SXSW ’08: Saturday
The busiest day musically for me.I started the day off solo. If you ask me, the best way to see a lot of bands at a festival like this is to do it alone. That way, you won’t waste time making group decisions.
First band of the day? The Whigs at Hot Freaks. I’ll admit I ended up at this show thinking I was going to see The Whip, but the Whigs pleasantly surprised me with a solid set. I jumped out early to see The Jealous Girlfriends, a band that have been getting a lot of airplay here in the office (look for a post on just them in a day or so).
It was around 2pm, I was starving and hadn’t eaten all day. I got a text about the DMX (not the rapper) party at the Brush square. There was always food there. And free drinks. And friends. And British Sea Power. And Duffy. And Ludacris! Duffy was not really my thing. Touted as the next Amy Winehouse, I thought she was was too sober to hold that reputation. Ludacris was phenomenal. Sure, I was the only person under that tent that didn’t know any of the rhymes, but I didn’t need to. I just said ‘CRIS’ when he said ‘when i say LUDA, you say….. ‘. Great performer, even when dealing with sound issues.
A bunch of us headed to the Q party. I wanted to see Pigeon Detectives. Kate Nash was performing soon after arriving at this party. Apparently, my friend Jon claims that she sang a song directly to him. Really? Jon, are you Ryan of the Cribs?
Here’s Kate’s Pumpkin Soup.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2yvdGM7YA[/youtube]
Pigeon Detectives played an animated show, the lead singer being a graduate of the Daultry/Jagger school of ‘mic’-onomics. He swung that mic with authority, was really surprised no guitarist got in the way.
Did I eat dinner that night?
The evening showcases started with The Bloody Beatroots. Amazing set by a group I’ve never heard of. Picture two guys who resemble cronies from Shredders Foot Clan in TMNT djying heavy and dirty electro club beats. Recommended for Justice fans.
I finally saw Think About Life. Really glad I made it to this gig. I’ve linked to it before, but again here’s my favorite of theirs, Paul Cries.
I headed out of town to the Red Bull Party shortly after. Kind of a weird one that was. Everything was huge! and they had Red Bull logos everywhere. I played guitar hero on what must have been a 25 foot screen. Cool kids performed (only really remember them smashing a pinata on stage…). We missed Diplo.
I finished the night at The Vice Party. Some good times had there, in point form:
–Fucked Up performed and during the first song, the lead singer smashed a fluorescent light on his head, tossing the broken glass into the audience. One of those pieces shot up and hit the guitarist in the face, who promptly ran for the washrooms. The band stopped after that song.
-Everyone was drinking tall boys of Miller High Life and something called Sparks.? It was doing weird things to people.
-My friend Maria tossed a demoCD into the crowd (stolen from some dude’s back pocket) and it hit a guy in the face. He just shrugged in response.
Here’s Jon, myself and Gary Powers enjoying the Austin air.
