SXSW is pretty much a big deal
Mar. 18th, 2008 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drunkoffthestarsSometimes, I think it would be really amazing to not have to have a life outside of seeing live music. omfg.
Jens Lekman on Friday afternoon
JENS!! God, so awesome. I know a bunch of you probably have no idea who this dude is, but let me tell you that HE IS AWESOME IN A SKINNY SWEDISH PACKAGE. He does kinda indie, folk-y, semi-retro, story-telling songs. He is one of the most genuine and open performers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing live. There are not enough superlatives in the world to describe how much his music delights me. A few songs if your interest is piqued: You Are The Light By Which I Travel, A Sweet Summer's Night, and Pocketfull of Money. If you take no other track, take You are the Light. Horns and hand-claps are the keys to my music-loving heart.
I was worried about getting in, so I got there extra-early. The poster taped to the fence said $3 and free unlimited Lone Star, so I asked the girls behind me to let me back in line and dashed off to the ATM at the end of the block as I had exactly $0 on my person. It turned out that the $3 was for the unlimited Lone Star and admission was actually free, so I kept my dollars and made my way toward the stage. Some other dude was finishing up, and he was okay but I didn't care too much. After he was done, most of the crowed left so I jumped up next to the stage and ended up sort of in the middle of a group of friends who then let me stand in front of them so they could stand next to each other and so I was right in front of JENS!
He played A Postcard to Nina, which I took video of (sadly, my camera was set on 'little video' instead of GIANT video, but it's still pretty good).
HEARTS. There are probably better videos, but whatever. MY LOVE, LET ME SHOW YOU IT. I love having him tell me that story.
Have some pictures.
Before he got started, he told the story about how the previous evening, he requested that people not record the show so it could be special, and how some girl with a giant video camera was all "whatever, just play", and he seemed pretty amused by the whole episode and said that we should go ahead and do whatever we wanted. *love*
Earnest singer face!
It was just him on his guitar and his assistant/percussionist on the bongs. hahah, bongos!
Except for when it was him on the thumb harp!
HI FACE, GOD.
For serious, he is one of my favorite live performances. He loves doing it, and I love watching him do it.
After he was done, I dropped off my recycling at the recycling center, because my apartment complex is awesome and doesn't seem to have recycling bins, and I headed home to finish cleaning my apartment so I would not be ashamed when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sunn_doyouknow saw it.. When she showed up, we treked on downtown to pick up the pass-thingies to get into the Purevolume Ranch show that night. (Haaaaaaaaaaa, ranch! WTF) Of course, I managed to walk out of the apartment without my camera. *sadface* We walked over to La Zona Rosa to meet up with some other fangirls and see Paramour and Phantom Planet, but they wanted $20 to get in, and neither of us were into that, so we went back toward the space Purevolume was renting and hung out in a bar for a little bit.
The Hush Sound on Friday evening/Early Saturday morning
The Hush Sound were supposed to go on at 1am, so around midnight, we headed over to the venue to see what was what. We found a gaggle of fangirls, and I met a bunch of new people *waves*, and got to see a bunch of the folks I met at the Cobra shows! The performances were running super late, so we caught the beginning of some screamo-type band, after which I promptly left the stage area and hung out some more, chatting with [Unknown site tag] andirish_cocktail
While waiting for a go at the portapotties, we found a dude who later turned out to be the Hushies' merch/tour dude hanging up posters, and he gave us some! I'm stupidly excited by my poster!
The Hush Sound were GREAT! The stage was little and almost floor-level. We were all front and center. Greta is teenytiney in person, and I find that so amusing, for some reason. They did mostly new songs off their album that comes out Tuesday, which sounded really cool. I do prefer to be really familiar with music before seeing it performed live, but they did a really good job of keeping up the energy and interacting with the audience so it was all good. A short set, but aren't they all? I'm really pleased that I got to see them for the first time all up close and personal.
