As SXSW draws to a close, it's a good time to catch up on what our guys on the ground saw over the last few days. A more detailed recap plus our prestigious SXSW awards are to follow, once everyone has recovered from jet lag or just pure lack of sleep.
On the Thursday our guys got to see Deer Tracks, Latebirds, Harrys Gym, Sun Airway, Braids, The Head and The Heart, Tinie Tempah, The Joy Formidable (back to a normal venue after the previous days gig in a bike shop), Outasight, Ximena Sarinana, King Creosote, Austra, The Romany Rye, Ellie Goulding, Sacred Animals and James Vincent McMorrow.
Friday's round up starts with one our guys, Rob, getting a little annoyed with one of America's biggest companies for screwing people around with the start time of Bright Eyes big gig. In his own words "A big fuck you to AOL for fucking up bright eyes, wasting 3 hours for something which was supposed to start at 8.30pm, but it seems started at midnight". For those that have attended SXSW know this is really not on as stops other bands, who may not be as well known, getting watched by many and hopefully something the organizes will clamp down on in future.
That aside, Rob still got to see plenty of cool bands on the Friday including Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Cults, Black Kettle, Laura Jensen, Delorian, John Grant with Midlake, Wye Oak, Braids, Beach Fossils, Screaming Females, The Joy Formidable, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and A Place to Bury Strangers. With both Braids and Wye Oak receiving a lot of praise from our man in Texas.
Saturday evening finished with the previously reported fun and games at the Death From Above 1979 gig but before the mini riot our guys made the most of the final full day of bands by seeing dj Yoda, New Moods, Oh Land, Austra, !!!, ...and You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Suns, Lauren Burton, Weekend, Mount Kimbie, ps I Love You, Braids (yet again), Frederik, an Horse, Ricky Lee Robinson, Electric Touch, Tres Mts, Colin Stetson, Braids (twice in one day is a bit Stalkerish) and of course, Death From Above 1979.
Rob finished his report by saying "I ache".
Our thanks go to both Rob and Johnny Bollocks for keeping us in touch during the hectic week when they clearly just wanted to be out there having fun, whether it is watching bands or taking part in water fights.