SXSW 2011: Day II, Part IV

Last but not least, this post will conclude day two of SXSW 2011. After getting backstage with Beats Antique, we headed over to the Bright Eyes outdoor show... but not without some delays, including returning a lost wallet to its owner, sneaking in through the back door of a pricey hotel to charge our phones/camera in a spare outlet, and a few rest stops along the way to take the pressure off Daniel's fractured ankle.
We finally made it though, and got a fairly close spot in the middle of a crowd. The band couldn't hit the stage soon enough for me. Anyone who knows me for about an hour would be able to tell you, I love Bright Eyes, specifically Conor O'berst. He is my muse, and my inspiration. The music of Bright Eyes got me through some very very rough times in my life, and I view Conor more as an old friend than a musician. I run the risk of sounding like a fan boy by saying so, but I mean that I have an intimate connection with the music because of the effect it had on my life, and there was a time where for a while, my music was my closest and dearest friend, none more near and dear than Bright Eyes.

While I have seen Conor's other projects before (Conor O'berst and The Mystic Valley Band, Monsters of Folk), and even met him before, this was my first time to see Bright Eyes live. And I could barely contain myself. They started out with the opening track of the new record, The People's Key, and the crowd went wild. This song has a 2 and a half minute intro, and it seemed to take hours. Then Conor started to sing into the mic, and you could barely hear him, so loud was the crowd's roar. It was hard for me to get any more than screen shots due to where we stood, but this is the best I can do:













There were a ton of embellishments on this song, both from Conor's vocals but most impressive was the trumpet solos. They added trumpets to songs that they aren't even included in on the record. It really added a beautiful touch, and it was very appropriate. Conor gets so intense when he sings, he spoke a lot about the war, and the attacks on Libya. He is very outspoken against war, and his passion against it shows. He also dedicated a song to "The Super Moon", because that night we were experiencing a phenomenon where the moon looked much larger and brighter because it was closer to the earth than usual. They left the stage and there was an encore, where they played 4 or 5 more hit songs, and finally closed with the last song on the new record, and a fireworks spectacular! It was incredible. I cried during Lua and at least 3 other songs, and then as the fireworks went off, I shed a few tears again. It was a beautiful, beautiful experience. That music truly does something to me, right here *pats heart*. Unfortunately, my camera didn't have enough of a charge to get the fireworks, but I've got the memory. If anyone knows where I can get concert footage of that performance, call me. Setlist for the show was:

• "Firewall"
• "Jejune Stars"
• "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)"
• "Four Winds"
• "Cleanse Song"
• "Something Vague"
• "We Are Nowhere"
• "Shell Games"
• "Approximate Sunlight"
• "Arc of Time"
• "Haile Selassie"
• "No One Would Riot for Less"
• "Bowl of Oranges"
• "The People's Key"
• "Cartoon Blues"
• "Beginner's Mind"
• "Poison Oak"
• "Old Soul Song"
• "The Calendar Hung Itself"
• "Lua"

---

• "Gold Mine Gutted"
• "Lover I Don't Have To Love"
• "Road To Joy"
• "One for You, One For Me"

Although it was approaching midnight, we were nowhere near going to bed. Heading back to the Sixth street area, we stumbled across the Thre3style DJ Battle sponsored by Redbull, an epic, out of control electro music feast for the ears. DJ Z trip, Jazzy Jeff, De La Soul, Switch, and others played epic remixes of rap, rock and hip-hop songs for several hours. Of course, with Nate Dogg just recently passing away at the time, there were plenty of remixes of his songs and also a lot of nods to popular Calfornia songs, (which I of course enjoyed, being from Orange County and all). Then, to really put the cherry on top, when the last DJ was on stage, they announced that a "very special surprise guest is with us tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for LL Cool J!" Holy effing crap! The music got louder as did the crowd, and we partied on for another forty minutes or so. Loved that.





Photo cred for these goes to the DJ Z Trip forum and Austin360.com.

Next was the Vice Magazine sponsored after party, Vice Kills Texas. It was held in a secret location off Sixth street, and the line stretched for about a mile. It was an RSVP show, which we had RSVP'd to days in advance, but somehow, when we finally made it to the front doors, our names weren't on the list. Daniel's was, but mine wasn't. "I'm not goin' in if she can't go," He told the bouncer, who had turned away dozens of people in front of us without even blinking. But, somehow, we got lucky again, and with a promise not to say anything to anyone else, we were stamped for entry and let inside. We later found out that it was a "Badge Only" party too. Score!

The abandoned building was dark, humid, loud, and epic. They had rotating lights, a huge stage, and huge projected and spiraling ads for the promoted beer, Sapporo. I'm not a big beer fan, but this Japanese beer was definitely better than I've ever had. It came in these extra large, super heavy duty, industrial strength aluminum cans too, those suckers were impossible to crush. Anyway, moving on. DJ Ben Swank, Odd Future and Thee Oh See's were some of the lineup set to play. Also special guest P. Diddy was there, but Daniel and I bailed before he came onstage. We had been going off of next to no sleep, and basically lived off of coffee and booze, and had walked God knows how many miles in the past couple days, and the outdoor nature of the building in the sweltering Texas heat wasn't doing us any favors. So we found a safe, quiet parking space in the YMCA parking lot, cracked the windows, turned off the engine, and caught about 3 hours of sleep. The next morning we hobo bathed in a gas station (shaving your legs in a convenience store bathroom isn't as easy as it sounds, ladies), and quickly headed to the nearest Starbucks to get our caffeine fix before we got back on the road. Pictures from the evening:

Odd Future.

The party just spilled outside, doors were kept open letting the sweaty body heat out, and the humid air in, as well as the aroma of a thousand dirty hippes using portapotties.


Oh yeah, and check out who else showed up to the party.
Daniel and I snuck onto the rooftop of the building (as we usually do), and got to enjoy a nice breeze, live music from a surrounding club, and the gorgeous view of Austin at night.

And this is where I (finally!) conclude end day two. Action packed.

Photo creds: hotelfashionland.com, viceland.com, and myself.

-Vixen