After their performance, we headed out and found even more fangirls who were sadly unable to get inside for the Hushies performance. Also, one Alex (Singer) DeLeon, who was hanging out with some dudes who were wearing extremely shiny gold jackets. hahaha, WTF?!
Saturday, we got up late, cleaned up, found some food, and headed out. While looking for the rest of the gang, we wandered into Emos where we thought The Rocket Summer was supposed to be playing. We were wrong, it was the tent across the street, but instead, we found this other awesome band
Ore Ska Band on Saturday afternoon
They're al all-girl ska band from Japan. Everything I know about them I know from their wiki. But they're an awesome good time. They were super androgynous, super enthusiastic, and really good. About half-way through the set, a bunch of punk boys pushed through to the front and started up a circle, but in a fun, non-asshole way. The band was delighted by this development, and I think everyone watching really loved them. And I'm 90% certain that they're going to be on Warped this year. Which I will be attending! \o/
Note the punk dudes who were eating that shit up.
The Rocket Summer on Saturday afternoon
At this point, we made our way to the actual place were sere supposed to be meeting up with the whole gang again. \o/
These guys were on tour with The Academy Is... and I almost went to see the show, but decided I didn't have the time or money. Then, I saw a bunch of posts about how awesome the whole thing was was, and have been kinda kicking myself ever since for not going. I tried listening to some of Rocket Summer's songs, but was kinda 'eh' about it. Another band that I really needed to see live in order to really appreciate it.
The band is directed by the lead singer, who apparently writes everything, and can play every single instrument on stage. He's adorable and wee and has long floppy blond hair and is just SO ENTHUSIASTIC about being up there and having people respond to his music. \o/ From what I remember, the song lyrics are pretty cheesy, and not more than a few steps from Christian rock, but standing there in the shade and the breeze and watching this tent full of scene kids eat it up was fantastic! I love it when you can see that an entire section of the audience is just SO INTO IT. An excellent feel-good sort of event, would see again.
This was taken during the hilarious interlude where he ran around the stage like a nut and set up these insane loops himself on every instrument up there and put a song together like that right there. It was hilarious and awesome.
After they were done, the crowd started chanting ONE MORE SONG, ONE MORE SONG, and they totally came out to do it, but the venue dudes turned off the mics and wouldn't let them. He was super cute and apologetic about it. d'awwww.
Cue break for food and bathroom. I got to talk to Lindsey as we wolfed down some food and rested our feet for a bit. (ps. if anyone wants to point her in my direction, I have the pictures she took on my camera, if she wants them.)
The Cab on Saturday evening
Several folks in our gaggle had already managed to see these guys this weekend, but this was my first time, and I'm really impressed by how much better they are each time I see them. It's pretty cool to see how far they've come since last fall whenever that was when I saw them in San Antonio.
I'm also getting more and more excited about their album. I've heard two of their studio tracks, and it's pretty freaking awesome that they're that good, and so quickly.
Why do I find it so entertaining that they've got their drum with their name on it? No idea!
This is Ian, being a dork and wearing his sunglasses at night like a douche. I am SO ENTERTAINED.
He was a total ADD posterchild during the entire show. Even during the 15 second break between songs, he was picking out something different on his guitar. A few were songs I didn't recognize, but one was totally the a video game theme, I'm thinking Mario since I actually recognized it.
Yeah, basically everyone else was too far away to get good pictures of.
Except Singer. Hi Singer!
The Hush Sound on Saturday evening
They were still right in front of my face, and they were as good or better than they were last night. They played more of a mix of old and new, which was pretty cool, and I was more familiar with the new songs they were playing, so it was possibly even more enjoyable. I was really focused on enjoying the music, so not too many pictures.
Here is their merch/tour dude passing out stickers! I like him.
Here is Greta being awesome and playing the piano. She is SO AWESOME.
Here is Chris, who is apparently one of the nicest dudes ever. He was seen helping The Cab set up, and when Phantom Planet started, their drummer hit one of his cymbals and part of the stand wasn't tightened enough, so it sort of was hanging there wrong, and Chris came over and fixed it.
