Dave Grohl, Flaming Lips, SXSW 2013: Every Band I've Seen So Far, Part Two

There are thousands of artists in Austin for SXSW, and I'll be seeing a lot of them. This year, I decided to challenge myself and write about every band I see, no matter how much of their set I caught, or even if I saw/heard them unintentionally. Most of these "reviews" are pieced together from my illegible notebook scribblings, but that's all I've got.

Here's part two of my adventures (part one can be found here):

IAMSU!

"Beat up the pussy!" is the only thing I wrote down about West Coast rapper IAMSU!'s set. That's because I was actually unsure who he was until I could find the Fader Fort's lineup. My colleagues and I were impressed with him and his crew, though. Favorite part: The chant that went from "Make money money money" to "take money money money" to an abrupt "fuck that" stop.

Airborne Toxic Event

A favorite band of mine because of their always-energetic shows, I had no idea that I'd literally be standing five feet away from Airbourne Toxic Event when I walked upstairs to their packed, hot Stubhub show at the upper level of a 6th street bar.

Most heartwarming moment: Bassist Noah Harmon walking out into the audience and sitting down next to a woman in a wheelchair while never missing a note.

Greatest preaching moment: Singer Mikel Jollet admitting that he's not an educated guy but two of the biggest problems in modern music are "not enough fucking bass solos" and "not enough fucking drum solos." You can probably guess what happened next.

They closed out with their song "Missy," throwing in a medley of "Ring of Fire," "American Girl" and "Born in the U.S.A." in there for excellent measure.

Josh Ritter

My wife and I love Josh Ritter but we also saw him last week at a small show in New York, so when we saw a line outside of the Paste show at the Stage on 6th, we decided to try to find a quiet space and give our ears, feet and throats a rest. After about 20 minutes of that, we decided to walk back down 6th street when we heard Josh's song "Girl in the War," a favorite of mine, pouring out of the Stage's windows. I looked at my wife and said, "We have to go see this" -- and it was my best impulse decision of SXSW so far, aside from stocking up on Chex Mix for breakfast.

Even with his latest album focusing on his divorce, Ritter is an unceasingly positive spirit. During "Harrisburg" he went on an improvised speech about the beautiful sunshine, on top of the free beer and popcorn and stickers we were all getting this week in Austin. Then he spoke of being alone in a hotel room, feeling desperate, and seeing a large crack in the ceiling above the bed and thinking, "I hope that's not a metaphor." And then, with the band quieting down for dramatic effect, his bassist Zachariah Hickman stepped up to the microphone for an impassioned, hilarious-yet-faithful rendition of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Games." It was perfect.

The Can't Tells

Without a plan in mind, I ended up at 311 Club where my colleagues Bear Ceuse were playing again. The Can't Tells are a power trio who bring intensity in the most endearing way possible. Definitely keep an eye out for their upcoming album. You'll be hearing much more about them.

The Beautiful Bodies

Building on the frenetic energy of the Can't Tells, the Beautiful Bodies brought their punkish rock that's reminiscent of Be Your Own Pet, and not just because they're also fronted by a woman. In a move I haven't seen before, singer Alicia Solombrino performed the entire set on the floor of the venue, getting up in the faces of every man who dared stand within 20 feet of the stage. I'm sure this will sound sexist but I don't mean it that way: She had that intimidation factor of a beautifully aggressive New Orleans shot girl who gets you to pony up your money for booze you don't really want. Definitely one of the best ways of getting a crowd to eat out of the palm of your proverbial hand. She also promised free hugs at the merch table after the show.

Bear Ceuse

My coworkers played again and it was even better than the first time I saw them. Some dude in the front wearing sunglasses indoors smoked a joint, so it was definitely a little edgier than the previous day.

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players

Amazing. Stevie Nicks. "Landslide" acoustic. "Gold Dust Woman." Fear's Lee Ving. Rick fucking Springfield. "Jessie's Girl." Slipknot's Corey Taylor and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters singing Cheap Trick covers with Rick Nielsen on guitar. John Fogerty. "Born on the Bayou." "Centerfield." "Bad Moon Rising." "Fortunate Son." Rock royalty. Again, amazing.

Flaming Lips

It appears I've missed the era of Flaming Lips' gimmicks. Wayne Coyne told a colleague yesterday that the band is through with the giant hamster bubble, the downpours of confetti and entering the stage through a giant LED vagina. It's all about the music now. They ran through Yoshimi (2002), threw in a few new songs, and made the Warner Sound crowd feel like they were getting treated to something extra special. I was in such a great mood that I didn't let tripping over electrical cables and landing hard on some muscled-up dude bother me. At 1 AM everyone's entitled to a few concert Mulligans, right?

So, as of now, at 11:49 AM on Friday, I've seen 24 bands (29 if you count all of the different people Grohl brought out). Feet hurt. Voice is going the way of the dodo. Loving the fact that I get to do this for a living.


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