SxSW Journal – Day Four, 03.21.09

One benefit of putting so much work into seeing all the bands I wanted at the front of the festival is that I could relax more toward the closing. Saturday would be easygoing, as the only major acts that I still wanted to catch wouldn’t be playing until the showcases at night. Much like day one was planned around seeing one of my current favorites Ladyhawke, my last day would be focused on seeing one of my all-time favs in PJ Harvey. Making her first appearance in Austin in her nearly two decade long career, this could also be the last and the only time I could see Harvey live. She isn’t one for touring the U.S. much. But Harvey wouldn’t be taking the stage until 10 pm.

Though it would mean having tons of time to kill, the threat of driving around forever looking for parking provoked me to head downtown early. The strategy paid off and I easily found free parking, proving that SxSW gods were on my side for the day. But I was still clueless as to what I was gong to do all day. Walking along Sixth Street I see the obvious choices as evident by the queue to enter: the day parties at Radio Room have been popular all week, looks like Peckerhead’s has a crowd today, and then the monster at Maggie Mae’s. The biggest hot spot for Saturday afternoon was undoubtedly the Rachel Rae party that had a line wrapped around the block to get into Maggie Mae’s. But at that moment the SxSW gods decided to shine down on me again and give me a text message. Alright, it was really SxSW headquarters which sends out updates throughout the festival. This one notified that The Duke Spirit would be playing the Rock Band Lounge at 2 pm. Sweet, a band that I have really been digging lately but totally forgot about that they playing this week. So I went in search of this venue.

I have no idea what this place is (or was?) normally but the Rock Band people did a pretty nice job of setting it up for the festival. The small lounge had a bar in the middle with small Rock Band stages on each side for gaming. At the back was a good size stage sporting the logo. But what made it best was that there were free sandwiches, soda, and vodka drinks all for a crowd of no more than 30 people that showed up. Score! This is why avoiding the big parties is the way to go. As for the The Duke Spirit, they claimed to be taking it easy (feeling the wear of the week) but it was not evident from the performance. The band ripped out a crop of songs from their latest album Neptune. Liela Moss commanded the stage with her blues powered vocals and led the band through “Lasso” and “Send a Little Love Token.” Great performance.

After stuffing my messenger bag with free cans of Mountain Dew (the caffeine is needed), I go in search of things to do in order to kill time. Saturday afternoon is also time for the Mess With Texas party. Located a Waterloo Park, it sports one large stage and a small side stage under the Texas sun for a mammoth line up of bands. One thing Mess With Texas has going for it, is that great line up of well-know indies. As I arrived I believe Japanther and Cursive were on the stages. One thing it has working against it is that Texas sun and the fact that I get annoyed by outdoor festivals, which Mess with Texas pretty much is. I don’t think I waited on either full set before I decided it was too much and that a spot inside an air-conditioned bar would be the better way to spend the day.

Walking the couple blocks back to Sixth Street, I remembered that I had yet to check out the Flatstock Poster Show tucked away in the Austin Convention Center. Inside here would be dozens of artists from across the country selling their gig posters, original art, and such. It really was quite impressive; there were so many awesome artists. I doubt anyone that went in there left empty handed. Even I couldn’t resist the temptation and threw down $30 on a poster for a Cat Power show I had gone to last year. I almost made it the week without frivolous spending. Damn you poster show.

Checking out the posters did the trick though as I had wasted tons of time looking around. It was now heading into late afternoon and time to take a walk to the east side of town. Proof that everyone has a party during SxSW, there was a garden party at the French Legation Museum. This would be Melissa Auf der Maur’s last show of the festival and being a stalker (errr… I mean a big fan) I wanted to say goodbye before she left Austin. I was also curious as to how Melissa would tone down her performance for a garden party. She did so by paying tribute to “past gods and goddesses” in a stripped acoustic-ish show. Opening up by coving Nancy Sinatra’s version of “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” and tossing in some Morrissey as well, for me at least it was a refreshing twist having just seen her the day before.

Evening had brought about the final night of showcases and camping out at Stubb’s for the second time this week. Already rocking the stage when I got there were White Lies doing their Bunnymen meets The Killers the thing. While I’m not that familiar with this band I can say that their performance was quite irresistible as their music kept me transfixed. And it wasn’t just the cool lighting they were using. Up next was Razorlight who had the total opposite effect on me. I just wanted them to get off stage.

Then it was time. PJ Harvey decked out in an all-white dress took the stage with long-time collaborator John Parish and three others rounding out the band. To say the performance was epic would be an understatement. Harvey’s stage presence has the type of aura that can only be created by someone as seasoned and legendary as her. The beauty of her voice makes it hard for you to take your eyes off her when she goes into quite soprano mode. Then she turns it around on the next song going from a whisper to a howl with her profanity filled spoken-word lyrics while dancing across the stage. As expected, Parish on guitars sticks to the side and left Harvey take the spotlight. Most of the performance drew from their new album A Woman a Man Walked By, but they did throw in a couple songs from their first collaboration album that drew screams from die-hard fans like me. It was amazing, and not just in my eyes. Leaving the venue I heard several ramblings from others saying that the rest of the night would be downhill after seeing PJ perform.

Indeed everything else from there would be a little meaningless, but there was at least one more act that I wanted to see. I looked at the time and saw that it was already 11 pm, when The Knux was scheduled to play at Vice. So it was time to double down for a couple blocks. Luckily I was able to walk right in with no wait. Unluckily it’s Vice, a place I really don’t care for. Labeled as a college nightclub, the place is usually packed, ridiculously hot, and smells like sweat. This is no exception. The sound check was still going on and shuffled my way to the front of the stage hoping the band would make this quick so I could get out of there. The Knux performance was at least worth the discomfort. The two brothers’ bring a new musicianship to hip-hop as they take turns on guitars or keyboards while the other rocks the mic.

And with that my checklist of bands was done. I almost didn’t want it to be. In an effort to keep on going I popped into The Parish to see my favorite band of the week The Rosebuds on stage. After snapping some photos I head across town to Antone’s where the Silversun Pickups were playing. Not really caring for them, I realized that I was just trying to prolong the inevitable. SxSW 2009 was over for me. Four days. Done. It was time to look back and process all that I had saw in the week. Most important it was time to get a decent night’s sleep.

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