Bob! Here, he is pictured with his awesome black guitar. It is almost as awesome as his other guitar, which is exactly the same, only red. There were some drunk dudes next to me who were really into Greta, and also, Bob's red guitar.
No pictures of the drummer, because I didn't get any that weren't blurry as all hell.
Phantom Planet on Saturday evening
We stayed up front for what was I think the final performance of the evening. Phantom Planet is a recent FBR acquisition, so I think everyone was pretty interested in seeing them. Apparently, Jason Schwartzman used to be a member? And one of their songs was/is on The O.C.? IDK, bu they are all pretty tall and gangly, and were all wearing their merch, which was somehow really adorable. The singer was supremely entertaining, and really liked talking to the crowd, and I was charmed. I was also in position to stare at their drummer, who basically spent the entire time looking extremely bemused. It was pretty awesome. And the bassist's bass is SO BEAT UP. Like, it was missing half it's paint. 0.o And the guitarist made himself bleed all over his guitar. It was kinda gruesome. And I was close enough to see it. \o?
Lead Singer. Gets thumbs up from me. Also, wearing hilarious cardigan sweater.
Bassist. Note the lack of paint, wtf.
Drummer. Note is awesome FACE. Also note the cymbal on the right, that is upright because Chris of The Hush Sound fixed it.
Guitarist. Sort of looks like One Of These Does Not Belong, but makes up for it by wearing their black merch and being skinny and rocking out.
An excellent view of the cardigan. I mean, really. WHAT? Hey, he's a rockstar, he does what he wants.
Rocking out, immediately post-guitar-sex.
Guitarist is showing Singer his war wounds. There was blood. lots.
I bet if I did a closeup of this one, you could see the blood.
I will forever and always be amused when musicians feel the need to turn into monkeys and climb on the drums. Also, you can see The Hush Sound posters in the back, next to the SXSW banner. I HAVE ONE OF THOSE.
p.s.arielchan, irish_cocktail? I think I have your Hush Sound posters on my floor. FYI, if you want to arrange to come get them sometime, or something. Or I can just bring them to the next concert. Whatever.
Jens Lekman on Friday afternoon
JENS!! God, so awesome. I know a bunch of you probably have no idea who this dude is, but let me tell you that HE IS AWESOME IN A SKINNY SWEDISH PACKAGE. He does kinda indie, folk-y, semi-retro, story-telling songs. He is one of the most genuine and open performers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing live. There are not enough superlatives in the world to describe how much his music delights me. A few songs if your interest is piqued: You Are The Light By Which I Travel, A Sweet Summer's Night, and Pocketfull of Money. If you take no other track, take You are the Light. Horns and hand-claps are the keys to my music-loving heart.
I was worried about getting in, so I got there extra-early. The poster taped to the fence said $3 and free unlimited Lone Star, so I asked the girls behind me to let me back in line and dashed off to the ATM at the end of the block as I had exactly $0 on my person. It turned out that the $3 was for the unlimited Lone Star and admission was actually free, so I kept my dollars and made my way toward the stage. Some other dude was finishing up, and he was okay but I didn't care too much. After he was done, most of the crowed left so I jumped up next to the stage and ended up sort of in the middle of a group of friends who then let me stand in front of them so they could stand next to each other and so I was right in front of JENS!
He played A Postcard to Nina, which I took video of (sadly, my camera was set on 'little video' instead of GIANT video, but it's still pretty good).
HEARTS. There are probably better videos, but whatever. MY LOVE, LET ME SHOW YOU IT. I love having him tell me that story.
Have some pictures.
Before he got started, he told the story about how the previous evening, he requested that people not record the show so it could be special, and how some girl with a giant video camera was all "whatever, just play", and he seemed pretty amused by the whole episode and said that we should go ahead and do whatever we wanted. *love*
Earnest singer face!
It was just him on his guitar and his assistant/percussionist on the bongs. hahah, bongos!
Except for when it was him on the thumb harp!
HI FACE, GOD.
