You know, I really thought I'd be able to blog a little bit more while I was actually in Austin, but as you're about to see, things got a little crazy on Thursday, and it was all pretty much downhill from there (or uphill? I'm not sure what I should be saying when I'm trying to say shiz was AWESOME). All time spent not seeing bands or drinking or hanging out with fine folks was spent sleeping, so after a few days of recovery I'm going to try to recap as best I can now that I'm not in the midst of things.
Thursday actually got off to a slow start in terms of seeing music - I had my panel on Thursday morning, so while I was up super early (about 7:30 - this will be important to the story later), I didn't actually end up seeing my first band until quite a bit later.
The panel went pretty well, I think - there were about 200 people there and while some people weren't very satisfied with the way we handled our topic, I got a lot of great feedback from attendees who recognized me later in the day, and I think it was a great discussion. Basically the gist of the panel was that bloggers are being recognized as the new form of music journalism, although we are really and truly different from traditional journalists in that we're fans first. That means we don't want to waste our time writing about things that we don't like - yes, there's a place for criticism for sure, but if I only have an hour each day to share something on the blog, why wouldn't I share something I think you would enjoy listening to? That makes us a little more difficult to approach as well, because we don't have as much of an obligation to cover everything, nor do we have anything resembling enough time. The best tips I tried to share with those who asked me one-on-one later in the day was to try to develop a relationship with the blogger, and realize they're competing with 1,000 other people vying for the blogger's attention, when they probably have a day job and not a lot of free time. That's why I love covering the local scene so much - it's a lot easier for me to get to know the people involved in the music I love.
Say Hi at Room 710. Anywho, after the panel I bummed around the convention center a little and checked out Flatstock and Andy from Boss Construction's booth, then wandered around for a while, got something to eat, and ended up meeting up with Aaron from Theory 8 again. I watched a bit of Say Hi's set, so that was my first band of the day.
Caitlin Rose @ Red Gorilla. After that, I headed over to Paradise to catch Caitlin Rose play another set, and while it was a relatively weird venue, she sounded fantastic. And even played a cover of "Stand By Your Man" with Jordan Lehning of Eureka Gold, which was great.
Jordan & Caitlin @ Paradise.
Girls @ Central Presbyterian. After my second mini Nashville reunion of the week, I decide to scoot over to Central Presbyterian to get in line for the eMusic showcase - because after seeing the line at the venue the previous night for M. Ward and Department of Eagles, I knew things would get busy. But as it turns out, being fifth in the badge line didn't really matter, because I ran into John from eMusic who I had met at the panel that morning, and he took me up to the "VIP" section where I got to sit in a KILLER seat in the front row of the side balcony. I'm talking perfect, perfect vantage point. Girls rocked the first set of the night - enjoyable, but not super memorable, especially not compared to what was still to come.
Packed pews @ Central Presbyterian.
The Rural Alberta Advantage @ Central Presbyterian. The Rural Alberta Advantage was a band that I had stumbled upon pretty recently and hoped to see while at the festival, so I was super pleased to discover that they were on this bill with Grizzly Bear. The three members of the band played a show that was perky and punchy and extremely percussive, and even wrapped things up by unplugging, walking down the aisle and singing a song sans amplification in the darkened church. It was fantastic.
Grizzly Bear @ Central Presbyterian. Of course the highlight of the evening - and the highlight of the festival for me, as a matter of fact - was Grizzly Bear. Oddly enough I had never gotten into the band until very recently, when I heard Veckatimest for the first time, despite the fact that the other blogger types had been raving about this band for years. But sometimes you have to be in a specific place in your life for music to hit you the exact right way, and I'm almost glad I fell in love with Grizzly Bear when I did, because it left me perfectly poised to see a show that was certainly in the top ten I've ever seen in my life thus far.
It's hard for me to even describe what felt like perfection, but take the absolute gorgeous sound of the Grizzly Bear recordings, then put that sound in the pristine acoustic setting of a church - I'm honestly not sure I've EVER heard a better-sounding show in person. The band ran through a number of new songs from Veckatimest, a few older tracks, and an absolutely ethereal cover of "He Hit Me" that made me dizzy. The performance definitely cemented my new found love for the band, and my only real concern is that if I see subsequent performances, they will never measure up to the first time I saw Grizzly Bear. I'm certainly willing to try though.
Gomez @ Stubb's. After Grizzly Bear, I was giddy and speechless and more than a little dazed, and I ended up wandering over to see Gomez at Stubb's. They've been one of my favorites for more than ten years now, and I've seen them multiple times, but the combination of the setting at Stubb's, my reverential mood following the Grizzly Bear performance, and the batch of new material Gomez played left me a little cold. They played "Detroit Swing 66," which sounded fantastic, but I just wasn't in the mood for it.
After Stubb's, I met up with my sis and some of the Nashville crew at the Next Big Nashville official showcase, where we ended up catching part of Brooke Waggoner and most of Paper Route, but mostly chilled on a couch by the stairs, where I desperately wanted to lay down and take a nap. But no, we didn't call it a night there - in fact we had about six hours left to go.
Harlem Shakes @ Red 7. Next it was over to Red 7, to catch Harlem Shakes. I've seen them in Nashville a couple of times but somehow Becky hadn't, so even though it was a 1 a.m. show and I was pretty exhausted, we headed over to see them play (my third wind was helped by the shot I took with the bartender at Maggie Mae's after he accidentally kinda threw a beer at me). SO worth staying up. Those boys absolutely get better and more fun every time I see them - which is always surprising, because they were great to begin with. The crowd was dancing and singing along and it was fantastic hearing some of the new stuff off of Technicolor Health, which is out this week. I really hope they'll be coming to Nashville sometime later this spring.
Jon Burr @ Smokin' Music. So it's 2 a.m., you've been up since 7:30, you're pretty much drunk and the lead singer of How I Became the Bomb has been texting you about their 4 a.m. show right down the street. You totally just suck it up and keep the night going, right? EXACTLY. Word on the street was that Smokin' Music was the place to be, and when we arrived, we found a huge crew of Nashville/Murfreesboro kids, Wax Fang on the stage, and an open bar. Yes, that's an OPEN bar. Apparently you can't sell booze after 2 a.m., but you can certainly give it away.
The evening at that point kinda devolved into drunken giggle fits and stupid pictures and general hilariousness, which culminated in a crazy well-lit Bomb performance at 4 a.m. (and I mean the lights were fun, but we were all pretty well lit too). And then migas at about 6 a.m. before a 7 o'clock bedtime. 24 hours, kids. I can still rock SXSW with the best of them.
Wax Fang @ Smokin' Music.
How I Became the Bomb @ Smokin' Music.
So very nice to meet you, and that was an awesome recap, good times at the Church!
Posted by: John from eMusic | Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 10:21 PM