Saturday kicked off as it has every year for me at SXSW, with The Aussie BBQ day party. Now in it’s tenth year, the showcase (something of a rite of passage for Australian bands looking to make it overseas) is comprised of the best of Australian talent – along with a few expats. Here, they are given the chance to show off their sweet sounds to a large crowd as they enjoy pies, snags and beer. It’s reasonably removed from the outback BBQ you might be used to, but it’s as close to home as you’ll get in these neck of the woods.
Amongst the artists who shined this year were Dead Letter Circus, Big Scary, POND, DZ Deathrays, Voltaire Twins, Busby Marou, Lanie Lane and Twerps… to name but a few. As usual I got to see next to none of these bands, as I was undertaking interviews throughout the day, but the little that I did see were very well received by a large and enthusiastic crowd.
My day continued as I jetted off (via pedi-cab: finally gave in!) to the Perez Hilton party for the third year running. This year things had changed up a bit, with a new venue (Austin Music Hall) and people paying money to charity to ensure entry. Seems to run against the way SXSW usually works, but no doubt helped the night run smoother than in the past. This was also the first year media weren’t given any free booze. With finances running low on the last day of proceedings, I thought I best spend that money on what will have been my first proper meal of the whole week, so I didn’t hang around for too long (though Johnny has plenty of photos for us from the night), but I did catch a few artists, as the night was running an hour or so behind schedule and I had mainly come to see Kimbra.
Cris Cab was the opening artist on Perez’s mammoth bill and he got the crowd hyped up, with his own material (solid) and a rousing cover of Sublime’s “What I Got”. Rosi Golan was next, a pretty beautiful singer – Perez certainly can pick ’em! Speaking of which, Kimbra followed and totally slayed it. Her short set featured “Cameo Lover”, “Settle Down” and a new track “Come Into My Head”, which apparently she was debuting tonight for Perez. A fantastic track, it will be appearing on the US edition of the record. From her reception tonight (and at the whole festival), it’s clear that the kiwi-via-Aussieland performer has a very bright future in the USA indeed.
After a much needed dinner (which included Guacamole being made fresh for us on the table… Ah I love this country), I made tracks to finish my night, as I do many (they were even on my flight home), with Brisbane’s The John Steel Singers. They put on a rousing show at the venue, which downstairs was having a St Patrick’s Day party that had everyone grinding up against one and other – quite a contrast to the rock and roll atmosphere upstairs, though the sound was admittedly shite. Nonetheless they got the crowd moving (as they very well should do) and few were disappointed by the energetic troupe.
Having heard good things, I hung around for the final band of the night, The Henry Clay People, who reminded me of a rockier version of The Hold Steady, with a bit of The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr thrown in for good measure. Very very cool indeed. Check them out.
With this ending St Patricks Day, and the last major day of festivities, I had my first decent sleep in over a week and woke up fresh and ready for a beautiful Sunday Brunch at Stubb’s. Enjoying grits and bacon, brisket and eggs, my Texan feast was complemented by a beautiful live Gospel band. I really couldn’t think of a better way to end SXSW.
And a big congratulations to our own Johnny Au, whose Softball team won the SXSW Sunday tournament and BBQ, another annual tradition of the festival. He represented the website proudly and we anticipate him to do the same next year. And we all anticipate to do the same next year. We always have such an amazing, albeit exhausting time, at this mammoth event.
Though it’s always hard to quite put into words just how BIG this thing is, my only advice is to experience it for yourself. Come and get lost in this cultural pot of wonder. You never know what you’re going to see, who you’ll bump into or what you’ll learn along the way. I for one learnt that food, sleep and water are necessary requirements to keeping one’s energy up. And comfy shoes are wonderful, should you have them. I didn’t. But maybe next year. Maybe next year.
Until then, Austin, until then.
