3.19.2007

SXSW: Day Five

Britt Daniel of Spoon

Our final day in Austin was taken reaaaally slow. We didn't realize that until we arrived at Manuel's for lunch and realized it was happy hour. It was also St. Patrick's Day which meant there were twice as many people on the streets than on the previous days, so we reached a whole 'nother level of insanity.

About mid-day we found out that Perry Farrell and the Polyphonic Spree were special guests at La Zona Rosa so we thought we'd end up spending the whole evening there, but after a second crazy wait at the Mohawk Patio to see Wax Fang (a Louisville band that fared well), we ended up outside of Stubb's (possibly the only venue with a constant line) with no line whatsoever. The headliner there was The Stooges, so we switched up the plan and ended our SXSW experience at the largest night venue.

The show was great, we got to see the Stooges perform "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and see Iggy dive into the audience. Spoon and Paolo Nutini put on excellent performances as well. Of the lineup, only Kings of Leon were a disappointment. I thought I'd finally get the hype behind this group, but the show only left me more confounded. Lead singer Caleb Followill was really "Creeding it up" looking very Scott Stapp in his sleeveless shirt, long hair cheesy manly posturing and mega cross around his neck. The music wasn't that much better.

Afterward, one of the Cincinnati performers happened to be playing with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore at a nearby bar, so we stopped in to get a picture. I didn't technically meet Moore but I stood around in a social circle with him for a couple of minutes, which is more than I've done with any other member of Sonic Youth. So, of course, now I consider him a fast friend...

And then I flew home, caught a cold and here we are. In fact, I wrote most of this on crazy cold medicine, so forgive me if I rambled. I have some videos of some of the more entertaining performances on my trip, and I'll post them soon.

Thanks for checking out my reports! I'll return with regular Ronsonville ramblings soon...

3 comments:

Paul said...

"Creeding it up." Ewwww. That sounds awful.

It's probably why you're sick.

ann said...

Sounds like you both had a wonderful and productive time. Don't know much about the bands, but looking forward to some footage.

Ronson said...

It was a lot of fun! The footage is a little rough, so it might not be the best, but I'll get it up here soon.

And yeah, the Stappenicity of that Kings show really was the beginning of the end for me. See? It was so terrible, I have to start making up new words.