Okay, first up: Florence and the Machine on Thursday so far has been by far the best thing I’ve seen so far. She deserves her own post and you can read that here.
Thursday started with a closed-door round table organized by SXSW with myself and a few fellow music bloggers. Like the World Bank, we made some decisions that will impact how everything is run for the next year. Well, not exactly, but it was good to just shoot the shit about blogs with some of my peers and favorite blogs.
Caught Sons and Daughters tear through a three song set for The Current. Great set although I didn’t realize it would be so short. I wanted more more more.
Saw Saul Williams (pictured above) at the Fader tent. Dude was on fire. I’ve not given his music a lot of attention, but that’s about to change. Dressed as Niggy Tardust, he killed the crowd. Soooooo good.
The evening started with the Body of War event at Stubb’s. This was an event for the documentary of the same name about the Iraq war and one soldier’s personal relationship with it. I was able to see Billy Bragg, singer from System of a Down, RX Bandits (who?), and when Ben Harper came on I knew it was time to leave. But Billy Bragg was great. Still relevant!
Then onto Florence and the Machine, and like I said, I’ll talk about her later. After that I went over to see Emmy the Great, as recommended to me by Frank at Chromewaves. With her band, Emmy put on a great set that showcased her honest lyrics and gift for the personal connection.
It was time to check out the Bon Iver hype. Would dude be good or not good? Well, I am here to tell you people of the internet that he and his band were really good. I will say, though, that the set started out slow for me but by the time it was all over, I was a fan. I’m looking forward to seeing him in an indoor venue, maybe a little more intimate (not too intimate, I imagine, as the band’s popularity is skyrocketing).
Hmm… what did I do after that?
I ended the night seeing The Raveonettes. I really love this band, but for some reason I haven’t picked up their new album yet. Their set was really good, everything you’d come to expect from the band. Great way to end the night.
We caught some of Sons & Daughters as well while walking by the Yaris thing. Very nice. Enough for both of us to make a note to check into them. The power of Glasgow…
I was at Emmy the Great alongside you. Her voice made me wistful and melancholy. She was wonderful.
saw bon iver at the npr thing. He’s amazing; I got chills.
Billy Bragg? Singer of System of a Down????!!!!
Get with it! I’m almost 50 and can tell you it was Serge Tankien – lead singer of System of a Down
No shit. That’s my head right in front of you.
You can find a couple of my pictures through my site if you’re interested.