After seeing about 23 bands in one day, I fancied myself some sort of concert attending superhero. Powers: stamina (able to stand for an entire day), superhearing (can stand in front of speakers and not turn immediately deaf) and the ability to see the future (able to pick out the next big thing). You know what would have been a good superpower? The ability to fly…or maybe something like Nightcrawler’s power where I can just pop myself wherever I want to go. Thursday, we faced the fierce supervillain known as ”traffic” and his extra evil sidekick, “the good-luck-trying-to-park monster.” After a ferocious battle, we finally made it downtown and found a place to park.
I was already frustrated – in the time it took us to park, I missed a handful of bands I wanted to see. Feeling defeated with yet to see a single band for the day, my friend insisted we’d feel better with coffee in our systems. The hits just kept coming – the coffee/breakfast taco place we walked to had just finished serving breakfast. NO BREAKFAST TACOS? How to go on? It was like some cosmic SXSW-being had found my Kryptonite and took away my breakfast tacos. Perhaps if I had gotten more sleep, I would have realized that in Texas almost every other building or food trailer has tacos and all was not lost, but at that point in time, it really felt like the end of the world.
We ordered our coffee, sat down and I half-heartedly ate my sandwich off the lunch menu. Midway through our meal, my friend perked up. “Bethany, do you know who is sitting next to us?” I cast a casual glance at a table of what looked to me to be your everyday SXSW goers – sunglasses, toms shoes, suits and really skinny guys. A few of the guys had their backs to me and my previously mentioned superpowers didn’t involve x-ray vision to see who those guys were.
“That’s Michael Cera.”
I listened to the voice. Sure enough, that was moviestar Michael Cera was sitting next to us with his band Mister Heavenly, while I just sat around looking like a depressed hobo because I didn’t get to eat my daily tacos.
But you don’t care about my ridiculous obsession with breakfast tacos, so let’s get to the music.
We finally moved on from breakfast. I wanted to check out Foster the People at the MTV Garage, but the line was huge to get in and I don’t really do lines…at least not that early in the day, so we walked a few more blocks and ended up at the IFC house where we were under the impression that Wye Oak was about to play. Well, there were quite a few people at the IFC house enjoying the free drinks and a lot of other people looked busy in the glass studio, but it didn’t look like Wye Oak was playing anytime soon. Now I came to Texas to see an absurd amount of bands and so far this day we had been striking out. We bustled back outside and walked another block to perhaps my favorite venue at SXSW: The Central Presbyterian Church. Why do I love this venue? 1. Air-conditioning, 2. Chairs and 3. Best acoustics out of all the venues. I guess iTunes got the awesome acoustics memo because they recorded all the bands playing there and you can download those live sessions from SXSW on iTunes now.
We had gotten a text about an unofficial lineup happening at the church, but we didn’t really know set times. So we were pleasantly surprised when our first performance of the day came from synth rockers Neon Trees. Some people are anti-top 40 radio/mainstream, which Neon Trees have broken into, but if you disregard this band for their popularity, then you’re being an idiot because they are phenomenal live. They sound a bit like the Killers and were even discovered by that band in a way. I’ve seen them almost ten times in the past year alone because of their relentless tour schedule and I’ve never been bored by them. Each performance is unique and this performance was especially so. As mentioned earlier, this band was performing in a church and their frontman Tyler fully embraced the setting, taking off his shoes for climbing over pews and up on podiums, swinging his microphone around and more. In the middle of one song he leaned against the podium and said, “We’re gathered here in the church of rock,” before busting into the next round of the chorus. The people loved it, but I could only imagine some pastor in the back of the church cringing.
Kansas City’s the Republic Tigers followed, playing several of their new songs. “Kingsly,” “Merrymake It with Me,” “Somethin’ Fierce” and “Manny Feathers” filled out most of the set. Though the official recordings of these songs won’t be released until mid-April, but iTunes did record the entire live session at the church. If you want to check out this performance, visit here.
From the church we ventured into a very different sort of venue: Headhunters. Instead of pews and crucifixes we had tikkis and bamboo. The room looked like it only should hold 15 people, but closer to 100 people had squeezed in to the back patio, pressed up against the walls and spilling over the stairs. A band called Hot Panda was just finishing up and though we didn’t get to hear too much from them, I loved the big ballad rock thing they had going on that was turned into party music with the brass accompaniment. But the real reason why we had wedged our way into Headhunters was to see the party king himself: Andrew WK. Andrew WK was singing and playing keys, while a member of Beach Fossils tore it up on the guitar, which was awesome within itself, but really made this show complete was the hosting/singing of Nardwuar the Human Serviette. With this unique trio, we learned about Canadian government, learned about Nardwuar’s back hair and we got down. Though there wasn’t much room to move, Nardwuar demanded that everyone get down and jump up in unison. If you didn’t – he’d call you out and yell at you until you did as asked. Forget the free booze parties with the sunglasses handouts, this is how you party at SXSW.
