SXSW 2010 Day Four

March 20, 2010 Saturday

I once heard Chris Thile say that South by Southwest is kind of like a reverse meet and greet, where instead of people going to see a band at a concert, bands come to see Austin and its people, star-struck with the beautiful city and the buzz of maddening crowds. Despite this harsh analysis, watching the frenetic pushing of guitar amps, cases and drums through the city streets reveals a great deal of accuracy in the statement.

Our final day at SXSW began in difficulty, facing high winds, a drop in temperature, a lack of parking and long lines. To avoid the bitter wind and chilly gloom, we bunkered down at the Red Eyed Fly with the WXPN party. The inside stage was tiny with a small sound system and had the feeling of a dark and seedy dive bar. It showcased smaller, singer songwriter type acts. Nicole Adkins was first up, just her and her acoustic playing some sweet songs in a sultry baritone. The underpowered inside sound was problematic, as it was completely overwhelmed by competing band volume outside. The rear outside stage was in a large enclosed patio area and had fantastic sound. First up on the outside stage was Dawes, a band from LA and a perfect example of the reason you come to Austin to experience SXSW. Dawes made an immediate impression with their live show and shot immediately to the top of the Bands To Check Out Post SXSW list. In support of their debut cd North Hills, the band plowed through some great songs in the gritty pop and Southern harmonies vein, reminiscent of Springsteen, Wilco, Van Morrison and a dash of the pure pop perfection of Weezer. Intelligent lyrics abound, like “I need a graceful and proud way to accept all the things you don’t know” from Love Is All I Am, as well as an offering from “That Western Skyline”: “All my dreams did not come true, they only fell apart.” I can only hope all of their eight Austin shows this week have been this good.

The next few acts rotated between inside and out, mostly falling short of the intensity and quality of other acts we had seen, including Lissie on the small inside stage. This was her 9^th show in the 4 days of SXSW, with just her on electric guitar as singer songwriter with a drummer/bass player. Outside was Jukebox the Ghost, a kind of dance rock band, but the vocals and melodies were a bit too flip for my unhipster tastes. Most of this time was in anticipation of the Freelance Whales, one of the few bands on my must see list. The odds were definitely stacked against them, being in the small room with a loud band outside and an underpowered system, but there was no reason to worry about a subpar performance. Ten minutes after their scheduled start time, they were still not at the club and got bumped. It turned out that their previous show was in a lineup that was very behind schedule and threw the whole thing off. Leaving the club, we made our way to the Billboard.com Bungalow party with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. This is a three piece banjo, harmonica, jug, fiddle, steel guitar playing band encompassing delta, blues, ragtime and having success on the bluegrass & Americana charts. It was a fun set that included “Cornbread & Butterbeans”, as well as the recognizable “Hit ‘Em Up Style” from 2001, reimagined w southern strings.

South by Southwest can be overwhelming. There are so many bands and venues and sponsored events and underground word-of-mouth attention-getters that it’s hard to choose your direction. But that also makes it easy, if you let it. You’re bound to stumble into things that you could have never planned for, even things that would normally fall outside of your preconceived notions of what you like. Being open to the diversity of bands is one of the greatest aspects of SXSW. Even more fascinating is the diversity of the people, the differing styles, clothes and ages that beg questions of backgrounds and common threads. The answer of which, obviously, is Music, with a capitol M. It seems that when it comes to age, Music keeps the old young and makes the young reach into the depths. It challenges the old to break cycles, habits and comforts, and stretch to find the New. It makes the young project cocksure hypotheses about the future that can only be answered years later, if ever. Regardless of age and identity, South by Southwest is a celebration of the passion music stirs in all of us, and an event truly about finding unexpected discoveries and holding on with all your might.

Brian S. Meurer