, they were fantastic, especially under a small tent in the backyard of an art gallery.
The band burned through a tight set opening with “The President’s Dead” leading right into “Black”. Most of the remaining songs were Stage Names standouts, including “Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe”, “A Girl in Port”, “A Hand To Take Hold of the Scene”, before the band offered us a choice between “Unless It’s Kicks” or “For Real”. We chose the latter, and I think we chose right — at the song’s conclusion, I was surprised to see that the tent was still fastened to the ground.
Oh, and also, the band has some really sexy fans:
The gentleman (?) on the right was kind enough to lift his skirt for my lens.
Blitzen Trapper took the stage at Yard Dog and over the next 35 minutes burned through tunes that incorporated themes and sounds ranging from the Dead to Hendrix to the White Stripes. We were smitten. One of the songs featured at least three of the six band members shaking pumpkins, gourds and a large bean while vocalist/lead guitarist Eric Earley shrieked, shredded and howled — it was an all out gourd assault.
Distracting Band Member Feature: the geek-chic t-shirt worn by multi-instrumentalist Marty Marquis featuring garlic characters from all nations:
I’d seen Man Man before and knew they’d be a popular set at the Cedar Street Courtyard showcase, but when we got there it was packed. The bowling alley setup made it even more challenging. Man Man is a band you have to see, however, so we worked our way to a place where we could catch the side of the show from inside.
We were able to squeeze out a bit closer for a few songs by The Weakerthans, but only by standing directly in front of the speakers, which didn’t work for long.
After dealing with our poor vantage point for Man Man and the Weakerthans and the priciest drinks we’d come across in Austin, we were ready to quit the Cedar Street Courtyard for a new venue. On the way out, we got stopped by a Heath Ledger lookalike handing out CDs and cards for his band’s (Diego’s Umbrella) set at the Yard Dog day party on Saturday. Vaughn described their sound as gypsy-pirate-polka-flamenco music — and we were sold.
He also suggested that we stay to hear DeVotchKa, saying they had a female tuba player — and we were sold.
We grabbed a table toward the front where we could see and not hear and enjoyed their sound. On our way out after their set, we saw the tuba on the move up the stairs. Then DeVotchKa performed an impromptu number on the sidewalk:
We got distracted from our plan of action by the Aussie BBQ across from the Austin Convention Center.
Or perhaps it was this lovely sight that drew us in:
The band coming off the stage, Yves Klein Blue, could literally have been the sons of the next band, The Chevelles. But the Chevelles were totally kick-ass (if this had been SXSW 1982).
A bigger crowd snuck in to see The Vines while we we helped ourselves to free veggie burgers and Australian beers. The Vines put it a vibrant set, including a fantastic cover of Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson”. But the highlight was this final song:
The Stems didn’t need that equipment anyway…
Enroute to the Mohawk, we somehow spotted the smallest setlist in Austin listing Nada Surf at the Beauty Bar at 4pm. Nada Surf was one of our targets for that evening, but given conflicts with other great bands we decided to catch them now and snuck in to the back patio at a good vantage point.
But there was a problem — it sounded like the band and its fans directly next door at Red 7 were taking down the walls, or maybe even the Berlin Wall. It was the worst sound bleed we’d experienced — and it was clear Nada Surf had their work cut out for them to compete.
After a few energetic opening songs, frontman Matthew Caws asked the crowd if we want to continue to hear louder selections or wanted to take a chance on some quieter numbers. We chose loud, and I think we chose right. I don’t have their new album Lucky, but I plan to pick it up.
Distracting Band Member Feature: bassist Daniel Lorca’s truly impressive ability to play his instrument, sing, and smoke a cigarette all at once — through several songs.
Later that evening, on the shuttle, we met a Norwegian photographer working for MTV, who was showing us his pictures from earlier that day at Red 7. We found the noise-riot culprit — a Norwegian black metal band that wears nothing but bloody goat pelts during their performance.
We got to the Sub Pop showcase at Bourbon Rocks right before the Handsome Furs started their set. The duo was having a great time on stage — throwing water at relatives, spitting water at the audience.
Distracting Band Member Feature: The large earrings on the blonde (Alexei Perry) at the drum machine — and how violently they tugged on her earlobes as she played. Check it out:
I asked her later whether her earlobes ache at the end of the night. She showed me that they are two very light pieces of metal that she fastened together. Cute, rhythmic and crafty = the indie trifecta!
We chose to skip the line in the hot sun at the Pitchfork day party since the Paste/Stereogum party was literally right next door (as in the next door over) and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin was playing.
Distracting Band Member Feature: Seriously - are these guys even able to vote yet?
We finally made it up to the Mohawk in time for British Sea Power. This time, it wasn’t a band member feature that was distracting. The 90 degree heat and the first cocktail of the day launched me into a hazy mental state in which I could only handle people-watching. The Mohawk’s multi-level patios provide a perfect vista over the scene. The band’s music has a flowing quality with horns floating in and out that provided an ideal backdrop.
Much later that evening, after we got our fill of Sub Pop artists and strolled out onto 6th street trolling for food, we found a pizza truck with a decent line. Apparently, the previous patrons weren’t fond of the pepperoni:
And then somebody got creative:
