Richard Patrick of Filter - photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer

by jeff barringer
club kingsnake staff

There have been so many good bands coming to Austin the last couple weeks it almost feels like SXSW again... almost. Some of the shows I have covered in the last 10 days include The Mars Volta, Ministry, Dimmu Borgir, Saves The Day, Pepper, and Say Anything, just to name the headliners.

Coming up this week we have Canadian prog-rockers Rush making their first stop in Austin for a long, long time tomorrow. We have been invited to cover the show, but if you want to go you'd better hurry because tickets for their Frank Erwin Center appearance have almost sold out.

Filter will launch first tour in 6 years NOT at Stubb's BarBQ in Austin as planned, but over at Emo's instead on Thursday. Filter frontman Richard Patrick last played Austin heading up the band Army of Anyone with Robert and Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots back in January of 07. The DeLeo's are off touring with the re-union of Stone Temple Pilots. Considering Scott Wieland's tour track record of late, I am glad I don't hold the insurance policy for that. I'm laying odds that STP won't make it through a third of their tour. Any takers? I would much rather see Filter than STP so look for me over at Emo's.

David Alan Coe brings outlaw country back to Stubb's on Friday, on Sunday the "Get A Life" tour plays Stubb's with Army Of Me, Straylight Run, and Street Drum Corps, and on Monday My Chemical Romance and Billy Talent also play Stubb's. You can also catch Joe Jackson on Monday over at The Paramount.

Wednesday April 30th ends the month with Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and N.E.R.D. over at the Frank Erwin Center. What a busy end to April!

Technorati Tags: Austin,Filter, Rush, David Alan Coe, My Chemical Romance, Joe Jackson,Emo's, La Zona Rosa

The Forms at SXSW 2008 - more photos... photo by Jeff Barringer - staff photographer

by jeff barringer
club kingsnake staff

Wednesday. The dogs got me up at 7:00am. The music festival officially starts at 9:00am. My plan is to get downtown by noon and get a fast start on the day parties. In fact I don't get there til about 2:00pm, and even that is slowed by parking issues. Finally finding a spot by The Mohawk I gear up and spend the afternoon sliding back and forth on Red River, dropping in at The Mohawk, then Emo's Annex, then Emo's Lounge, then back to the annex, then the Mohawk, then back to the lounge finally ending up at Paul Collins and The Beat's set at Beerland.

I saw a lot of interesting bands, the crowds were light, the lines nonexistent. The biggest problem was sorting out who I was seeing as the bands sometimes didn't match the order on the list. I still have 5 bands from Wednesday's day parties to identify but some of my favorites included The Forms out of New York and Zykos from here in Austin.

I had to cut my day partying short at 5:00pm. I had set a goal of trying to see a few of the headliners and I was going to have to hoof it to catch my first, Van Morrison, scheduled for an early 7:00pm set at La Zona Rosa, 10 or 12 blocks away. I knew he would be prompt as the venue was to going to "flip" genres after his set. By the time I got to the gate the badge line was already 20 deep, the wristband line even larger and by the time they let us in the lines were of epic proportions, stretching far around the building in both directions. I doubt all the badge holders made it in, much less any of the wristband holders.