Flashback: SXSW 2009, Austin (Mar 20, 2009)

 

 

 

 

Continuing the Flashback for lost photos for SXSW 2009 Day 3. For the first time, since 2015, these photos are available online.

Below are the original posts for SXSW Day 3:

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SXSW UPDATE, DAY THREE
My busiest day, bruised feet and all.

Today’s schedule doesn’t really start until noon, so I have a few minutes to rest. There are a lot of Minnesotans here, as I ran into the Duke of Dark accidentally. I’m glad to see familiar faces, but what are the chance, you know?

Anyway, I thought you guys might be interested in seeing some of the setlists that I managed to grab. As I previously mentioned, setlists are quite short – kept under 30 minutes with few exceptions. Audience attendance and participation are all really, really good. Even for unknown bands, they can draw a crowd – which is just perfect for bands looking for an audience to play to.

I stayed for most of the Scotland showcase, which had bundled a bunch of great bands together – including Camera Obscura, Glasvegas, Proclaimers, and Primal Scream.

I had to miss some bands because of prior commitment, but usually when I skip bands, it’s because I’ve already seen them at one point in their career.

Camera Obscura did half their set with new songs, which I feel if you’ve got a limited setlist, you should concentrate on old songs people love. The problem is that no one’s heard the new material and listening to it for the first time, in a live setting – you will miss out on lyrics or melodies, just because of the sound distortion and distractions… still the new song (esp the first song) had upbeat melodies.

Proclaimers had a pretty long set, and surprisingly effective with just one acoustic guitar. They were supposed to get off the stage after their set time, but they threw in “500 Miles” for good measure. And the audience went absolutely NUTS. It was a sight to see!

Over 1,000 people attended the Scottish show, so I am sure next year they are going to book an even larger event.

That’s all for now.

PS, Since this will be my last update until I’m home, my schedule today (Saturday), looks pretty light. I have to attend a special party from noon to 7pm, and my evening looks pretty light. I think The Crimea comes on at midnight-ish at the Rio, so I may just be there the whole night to check out the other bands on that showcase. It’s not so much that I’m lazy (well I am), but I can’t really walk around that much anymore! As for the party at the Garden, I think it’s open bar with Jeremy Jay and Laura Marling playing, so I can cross them off my “to see” list finally!

SXSW DAY THREE (Friday, March 20, 2009)
The busy day. Walked all over town basically. My only out-of-the-way venue was at 3 o’clock to see Superdrag at Guero’s, which I thought was far walking there. I ran into one of our RV family, who we’ll call Rose because she looks like a pint-sized Pippettes, complete with dress and all. We walked back across the river so I can make it to my Asteroids Galaxy Tour interview (this was delayed because of some miscommunication).

Afterward, headed over to Beauty Bar to see Solid Gold play, mustache and all. I can tell the audience was having a good time, especially the girl at the backstage.

Then snuck over to see this punk(ish) band that MTV was covering. I didn’t catch their name, but it sounded something like Dirty____ Something. The singer had bleach blonde hair and eye shadows…. and likes to walk around with no shirts on.

Evening was spent mostly at the Scotland show: We Were Promised Jet Packs, Dananananaykroyd, Camera Obscura, The Proclaimers, Glasvegas, Primal Scream. I was in-out so I did end up missing Glasvegas & Primal Scream, but thanks to Bob for sending in some pictures.

[ To Be Concluded … ]

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