For serious, he is one of my favorite live performances. He loves doing it, and I love watching him do it.
After he was done, I dropped off my recycling at the recycling center, because my apartment complex is awesome and doesn't seem to have recycling bins, and I headed home to finish cleaning my apartment so I would not be ashamed when
sunn_doyouknow saw it.. When she showed up, we treked on downtown to pick up the pass-thingies to get into the Purevolume Ranch show that night. (Haaaaaaaaaaa, ranch! WTF) Of course, I managed to walk out of the apartment without my camera. *sadface* We walked over to La Zona Rosa to meet up with some other fangirls and see Paramour and Phantom Planet, but they wanted $20 to get in, and neither of us were into that, so we went back toward the space Purevolume was renting and hung out in a bar for a little bit.The Hush Sound on Friday evening/Early Saturday morning
The Hush Sound were supposed to go on at 1am, so around midnight, we headed over to the venue to see what was what. We found a gaggle of fangirls, and I met a bunch of new people *waves*, and got to see a bunch of the folks I met at the Cobra shows! The performances were running super late, so we caught the beginning of some screamo-type band, after which I promptly left the stage area and hung out some more, chatting with [Unknown site tag] and
irish_cocktailWhile waiting for a go at the portapotties, we found a dude who later turned out to be the Hushies' merch/tour dude hanging up posters, and he gave us some! I'm stupidly excited by my poster!
The Hush Sound were GREAT! The stage was little and almost floor-level. We were all front and center. Greta is teenytiney in person, and I find that so amusing, for some reason. They did mostly new songs off their album that comes out Tuesday, which sounded really cool. I do prefer to be really familiar with music before seeing it performed live, but they did a really good job of keeping up the energy and interacting with the audience so it was all good. A short set, but aren't they all? I'm really pleased that I got to see them for the first time all up close and personal.
After their performance, we headed out and found even more fangirls who were sadly unable to get inside for the Hushies performance. Also, one Alex (Singer) DeLeon, who was hanging out with some dudes who were wearing extremely shiny gold jackets. hahaha, WTF?!
Saturday, we got up late, cleaned up, found some food, and headed out. While looking for the rest of the gang, we wandered into Emos where we thought The Rocket Summer was supposed to be playing. We were wrong, it was the tent across the street, but instead, we found this other awesome band
Ore Ska Band on Saturday afternoon
They're al all-girl ska band from Japan. Everything I know about them I know from their wiki. But they're an awesome good time. They were super androgynous, super enthusiastic, and really good. About half-way through the set, a bunch of punk boys pushed through to the front and started up a circle, but in a fun, non-asshole way. The band was delighted by this development, and I think everyone watching really loved them. And I'm 90% certain that they're going to be on Warped this year. Which I will be attending! \o/
Note the punk dudes who were eating that shit up.
The Rocket Summer on Saturday afternoon
At this point, we made our way to the actual place were sere supposed to be meeting up with the whole gang again. \o/
These guys were on tour with The Academy Is... and I almost went to see the show, but decided I didn't have the time or money. Then, I saw a bunch of posts about how awesome the whole thing was was, and have been kinda kicking myself ever since for not going. I tried listening to some of Rocket Summer's songs, but was kinda 'eh' about it. Another band that I really needed to see live in order to really appreciate it.
The band is directed by the lead singer, who apparently writes everything, and can play every single instrument on stage. He's adorable and wee and has long floppy blond hair and is just SO ENTHUSIASTIC about being up there and having people respond to his music. \o/ From what I remember, the song lyrics are pretty cheesy, and not more than a few steps from Christian rock, but standing there in the shade and the breeze and watching this tent full of scene kids eat it up was fantastic! I love it when you can see that an entire section of the audience is just SO INTO IT. An excellent feel-good sort of event, would see again.
This was taken during the hilarious interlude where he ran around the stage like a nut and set up these insane loops himself on every instrument up there and put a song together like that right there. It was hilarious and awesome.
