By Thursday, you would think I would be getting into the SXSW groove. You would think. Rather, when I awoke, every part of my body hurt, particularly my feet, legs, and back. I had a dull headache from little sleep and excessive beer. I tried to devise a strategy for an easier way, particularly on my body, to attack the day. But, this simply wasn’t possible.
So I ate the pain and made my way downtown, first hitting up the Fader Fort to get a wristband for in and out access to their pop-up venue. See, I still had to cover Odd Future, and eyed the next-day’s 6:45 performance as the opportune time. Sure, it took one and a half hours just to get the wristband, but it would be worth it the next day when I saw Odd Future and Matt & Kim headline the day stage there. Plus, some delightful young people brightened-up the line with free promotional iced tea, chap stick and Trident.
Of course, I didn’t anticipate the time in line being so long, and thus missed Sondre Lerche’s performance at the Under The Radar party. I caught the last five seconds of it and the crowd exploded in approval. I bet it was cool.
Lord Huron
The name of the venue for the Under The Radar party was the Flamingo Cantina, and the inside suited the name. The space was long, with an equally deep stage, causing the drum kit to need its own, elevated area. Behind the stage was an open air patio, and next to the stage were bleacher style seating. That may seem big, but it wasn’t at all (the next day, Menomena would refer to it as performing in the “half-round”). It got sweltering inside, which made the tropical tunes of Lord Huron all the more appropriate.
On my original introduction to the LA five-piece, I compared them to Local Natives because of their percussion and harmonies. But on this day, they gave off a bigger island-vibe, making a Local Natives meets Vampire Weekend analogy seem appropriate. The set was the kind that you had to drink a beer during and allow your sweaty self to touch your neighbor. In fact, the band also felt this desire to be closer, abandoning their spread-apart lineup early on and gradually creeping-in until they were almost on top of each other. The group are clearly close and play with huge smiles on their faces. And I don’t know what it says about musicians or the event itself, when smiles stood out, but it is always refreshing to see the joy of making music put on display in front of you. I guess I just wish it wasn’t so refreshing.
The Dears
March 17th is notable to most people as St. Patrick’s Day. For Murray Lightburn, it is notable as his date of birth, and this one in particular was the 40th anniversary of the day. So, of course, some celebration was in order. Under The Radar’s Mark Redfern presented Murray with an Irish Car Bomb (which the singer didn’t quite grasp in concept), party hats were handed out and Murray dropped an n-bomb in a short speech. After some to-do, the rocking commenced.
The Dears were never a band I thought of much, but this short set made me reconsider. As a frontman, Lightburn is kinetic; standing on top of the monitors, addressing every angle of the crowd, and posing every time he got a chance. His band took the cue from him and shook their heads in emotion and thrusting their instruments for inflected notes. Lightburn noted that he related to Under The Radar because it was a family affair, run by a husband and wife, as The Dears is also a husband and wife lead unit. He then offered tender-yet-rocking duet with his wife, Natalia Yanchak, and kept the set brief and fiery. The crowd engaged completely and made The Dears feel loved, and made Murray Lightburn’s birthday a happy one.
Atlas Sound
Headlining the party was the Bradford Cox solo project Atlas Sound. My desire to watch one man create dense arrangements through looping were finally realized. It was… it was amazing.
Cox began the set simply, with guitar and harmonica, layering a couple of loops, and giving some not-so-straight-ahead folk. But as the songs melted into each other, Cox’s genius began to shine through. The audience was bewildered as to when to clap, but found room to do so anyway. Cox began seated in a chair, and over the course of the set, wandered to the back of the stage to disassemble the drum kit, and take what he needed. When he couldn’t find drum sticks, two microphones did the job. Later, he went back to the drum set and hung around for a while, playing scattered beats to go with the loops he had manufactured. Because he bagan so still, every time he moved seemed like an event, causing the audience to hold their breath in anticipation of what he would do next.
A highlight came when one looping frenzy manifested itself into “Walkabout,” causing a singalong at the cantina, something I didn’t expect but appreciated immensely. It is a beautiful song, and felt more powerful than it did as a standout single. Another one of the great moments of SXSW.
This was immediately followed by another crowd favorite, “Shelia.” And when Bradford stated that no one wanted to die alone, we agreed and reciprocated the sentiment. It is as honest and direct of a statement that can be put to tune, but the fact remains, that when you can feel and believe such a statement, it would seem impossible to do so.
Cox also acknowledged Japan in song, something I was surprised more people didn’t do over the course of the week. I’m sure every concert goer went home every evening to put on the news or read the newswire for new information about the overseas disaster or the bombing in Libya. It felt a little wrong to put our minds into music and drinking all day long, while so many horrible things were happening outside of Austin. But, that is part of the human condition: to go about your day even in scary times, because if you didn’t, you could literally stay in and do nothing all the time. At least that is how I reconcile it in my head. But yeah, it did feel a little wrong.
Twin Shadow
After a long walk to Auditorium Shores, I should have known that trouble was in the air. The crowd was massive and rowdy, awaiting a free show from The Strokes. After all, it was St Patrick’s Day, and a whole day of drinking was turning to night. But for Twin Shadow’s opening set, there was still room for enjoyment.
Unlike some of the mid-level groups that had graced huge stages throughout the week, Twin Shadow are more than ready for the leap. Like Toro Y Moi, Twin Shadow has evolved from solo project to full band, but this move fits the songs and the performance. George Lewis Jr. seems like a born band leader, strutting around the stage with purpose and giving confident renditions of his songs. “Tyrant Destroyed,” for as reserved as it is on Forget, sounds perfect in the daylight, sung to the masses, and standout “Castles In The Snow” becomes a near anthem. There are many times at festivals where you think to yourself “this would be so much better in a small room.” This was not one of these times. Some acts are better shared with a mountain of strangers.
