Amanda Palmer performing in a church (and very subdued by Amanda Palmer standards).
Thinking I liked +/- based on “Steal the Blueprints” but struggling through a whole set to determine they are ultimate dude geek rock - technically tight and amazing, but very low on evoking emotions.
Missing Glasvegas because they were late and we were heading to a panel. Then the panel was an hour late because Quincy Jones‘ namedroppingkeynote ran over by an hour. I guess if you’re Quincy Jones you actually do have two hours worth of names to drop.
Missing Grizzly Bear performing in a church (especially after NPR’s twitter informed my they played their haunting cover of the Crystals’ “He Hit Me”).
Artists I unfortunately missed because they were playing opposite sets I didn’t want to miss: John Wesley Harding, PJ Harvey, Shearwater, St. Vincent, Crystal Stilts, King Khan & the Shrines, Black Lips, the Wrens, Red Red Meat, the Thermals
Artists I unfortunately missed because of flat out poor planning or tough logistics: the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Peggy Sue, Devo, Echo and the Bunnymen, Ra Ra Riot, the Airborne Toxic Event, the Annuals, the Hard Lessons, Exene Cervenka, Camera Obscura, The Proclaimers (no not really) Daniel Johnston (ok that was because it was Saturday at 1am and I just couldn’t stand up any longer) and dozens of others
Artists I deliberately missed in order to avoid the inevitable shitshow: Metallica, Kanye West
The misses are hard to complain about when your trip starts like this:
Note: wherever possible I have linked to the artists’ SXSW pages, which contain free MP3s.
Is there any place other than SXSW where you see both hipsters and frat boys pumping fists to the Hold Steady on one night and hipsters and frat boys pumping fists to French nouveau-disco princess Yelle the next night?
The Hold Steady at the Mohawk patio on Friday night:
Setlist on stage
I have no good video from Yelle at Emo’s, but picture a younger, cooler Celine Dion wrapped in a gold lame minidress, flailing her long limbs non-stop and shouting “Are you ready to get craaaaazyyyy, Austeeeeeen!!!!” Ah, bien sur.
Mais bien sur, SXSW revels in its diversity and the wide variety of musical options offered by nearly 1900 artists over four days. The intoxicating effect of stumbling on a great band by accident is matched only by the joy of unexpected reactions as the crowd basks in the experience and by the dedication of bands playing their hearts out under challenging conditions.
Some of my favorite of these instances follow:
We were crammed like sardines into the Yard Dog Gallery’s tiny tented back alley for the Bloodshot Records day party on Friday (perhaps not coincidentally, this was also one of the few places this year with free beer).
Commemorative cup contained delicious free beer
Justin Townes Earle, armed with his guitar and his harmonica/banjo/mandolin player, was entertaining us with his retro rockabilly. (This guy could star in a wrong side of the tracks version of Pleasantville.) As he turned to the quiet, gorgeous ballad “Someday I’ll Be Forgiven For This” from his terrific 2009 release Midnight at the Movies, the din from the free-beer crowd became annoying. A very large dude in front of me, sporting sunglasses with skulls and black nail polish, clearly wanted to hear the sweet tune and shot some nasty looks that went ignored. Finally, he asked the offenders to quiet down or take it to the alley. He was promptly invited by the offenders to “suck a bag of dicks” before they retreated.
Since we could barely hear or see that set at Yard Dog, on Saturday night we rushed over to catch him at the second to last set of the official showcases. This time, we were not disappointed. But it can be a long stretch for these artists:
Before the next song, Earle informed us that his accompaniest had literally woken up an hour before their set, to which he replied “Hey, it’s fucking South By”. Also awesome: Earle’s guitar neck has his full name inlaid in mother-of-pearl.
On Friday night, Atlanta’s Gringo Star was called away from dinner to step in for the Blakes (whose absence was never explained). After their set, I couldn’t have been happier about it. These guys are very entertaining live, playing Kinks-esque catchy numbers while switching instruments, making animated expressions and sharing mics like it was the second British invasion. [Note: this band is not to be confused with Ringo Deathstarr, also playing at SXSW.]
At the Home Slice Pizza day party on Saturday, Canadian new waver Gentleman Reg, playing the tiny side stage filling in between main acts, expanded his set from 15 minutes to nearly 40 minutes as a result of two mishaps. First, Deer Tick failed to show up (apparently the bass player showed right before the set, saying their singer’s voice was shot). No problem, said Home Slice, the Uglysuit will start a bit earlier. Unfortunately they broke the key off in their (awesome) trailer:
Poor Gentleman Reg had only prepared a short set. As the Uglysuit struggled to get set up, Gentleman Reg informed the crowd, “If you were here for our first set, you may want to go to the restroom or grab some coffee, because we have to start over again now.”
Mais bien sur, since this is SXSW, instead of getting angry, the crowd responded generously. A woman with a tambourine and a maraca brought another crowd member out to perform an impromptu dance number that had the crowd clapping and the band smiling ear to ear (they even invited her to play at their official showcase). Finally, mercifully, Gentleman Reg was allowed to quit and the Uglysuit’s long, building, and expansive guitar-driven songs meshed perfectly with the warm breezes and bright sunshine of the Austin afternoon. (Unfortunately I have no video of these guys, who were the hairiest band I saw and banged their heads like they were Metallica instead of updated Skynard.)
Earlier on Saturday, witness the struggle that comes when Scots meet the Texas sun, courtesy of We Were Promised Jetpacks:
Note: wherever possible I’ve linked to the artists’ SXSW pages, including free MP3s.
When you see at least 10 bands a day, the music begins to meld together into one big blob of beats and wails. So the quality of the performance can end up being the distinguishing factor - for better or worse.
The biggest stumper: School of the Seven Bells. Presumably it was their Secret Machines connection that earned their spot on the roster, because it sure wasn’t their performance. This may or may not be (appropriately) “Half Asleep” — all six songs they played sounded the same.
I know, they are beautiful women, so they don’t need to do much other than stand there, right? Not so…witness the drummer for the Ettes:
I know, but the Ettes are playing pure rawk! and not Cocteau Twins meets Chemical Brothers electronica. Electronica acts don’t need to push it like rockers, right? Not so…witness Starfucker:
Hell, even kids and dogs were putting on a better show:
On a side note, the Bird and the Bee was my favorite randomly caught show. They weren’t listed on the original South by San Jose day party list, and while cutting over from Home Slice to grab a coffee, I saw the lovely blues and whites of their dresses and heard their sweet girly-pop and fortunately caught the last half of their set (including what I’d like to see go down in the girl-pop hall of fame: “Be My Fucking Boyfriend”).