From Andrew WK and Nardwuar, we swung by the Paste Party on 6th Street. We were eager to check out Saddle Creek trio Rural Alberta Advantage, but a duo of ladies drew us into the sideroom to see what their folksy songs were like. The act performing was Exene Cervenka. The Rural Alberta Advantage performed true to their name, singing heartfelt indie rock songs that transported listeners to what life is like in rural Alberta.
Then we went to see another trio: Grand Child. Grand Child wasn’t really on my radar until I learned that the kind guy, Andy Lane, loaning us floorspace to crash on in Austin was performing at the festival in this band. When I was last at SXSW two years ago, I saw his other band, Driver F, perform a bombastically fun set at the Tiniest Bar. Driver F is pop indie rock with trumpets blazing and huge drumbeats. Grand Child is complete turnaround from that sound. Grand Child is a folk trio with violin, guitar and occasional accordion. Their were some technical problems during this set, but the band kept a positive attitude and still performed a solid set.
The Strokes were the big buzz band Thursday and unlike most bands playing at tiny bars, the Strokes were given a big stage in the middle of a fenced in park. They weren’t scheduled until 8, but the Auditorium Shores Stage at Lady Bird Lake was a bit of a walk, so we joined the masses already walking over there. The park was packed. Food tents and port-a-potties lined the fences and blankets with fans covered nearly every square inch of ground. The photography pit ended up as complete chaos – which was just another testament to the band’s popularity. Despite their break, the Strokes haven’t changed much since the last time I saw them. Sure, the guys all have slightly different haircuts, but the set contained all the hits you could want – “Hard to Explain,” “New York City Cops,” “Reptilia” – and the expected new ones. The songs fit in just as well with the old songs thanks to killer guitar riffs and Julian Casablancas‘ almost-bored-sounding-yet-still-suave singing style with the surprise yowls here and there. Fans got a little too zealous about this show though and the night ended with a bunch of people knocking over a fence, trying to push their way in when it hit capacity.
Hot and tired from the walk to the Strokes, my next stop was a return the air-conditioned Central Presbyterian Church. I had just missed Cults, but by luck I got in just in time for the almost religious experience that was Glasser. Haunting, ethereal vocals and entrancing stomping dance moves to tribal beats: it was like the venue was made specifically for Glasser. Beautiful and breathtaking.
The next portion of my night was a tribute to goofy, geeky indie rock at Maggie Mae’s. I know ‘geek’ used to have a negative connotation, but I’m using it with a very positive tone and to describe bands with pop culture references and very smart lyrics. Washington’s The Lonely Forest performed new songs off their just released Arrows. This is the band that was good enough to attract Death Cab for Cutie‘s Chris Walla‘s attention to sign to as the first to his label, so they’re worth checking out. They’re so catchy, that you won’t regret giving them a listen.
Inside Maggie Mae’s was Aussie Darren Hanlon plucking away upbeat folk songs on guitar and banjo. He was joined by a female guitarist and vocalist that I didn’t recognize, but it was a nice addition to cover the many guest vocals he has on his album.
One of my favorite bands that I last discovered at Lollapalooza followed Hanlon. Jukebox the Ghost is a piano pop rock trio with tons of energy. Their songs are so bubbly that even when they’re singing about being crazy, you’re in a happy mood about it.
If Wednesday I was all about the ladies, it seems like Thursday had become my tribute to Canadians. My favorite Candian singer is Dallas Green and I went to watch him perform with City and Colour. City and Colour has some of the most beautiful and true lyrics I’ve heard. The folk songs are fairly simple instrumentally – mostly just acoustic guitar – but it just makes the poignant lyrics and singing stand out all that more. Just take a look at some of the lyrics in the opening song of the set, “Sleeping Sickness.” “With all the worries that occupy the back of my mind, could it be this misery will suffice?” sings Green in the chorus. For anyone who has lied awake at night with troubling thoughts, this song describes the “sickness” exquisitely.
From one singer-songwriter with killer lyrics to the next, I rounded out Thursday with a familiar favorite: Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band. Every time I see him perform, he is equally, if not more, passionate. He can mislead by starting off with the typical slow, folk sound, but then he hits a chorus and veins are throbbing and he’s yowling out with such energy and vigor that you can’t help, but be swept away. As a special treat, the set also included songs from Devine’s project with Manchester Orchestra, Bad Books.
So despite my earlier frustrations with the day, Thursday ended up being pretty fantastic.
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Check back for more to come from PopWreckoning’s Bethany and her experience at SXSW. You can see more photos from Day 2, Thursday, March 17 below and read her Day 1 blog here.
