by Harrison Davis - club kingsnake staff
Despite getting only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I set out to start Day 2 of SXSW 2009 earlier than the day before in hopes of scoring a parking spot. After securing a spot and passing the absolutely ridiculous line outside of Emo’s for a full day of generic hardcore scene bands, I walked to the show I had been waiting for weeks for at Radio Room. The line was fairly long for and before the doors opened, but I was expecting that. I quickly found that pretty much everyone was there for the same reason I was, to see legendary local singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston.
The first band I saw was electro-pop duo New Villager. The songs weren’t bad but the band was a little sloppy. That was understandable though since they proclaimed proudly that it was only their second live show. I think they may be good in the future, but work needs to be done on their live set.
The next band was a last minute replacement for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and because of that The Wheel gave a very detached performance. Having just finished a set on the inside stage moments before they were told to play another show, you could see that they were just reliving the last ten minutes and were not having fun at all. However, I did really enjoy a couple of their songs enough to make me want to listen to some recorded material.
Bishop Allen was the nest band to perform. They were actually one of my favorite bands of the day. They had a great indie rock sound and a great energy on stage. My friend who attended the show with me said they were the best band he had seen all week. I disagree but I could easily see where he was coming from.
Finally the time had come. Any bit of exhaustion I was feeling was immediately replaced with sheer excitement. One of favorite songwriters of all time was about to take the stage. The crowd was first warmed up by the group was to be Daniel’s backing band for a few of his songs, The Hymns. They played some really great garage rock, but that stop me from fast-forwarding through their two song set. After the longest five minute set I’ve ever heard was over, Daniel Johnston finally took the stage. He clearly still has problems, which are well documented in the excellent film The Devil and Daniel Johnston, but since everyone knew this going in, it was never a problem.
There were essentially three parts to the performance. Daniel backed by the Hymns, Daniel on stage alone with a guitar, and Daniel singing while his guitar tech played for him. The Hymns were clearly excited to be backing such a legend which I really appreciated, but I wanted to see Daniel alone. After a few songs the Hymns left Daniel all alone on stage. The music wasn’t at its strongest at this point but it was a powerful image to see a man trembling with a guitar in his hands singing in an extremely unpolished voice some of the most beautiful lyrics ever written. When Daniel’s tech came out to back Daniel, it became one of the finest performances I’ve ever witnessed. Daniel Johnston standing ten feet away from me while singing “Life In Vain” will be something I don’t think I will ever forget for the rest of my life. Neither will any other member of the audience who silently sang along to his lyrics so as to not cover up a single noise coming from the stage.
After that incredible experience, I decided that I was finished with Radio Room for the day and I headed towards Red 7 in hopes that the place wasn’t already full of the many diehard Hold Steady fans that I had heard about. I walked in just as LA’s Fool’s Gold was finishing their sound check. I'd never heard of them before and didn’t even know that they were playing but I was really impressed by their combination of latin, funk, and pop music. The 8-piece band used a variety of instrument to create a very rich sound that many in the crowd found to be quite danceable. I picked up one of the 6’ singles the band handed out from the stage and upon listening, I found their studio work to be just as good as their live work, albeit slightly less energetic. It was really fun stuff.
While Fool’s Gold played to a relatively empty room, I had wondered where everyone in the huge line outside had gone. I figured it out the second I walked out the outdoor stage. The place was jam packed. The Hold Steady was setting up their gear when I walked out, which was good timing because less than 5 minutes later the doors to the outdoor were closed. I had been heard a lot about the Hold Steady recently, especially their live performance, and wanted to see what the big deal was. I had heard a couple of tracks off their recent album Stay Positive and enjoyed them but still didn’t get all the hype. The moment they walked on stage, I understood. The band came out with an incredible energy that I was not expecting at all. Even better was the crowd’s energy. The hold Steady does have some serious fans that were out in full force at Red 7, most of which sang along to every song. Despite the fact that this was one of a handful of shows the band was playing during the week, they didn’t hold back at all. The band was solid and having a great time through the whole set but things went to another level when they played 2008’s “Sequestered in Memphis” which had not just the fans singing along, but everyone in the building, which inevitably led to the song being stuck in my head for the rest of the week.
Even though I was really enjoying it, I decided to leave the Hold Steady early so I could catch the noise rock duo No Age on the inside stage. No Age played a very quick and very loud set. There was an extreme amount of energy coming the drummer who was fun to watch as he hit the drums as hard as possibly could during long segments of feedback from the guitarists. The songs were indistinguishable from one another and it was over in about 20 minutes but I still had a really good time.
After a quick break to let the day show crowds clear out a little bit, I walked to the Central Presbyterian Church to see a few baroque pop bands and to enjoy sitting in an air conditioned room. After waiting in a long line full of Grizzly Bear fans, I was able to catch the second half of the set from San Francisco’s Girls. My first impressions from the show wasn’t even caused by the band, I immediately noticed how great the church was for a concert like this. Every note echoed beautifully with the high ceilings and washed over the crowd. Girls was a trio that played really textured music that sounded great in the church setting. While the music sounded fantastic, the band itself was content just standing and playing their instruments which became boring after a little while. I would listen to some of their recorded material, but with their name they’re just too hard to google.
The next band was difficult to pronounce, but great to listen to, Rural Alberta Advantage. An indie folk trio led by singer-songwriter Paul Banwatt who sang songs that were, as you might expect, about living and growing up in Alberta, Canada the band was average on their own, but sounded great when behind the great songs. I loved the way the soft melodies came out and bounced around the room. I thought that the band was great, but the rest of the crowd thought even better, giving the band a standing ovation at the end of the set.
Finally the baroque pop troop from Brooklyn called Grizzly Bear took the stage. Once again, the venue provided the perfect set for such a band. The vocal harmonies sounded fantastic floating around the room. The band itself was extremely tight and the crowd treated the show as a kind of hushed spectacle with complete silence during the songs, and very enthusiastic applause at the end of them. I thought that the show was quite beautiful, but I needed something a little more harsh so I left about halfway through Grizzly Bear, I do want to see them again, but not on a night where there are plenty of other shows for me to be at.
I left the church and walked back to Emo’s once again. I was surprised to see no line whatsoever and entered quick enough to see yet another indie band, Wild Light. Wild Light had a very energetic set but they music was very forgettable and unremarkable in a day so full of bands. They had a sound reminiscent of other indie bands with a bit of a punk influence, like a sped up Tokyo Police Club. It was decent, but nothing great.
New Zealand’s Cut Off Your Hands was the next band. They had a similar effect as Wild Light in that while I enjoyed it at the time; I now find them quite forgettable. I did like the music which sounded like a more straightforward Bloc Party. I’ve been told that they’re fantastic on record so I may give that a try, but I found them a little generic, although that could easily have been exhaustion and the fact that they were the 11th band I had seen that day.
Boston’s Passion Pit was next. They came in extremely hyped and were the first to play to a full house at Emo’s. Passion Pit is a dance pop band that featured three keyboard players, a bass player, and a drummer. I didn’t really see what the big deal was with the band, but everyone else in the crowd went completely nuts for them. I didn’t really enjoy the music at all, which to me sounded like something you hear on the radio every ten minutes, the only difference being that this was a band and not some solo artist. When the singer started going I felt like I was listening to Geddy Lee being produced by T-Pain. It was really unsatisfying for me, but once again, it could have been exhaustion. I was so exhausted at that point that I left without seeing Peter, Bjorn, and John, a decision that I regretted later on, although my body would have punished me severely had I stayed.