Over the last 6 years at SXSW, infamous ‘celebrity blogger’ Perez Hilton has run a series of curated concerts on the last night of the festival called “One Night in Austin”. It’s now one of the biggest events of the week and an official SXSW party, attracting both conference attendees and the general public, with ticket sales from the latter going to charity. This year they raised $53k for the VH1’s Save The Music foundation.
This year the big names included Fall Out Boy, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Paloma Faith and many more. I was only able to hang around for two performances on the night. The first was an oddly named three piece from London called Stooshe, who have a bit of a Destiny’s Child thing going on. All three sing guilty pop that have made countless bands before them famous, though admittedly without some of the edge that groups like TLC and Destiny’s thrived on. We’re perhaps more in S Club 7 mode here, so it goes without saying that it’s not my thing. Still, the crowd seemed to enjoy it, and it fit in with Perez’s habit of booking a slew of female pop artists whenever he has the chance.
Charli XCX was next, who’s about to tour the US with Marina and the Diamonds, who as chance would have it played the Perez party back in 2010. Heavy on the beats, with a live drummer and keyboardist, the buzz artist’s performance was definitely all about her strong, unique voice. There’s a lot of 90’s influence going on here. Throw in a little bit of what I imagine Britney Spears would sound like if she actually sang live, with a healthy dose of early No Doubt era Gwen Stefani, and you get the idea. With a simple set up, XCX puts on a fantastic show that is well catered to fans of her debut EP You’re the One, as well as tastes from her upcoming record True Romance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she won a few new fans along the way, too.
In addition to the above artists, also featured were Capital Cities, Lissie, Angel Haze, Brooke Candy and more. Stay tuned for Johnny’s full gallery of the event.