After they were done, the crowd started chanting ONE MORE SONG, ONE MORE SONG, and they totally came out to do it, but the venue dudes turned off the mics and wouldn't let them. He was super cute and apologetic about it. d'awwww.
Cue break for food and bathroom. I got to talk to Lindsey as we wolfed down some food and rested our feet for a bit. (ps. if anyone wants to point her in my direction, I have the pictures she took on my camera, if she wants them.)
The Cab on Saturday evening
Several folks in our gaggle had already managed to see these guys this weekend, but this was my first time, and I'm really impressed by how much better they are each time I see them. It's pretty cool to see how far they've come since last fall whenever that was when I saw them in San Antonio.
I'm also getting more and more excited about their album. I've heard two of their studio tracks, and it's pretty freaking awesome that they're that good, and so quickly.
Why do I find it so entertaining that they've got their drum with their name on it? No idea!
This is Ian, being a dork and wearing his sunglasses at night like a douche. I am SO ENTERTAINED.
He was a total ADD posterchild during the entire show. Even during the 15 second break between songs, he was picking out something different on his guitar. A few were songs I didn't recognize, but one was totally the a video game theme, I'm thinking Mario since I actually recognized it.
Yeah, basically everyone else was too far away to get good pictures of.
Except Singer. Hi Singer!
The Hush Sound on Saturday evening
They were still right in front of my face, and they were as good or better than they were last night. They played more of a mix of old and new, which was pretty cool, and I was more familiar with the new songs they were playing, so it was possibly even more enjoyable. I was really focused on enjoying the music, so not too many pictures.
Here is their merch/tour dude passing out stickers! I like him.
Here is Greta being awesome and playing the piano. She is SO AWESOME.
Here is Chris, who is apparently one of the nicest dudes ever. He was seen helping The Cab set up, and when Phantom Planet started, their drummer hit one of his cymbals and part of the stand wasn't tightened enough, so it sort of was hanging there wrong, and Chris came over and fixed it.
Bob! Here, he is pictured with his awesome black guitar. It is almost as awesome as his other guitar, which is exactly the same, only red. There were some drunk dudes next to me who were really into Greta, and also, Bob's red guitar.
No pictures of the drummer, because I didn't get any that weren't blurry as all hell.
Phantom Planet on Saturday evening
We stayed up front for what was I think the final performance of the evening. Phantom Planet is a recent FBR acquisition, so I think everyone was pretty interested in seeing them. Apparently, Jason Schwartzman used to be a member? And one of their songs was/is on The O.C.? IDK, bu they are all pretty tall and gangly, and were all wearing their merch, which was somehow really adorable. The singer was supremely entertaining, and really liked talking to the crowd, and I was charmed. I was also in position to stare at their drummer, who basically spent the entire time looking extremely bemused. It was pretty awesome. And the bassist's bass is SO BEAT UP. Like, it was missing half it's paint. 0.o And the guitarist made himself bleed all over his guitar. It was kinda gruesome. And I was close enough to see it. \o?
Lead Singer. Gets thumbs up from me. Also, wearing hilarious cardigan sweater.
Bassist. Note the lack of paint, wtf.
Drummer. Note is awesome FACE. Also note the cymbal on the right, that is upright because Chris of The Hush Sound fixed it.
Guitarist. Sort of looks like One Of These Does Not Belong, but makes up for it by wearing their black merch and being skinny and rocking out.
An excellent view of the cardigan. I mean, really. WHAT? Hey, he's a rockstar, he does what he wants.
Rocking out, immediately post-guitar-sex.
Guitarist is showing Singer his war wounds. There was blood. lots.
I bet if I did a closeup of this one, you could see the blood.
I will forever and always be amused when musicians feel the need to turn into monkeys and climb on the drums. Also, you can see The Hush Sound posters in the back, next to the SXSW banner. I HAVE ONE OF THOSE.
p.s.
arielchan, irish_cocktail? I think I have your Hush Sound posters on my floor. FYI, if you want to arrange to come get them sometime, or something. Or I can just bring them to the next concert. Whatever.
