15 March 2008

"oh, what, was he AMAZING? Was he the best thing you'd ever seen?"

Oh man, it's already the last day of south by, and trust me, I'm starting to feel the fatigue. I sort of shut down every year around this time - I'm not a people person by nature and more than three days in the constant company of thousands of people makes me edgy and exhausted. Today I'm going to try to stave off sxsw-related hatred by going to a house party in the afternoon and chilling out on the lawn. I need some space.

Yesterday's day show was Filter at Cedar Street Courtyard, and its hallmark was the resulting heat exhaustion and sunburn. Foolishly I'd had nothing to eat or drink all morning and was standing in a close space with the sun beating down. It was going to be tragic, there for a minute.

The party started off with Shout Out Louds, a swedish pop band I love. They're so much fun, but they were flagging a bit in the heat. As was I- I didn't have the energy to dance my little heart out like I wanted to. Los Campesinos! followed them up, and I can confirm that hot Texas sun + pale Welsh skin = a lead singer who is probably today in throes of agony. I felt so bad for him; his back was bright red by the end. But they were lots of fun, and I envy the collective wardrobe of all the female singers.

The Pigeon Detectives came next, which was a welcome relief as Lead Detective likes to spit and pour water on the crowd. Apart from having to be quite quick with hiding my camera, I was grateful. I just hope he doesn't have the syph or anything. But they were great; high energy and lots of fun. I did entertain a brief moment's fear that the lead singer was going to kill me - he spent lots of time hovering on the monitor in front of me and kept slinging the mic cord around. I envisioned all of us on the front row bearing slashes in the face from the cord, like an extra on the Whip It video.

The Wombats came next, which was great, because I love them. We caught them by happy accident last year and have been devotees ever since. I mean, they have a stuffed wombat, y'all. You can't beat that for cuteness.

Lightspeed Champion came next, and the adorable, delightful Emmy the Great was there as guest vocalist. I have such a girl crush on her. I want to put her in my pocket. LC were great as well - it was good to finally see him, since I wasn't able to see him at Antone's on Saturday.

Can you tell I'm tired? Every adjective is "great." I promise I'll do better when I actually do write-ups after this is all over.

Then, for the evening, I was meant to go to Stubb's for The Cribs/MGMT/Santogold. But that sxsw-fatigue kicked in and I just found myself unable and unwilling to stand up for five more hours in a crowd of thousands. So Courtney and I hied our way over to Wave for the NME showcase, and saw Make.Model, Fanfarlo and ox.eagle.lion.man. I also ran into Ed Larrikin again and listened to him bitch some more about the Pigeon Detectives. He really hates them. I'm thinking of starting a feud between the two.

More later as there's lines for the convention center laptops right now. When this is all over, I'm going to sleep till I'm dead.

xx erin

2 comments:

gus away from the metroplaza said...

Oh yeah, and Mugshots is my official "kill time between shows when I'm too tired to do anything else" location. Cheap drinks, good jukebox, ample seating, great bartenders. 7th between Neches and Trinity. I'm like a walking advertisement for that place. I should ask for kickbacks or something.

Erin said...

I totally skipped most of the downtown stuff yesterday in favor of free beer and block parties. It was just what I needed, too; if I had to fight my way through another crowd or stand in another line, I'd have flipped my shit.

Although we did all end up at Buffalo Billiards at closing. I hate the last night of sxsw.

I love Mugshots; I used to drink there when I lived in Austin.