shivvy
21 Mar 2005, 06:56 PM
Even with over 14 hours of sleep last night, I am still pretty worn out from our journey to Texas. My body is tired, but I must admit that I feel refreshed from all that great music and meeting so many great people while we were in town.
On Saturday we may have overextended ourselves, but it had to be done. There was so much to try and squeeze in to our last 24 hours in town. After brunch we went to the Touch & Go/Kill Rock Stars party at a dark & dingy club called Room 710. The place was packed and it actually made me a little claustrophobic. They were running really late and so we got to see a fun set from ENON but had to run out before Supersystem hit the stage.
We then went over to the Levi's/Fader party to catch FEIST and then we were really hoping to see The GO! TEAM. While Feist was on stage, a wicked little storm ripped through the area. This was an outdoor party underneath two giant tents. At one point I thought poor Feist was going to blow off the stage. She ended her set right before it started to pour down rain. We did get our first Frodo sighting there as Elijah Wood walked in right before the storm hit. Yes, his eyes really are that blue. The storm was so intense that it was announced that The Go! Team were cancelling. After the rain passed, we took off because it was going to be over an hour before another band could take the wet stage.
Since we had plans to take in an afterparty that would keep us out very late, we ended up going back to the hotel to take a disco nap. When we woke up it was dark out and we grabbed some quick dinner before heading to Antone's for the Astralwerks showcase. We were very lucky to see performances from KINGS OF CONVENIENCE, WEST INDIAN GIRL, and ED HARCOURT there. The place was packed, but the Kings were amazing. They played a quiet set of tunes and were really funny inbetween songs. Feist made an appearance during their set as well, coming out to sing and play guitar with the guys. For the last song of "I'd Rather Dance With You", they pulled the drummer for Phoenix on stage and almost rocked out.
This show was running late as well, so by the time Ed Harcourt's set ended it was almost Midnight. We were able to hail a cab and get out to the soon-to-be infamous Vice/Kemado/Connect afterparty. It was WAY outside of town in a warehouse. As we walked up to the place, we ran into Erika and Doug from DIRTY ON PURPOSE. Inside we found their bandmates DJ and Joe and we ended up hanging out with them a lot during the course of the night. Actually, I shook a tailfeather with Erika to Ciara's "1, 2 Step". I'm not sure if that helps you quantify how much I had to drink by that point in the evening, but I'm sure it gives you an idea.
BLOC PARTY, LANSING-DREIDEN, and THE GO! TEAM all performed at this party. The only way to describe the evening is insane. Everybody was there. We chatted with Tim & Charlotte from Ash, Aaron & Joel from Earlimart, and we spotted James Iha and had our second Frodo sighting of the week. I'd bet that there were more people there, but the free PBR & SPARKS at the bar was making it more difficult to take mental notes.
We were so worn out by the time that The Go! Team hit the stage around 3am that we took off about 4 or 5 songs into their set. Apparently we left just in time, as I heard that the police shut the party down at 3:30. What a pain in the ass it would have been to try and get home from that space with a few hundred other people at the same time!
We finally made it back to our hotel after 4am and we had to leave for the airport by 8. GOOD TIMES! Somehow we packed and caught 2 hours or so of sleep before sharing a cab to the airport with our incredible friend Dayna from ASTRALWERKS.
Overall, I'd say that the only bands I'm sorry I missed while we were in town were: Maximo Park, Idlewild, and Robbers On High Street. When you do get to see as many bands as we saw over the course of 4 days, it's really pretty hard to complain about anything.
Here's to Austin, all of our new friends, and to SXSW 2006...
The complete listing of everybody we saw this year:
SMOOSH
TOM MCRAE
PALOMAR
THE CRIBS
NICOLAI DUNGER
GIANT DRAG (x2)
FEIST (x2)
EARLIMART
THE NATIONAL
THE FRAMES
DIRTY ON PURPOSE
GRAHAM COXON
THE PEELS
PITTY SING
THE WHOLE FANTASTIC WORLD
DE NOVO DAHL
STARS
EMBRACE
M.I.A.