The Strokes
Now, let me set up The Strokes with a disclaimer: there were things happening during their set that makes it impossible to review their set in any typical manner. Let me explain.
As a photographer, we were told that due to the high demand for photography, we would be brought in the pit in groups, with each group getting one song. Now, this is not typical but not unheard of. The waiting line clumped into a barricaded off area that held disabled patrons; people in wheelchairs and deaf people who were getting the show signed to them. Many of these were children. This could have gone fine. But, well, it didn’t.
The first problem was that the security team failed to clear the first photo group from the pit. Someone didn’t get the assignment, and that aspect of the job went to shit. Some eager (read: asshole) photographers thought that punching their way into the pit was acceptable and would result in getting that awesome shot of Julian Casablancas that they always dreamed of. Those of us in the front of the line were pushed even closer to the disabled, violating their restricted space and creating a sense of discomfort. Then, and I’m not sure if the barricade went down or if the people just charged in, the crowd pushed forward and the restricted space disappeared. Deaf kids cried in fear. People in wheelchairs fought being trampled. All the worst shit you could imagine. But, security, told not to let photographers into the pit and not to let anyone back stage, wouldn’t allow any evacuation of the area. I spent the greater part of the set holding back people to keep me from trampling a kid in a wheelchair. A mother of a deaf child yelled furiously at me and others, misdirecting her anger at us when it should have been directed toward a failure in event organization. Elsewhere, I heard the fences housing the event were pushed over to gain entrance. People got hurt. It was scary, it was painful, and most of all, it was dangerous.
But through this, The Strokes played on. On opener “What Ever Happened?,” Casablancas flubbed the words, causing him to mention to the crowd, “I don’t even know the words, how could you?” The set featured the expected hits and new songs, but really, I didn’t, and couldn’t, pay attention to the music.
The pressure was relieved a bit during the encore, and the band rocked through closing numbers “Soma” and “Last Night,” culminating in a firework show that puts other firework shows to shame. For me, the lights in the sky illuminated the dark surroundings, showing people at their ugliest. It was a shame that what could have been an excellent rock show was ruined by poor planning and stubbornness. But, I can’t hold a grudge. Surely, the security team wasn’t trained for how to deal with the difficult circumstances, and hopefully, no one was seriously hurt.
Portugal, the Man
The consensus among a couple photographer friends and I was that, after The Stokes incident, we wanted something easy. And what could be easier than a trip back to Stubbs, where the photo pit was easily accessible and room was plentiful? Well, that was until Thursday, when they started limiting the photo pit to ten people at a time. But, I did manage to get in for the three bands at the top of the bill.
Portugal, the Man, the Portland based band which is starting to gain mass appeal, likes fog. The group was barely visible through the dense machine smoke that covered the stage. As far as sound, well, it is understandable why they jumped to a major label. It is easy to like, but over the course of their set I found it difficult to latch on to anything and nothing left me with something to hum or reason to investigate more.
Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band
While I indulged in some delicious tacos, I considered trying to catch the opening of The Kills across the street, but decided against it. Boy, am I glad I stayed. Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band made for excellent conversation music while I stood in the back of Stubbs, but when I made my way forward to catch the end of the set, I realized just what a performer Bradley really is.
The man, in his sixties, was drenched in sweat and kicked out some of the most heartfelt soul music I have heard since I-don’t-remember-when. He blew kisses to the crowd, nailed a terrific version of Neil Young’s “Heart Of Gold,” and even did the splits. Yeah, an old dude doing the splits. I can now say I have seen it all and mean it. When completing the set, Bradley yelled “thank you” from the place in his soul where emotions are first conceived. It was a heartfelt showing of gratitude for an audience that showed him the respect that he deserved and the adoration he could not have expected. Yet again, a truly special moment.
TV On The Radio
After all the struggles of what was the hardest day I had in Texas, the night ended perfectly. TV On The Radio has the reputation of being a hit-and-miss live act. I, personally, have never seen them really miss, but I have seen them on fire before, and this night at Stubbs was one of those occasions.
Opening with some fiddling and ambient sound creation, it took a few minutes for them to make there way into their opener. When I realized it was “Young Liars,” that feeling of knowing you are about to see one of your favorite bands kick out the jams you love came over me. “Young Liars” seemed inspired, and it had to be, as the band was just recently dusting off this and other old tunes for the first time in more than a year. And from there, the band moved into rocking gear, with “Wrong Way” and “Dancing Choose.”
There weren’t a tremendous amount of new songs played, but what I heard did sound good. “Will Do” was just as affecting live and an unknown new rocker moved into funk territory and seemed like a future set climax tune. But on this night, the old songs reigned. The band pulled from the early work (“Staring At The Sun”), the middle albums (“Blues From Down Here,” “Wolf Like Me,” “DLZ”) and for an encore, gave a determined blasting of “Province.” As the band plays bigger venues over the coming months, there will be scrutiny over whether they can handle it. But if SXSW was any indicator, the band is more than ready to become the event live band they will be pushed to being. And hopefully, that whole “TV On The Radio suck live” argument, which has grown stale anyway, will go away.
< Read: South By Southwest day two - Wednesday March 16th
Read: South By Southwest day four – Friday March 18th >
