photo by Michael Todd
words by Michael Todd and Sean McCarthy | photos by Bridget McQuillan, Chevy Anderson, Chris Dinan and Michael Todd
Thursday at South by Southwest ended like any day at a festival should: with almost a dozen crowd members bouncing and dancing and bobbing onstage with the band.
Reverend and the Makers was a rousing finish to a day of a few disappointments, a few great shows we expected and a handful more we didn't. "The best laid plans…" You know the rest.
Thursday was about finding other options to "must see" bands at South by Southwest. The line for Pitchfork's showcase almost guaranteed a person would be at the halfway point by the 2 a.m. closing time. Ditto for the line for Surfer Blood's set at The Belmont, which stretched around the block… and another block… and another block.
For the concerts that didn't require gobs of waiting time, we've produced photos and reviews of the festival's official third day. Read on by navigating the table of contents and see photos taken by Nebraskans in Austin further below.
Beach Fossils, Black Lips, Charlie XCX, Chrome Sparks, Delorean, Diana, Enclosure, Flume, Gemini Club, Gregory Alan Isakov, Imaginary Cities, Indians, Josh Ritter, Josh Rouse, Lianne la Havas, Lord Huron, Night Beds, No Ceremony ///, PHOX, Reverend and the Makers, Rhye, Satchel Grande, Shonna Tucker, Shout Out Louds, Sinkane, Small Black, Telekinesis, The Muscle Shoals Sound forum, Wake Owl, Waxahatchee
Chrome Sparks
photos by Chevy Anderson
Diana | Red 7
photo by Chris Dinan
Flume | Latitude 30
photo by Chris Dinan
PHOX | Stages on Sixth
photos by Bridget McQuillan
The Muscle Shoals Sound forum | Austin Convention Center
Although some shows were too crowded to try joining, backup plans were in place. The first Plan B wasn't a band, but a forum. David Hood and Jimmy Johnson may not be household names, but their fingerprints are all over popular music with contributions in the FAME recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Ala. One of the most memorable anecdotes of the talk was Johnson's retelling of the signing of Aretha Franklin, and her reluctance to come to Alabama to record one of the songs that reignited her career: "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)."
Lord Huron
photos by Bridget McQuillan
Waxahatchee | 1100 Warehouse
photo by Chris Dinan
Charli XCX | The Mohawk
photos by Chevy Anderson
Indians | Stages on Sixth
Indians was one of the disappointments of the day. Like many concerts at SXSW, problems with sound plagued this Danish band fronted by Søren Løkke Juul. Before they started at the outside stage of Paste's co-sponsored showcase with HGTV, Juul remarked that if he couldn't hear himself, the band wasn't going to play. Nonetheless, with a laptop at their feet and keyboards at their hands, this trio stressfully marched on.
photo by Michael Todd
Gemini Club | Bar 96
photo by Chris Dinan
Enclosure | The Mohawk
photos by Chevy Anderson
Josh Rouse | Stages on Sixth
Nebraska-born Josh Rouse drew quite the contingent of devoted fans back inside at Stages on Sixth. While his brand of breezy and gentle singer/songwriter pop was at times a little too sleepy, singalongs kept the crowd engaged with phrases like "And you people all know what I'm talkin' about," which fans would respond in kind with "Yeah, you people all know what he's talkin' about."
photo by Michael Todd
Sinkane | Clive Bar
photos by Chevy Anderson
Josh Ritter | Stages on Sixth
Josh Ritter couldn't stop smiling, which was a little disconcerting considering his latest album's preoccupation with love lost. The sly songwriter from Idaho opened his set at Stages on Sixth with "Rumors," a loud heart-racer that complemented the permanent grin on Ritter's face. Sure, a song like "New Lover" playfully insults that new album's subject, Ritter's ex-wife, with lines like "But if you’re sad and you are lonesome and you got nobody true / I’d be lying if I said that didn’t make me happy, too." The smile works there. But in others, where the pain of divorce is wrenches words, maybe that could have called for a more fitting expression.
photos by Michael Todd
Small Black | Red 7
photo by Chris Dinan
NO CEREMONY /// | Latitude 30
photo by Chris Dinan
Delorean | Clive Bar
photos by Chevy Anderson
Lianne la Havas | Empire Automotive
photo by Bridget McQuillan
Beach Fossils
photo by Bridget McQuillan
Satchel Grande | Javelina
Slowly but surely, Satchel Grande convinced the crowd, outside of their family and friends, to join in. After all, the world is as funky as you make it. The venue, Javelina, is a good jaunt from the beaten path of Sixth Street in Austin, and within the "hipster apocalypse," as Gregory Alan Isakov called it, a good jaunt can keep even the funkiest fan from seeing this Omahan gem of a band.
photos by Michael Todd
Night Beds | Red 7
photo by Chris Dinan
Wake Owl | The Mohawk
photo by Bridget McQuillan
Shonna Tucker | Stage at Sixth
The Muscle Shoals theme from earlier in the day continued later at The Stage at Sixth Patio with former Drive-By Truckers' member Shonna Tucker. Her new band, Shonna Tucker & Eye Candy, played a set of mainly ballads stemming from her band's debut album, which is due later this year.
Rhye | 1100 warehouse
photo by Chris Dinan
Gregory Alan Isakov | Palm Door
As was mentioned before, Gregory Alan Isakov called SXSW a "hipster apocalypse," a fitting title for a festival that can be overwhelming even while you're overjoyed. There's just so much going on that the overstimulation is bound to catch up with you. Enter the soothing, pastoral-like songs of Gregory Alan Isakov, though, and the headache of SXSW is gone.
photos by Bridget McQuillan
Telekinesis | The Parish
photos by Bridget McQuillan
Imaginary Cities | Friends
photo by Michael Todd
Shout Out Louds | The Parish
After grabbing coffee (and hearing from an Austin native how he hates SXSW), the night ended at The Parish with Merge Records' Shout Out Louds. The band, fronted by Adam Olenius, is known for taking their time recording a new album, averaging about three years between albums. Their poppy earnestness may not make them stand out among similar artists like The Airborne Toxic Event, but live, the band put out enough energy to keep the audience of a few hundred engaged up to the 2 a.m. closing.
Black Lips | Cedar Street Courtyard
photos by Chevy Anderson
Reverend and the Makers | Hickory Street
This is the band that might win SXSW. A sort of dance pop outfit from Sheffield, England, Reverend and the Makers is mostly great because of the reverend, Jon McClure, who commanded the crowd to bounce. And if you didn't bounce, you were a dickhead. While we didn't see whether he stayed or not, this is where we saw Deer Tick's John McCauley; you decide who's crazier, though.
photos by Bridget McQuillan
#NESXSW photos
Our SXSW 2013 team is composed of managing editor Michael Todd, intern Chevy Anderson, contributors Bridget McQuillan, Chris Dinan and Sean McCarthy. Reach them all through Michael at michaeltodd@hearnebraska.org.