ROLLING BLACKOUTS
ASH
RAINER MARIA
ENON
KINGS OF CONVENIENCE
WEST INDIAN GIRL
ED HARCOURT
BLOC PARTY
LANSING-DREIDEN
THE GO! TEAM
On Saturday we may have overextended ourselves, but it had to be done. There was so much to try and squeeze in to our last 24 hours in town. After brunch we went to the Touch & Go/Kill Rock Stars party at a dark & dingy club called Room 710. The place was packed and it actually made me a little claustrophobic. They were running really late and so we got to see a fun set from ENON but had to run out before Supersystem hit the stage.
We then went over to the Levi's/Fader party to catch FEIST and then we were really hoping to see The GO! TEAM. While Feist was on stage, a wicked little storm ripped through the area. This was an outdoor party underneath two giant tents. At one point I thought poor Feist was going to blow off the stage. She ended her set right before it started to pour down rain. We did get our first Frodo sighting there as Elijah Wood walked in right before the storm hit. Yes, his eyes really are that blue. The storm was so intense that it was announced that The Go! Team were cancelling. After the rain passed, we took off because it was going to be over an hour before another band could take the wet stage.
Since we had plans to take in an afterparty that would keep us out very late, we ended up going back to the hotel to take a disco nap. When we woke up it was dark out and we grabbed some quick dinner before heading to Antone's for the Astralwerks showcase. We were very lucky to see performances from KINGS OF CONVENIENCE, WEST INDIAN GIRL, and ED HARCOURT there. The place was packed, but the Kings were amazing. They played a quiet set of tunes and were really funny inbetween songs. Feist made an appearance during their set as well, coming out to sing and play guitar with the guys. For the last song of "I'd Rather Dance With You", they pulled the drummer for Phoenix on stage and almost rocked out.
This show was running late as well, so by the time Ed Harcourt's set ended it was almost Midnight. We were able to hail a cab and get out to the soon-to-be infamous Vice/Kemado/Connect afterparty. It was WAY outside of town in a warehouse. As we walked up to the place, we ran into Erika and Doug from DIRTY ON PURPOSE. Inside we found their bandmates DJ and Joe and we ended up hanging out with them a lot during the course of the night. Actually, I shook a tailfeather with Erika to Ciara's "1, 2 Step". I'm not sure if that helps you quantify how much I had to drink by that point in the evening, but I'm sure it gives you an idea.
BLOC PARTY, LANSING-DREIDEN, and THE GO! TEAM all performed at this party. The only way to describe the evening is insane. Everybody was there. We chatted with Tim & Charlotte from Ash, Aaron & Joel from Earlimart, and we spotted James Iha and had our second Frodo sighting of the week. I'd bet that there were more people there, but the free PBR & SPARKS at the bar was making it more difficult to take mental notes.
We were so worn out by the time that The Go! Team hit the stage around 3am that we took off about 4 or 5 songs into their set. Apparently we left just in time, as I heard that the police shut the party down at 3:30. What a pain in the ass it would have been to try and get home from that space with a few hundred other people at the same time!
We finally made it back to our hotel after 4am and we had to leave for the airport by 8. GOOD TIMES! Somehow we packed and caught 2 hours or so of sleep before sharing a cab to the airport with our incredible friend Dayna from ASTRALWERKS.
Overall, I'd say that the only bands I'm sorry I missed while we were in town were: Maximo Park, Idlewild, and Robbers On High Street. When you do get to see as many bands as we saw over the course of 4 days, it's really pretty hard to complain about anything.
Here's to Austin, all of our new friends, and to SXSW 2006...
The complete listing of everybody we saw this year:
SMOOSH
TOM MCRAE
PALOMAR
THE CRIBS
NICOLAI DUNGER
GIANT DRAG (x2)
FEIST (x2)
EARLIMART
THE NATIONAL
THE FRAMES
DIRTY ON PURPOSE
GRAHAM COXON
THE PEELS
PITTY SING
THE WHOLE FANTASTIC WORLD
DE NOVO DAHL
STARS
EMBRACE
M.I.A.
ROLLING BLACKOUTS
ASH
RAINER MARIA
ENON
KINGS OF CONVENIENCE
WEST INDIAN GIRL
ED HARCOURT
BLOC PARTY
LANSING-DREIDEN
THE GO! TEAM