SXSW #5

On the final day of SXSW we stumbled around the city of Austin little more than zombies, shuffling from bar to bar watching bands. Highlights must include unexpectedly seeing Lee "Scratch" Perry as we attempted to find a UPS station to mail back some posters. In retrospect, one of the more surreal SXSW moments must have been being mistaken for members of another band, as we stopped to watch Million Year Dance perform in an empty parking lot on our way to the Omni Hotel.

At the Omni, we gathered our strength and focused our attention. There were many hard choices to be made, starting with Cursive or the Stooges? Things were not made easier when we heard that 400 Blows was also playing at midnight. Furthermore, some of us wanted to go see Field Music open at the Cursive show, while others were pulling for the Buzzcocks, having missed their earleir show. Spoon and Kings of Leon were also getting big hype, countered with Tokyo Police Club. Most of decided on starting the evening at the Cursive show, catching Art in Manilla and Field Music, before heading over to Stubbs for Iggy and the Stooges, Spoon, Kings of Leon, to meet with those who had gone to the Buzzcocks. Art in Manilla seemed rather etheral and poppy, but it was Field Music that caught us off guard. For starters, our initialy impression (incorrect) was they were somewhat ambient and spacey, easily complementing Art in Manilla. The Sunderland trio took significant time getting set up properly, and the crowd grew restless as they complained to the soundman about minor changes. However, as soon as they began, it all proved worthwhile as they produced one of the best sounds that we heard throughout all SXSW, even though the backyard, chain-linked, tented-awning stage was perhaps one of the crudest performance spaces (only Maritime and Million Year Dance had to deal with worse). Furthermore, their angularity completing surprised us, sounding something like a poppier Mission of Burma, but with keyboards.

Afterwards, we ran over to the Stooges show, only to find the line-up extending all the way down Red River, across the street along 9th and up the block. Realizing that there were hundreds of people in line, we hustled back to the Cursive show, where a half-block line-up had already formed. We texted the rest of our group to suggest that we were bailing on the Stooges. Luckily, it turned out that the hype of the Buzzcocks had been so great that they went from openers to headliners, and our colleagues decided to head straight for Stubbs. They were near the head of the line when we sent our message and quickly ran back to join them in line as Kings of Leon started in all their Texan, trailor-park fury. Queens of the Stone Age might do it better, but that's not really a knock. Spoon on the otherhand, left us cold. Technically proficient, we simply did not understand where they were coming from.

Iggy, however, we understood all too well, and were immediately held in thrall by his vitality. Like James Brown, you kinda get the same show with Iggy Pop but there's still something heartfelt in the animosity he generates. Of all the shows we saw, he was the only one who through himself repeatedly into the audience, hugging and touching its members (though after unzipping his pants and prancing around for ten minutes, we all thought we were going to see his), no doubt causing the SXSW security team to wince. The head of security must have popped a vessel when Iggyy finally invited some fifty people to come onstage at the end of his set to dance. It ws unbelievable.

Once it was over, and we negotiated the ensuing bedlam, we piled into the rental car and drove off to San Antonio where our 6:25 departure was waiting for us, ending our SXSW adventures.