Thursday review (page 2)

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The hightlight of today was the outstanding The Mooney Suzuki down at the Red Eyed Fly bar. Now perhaps I’m a little biased, as I consider ‘Alive and Amplified’ to be one of the greatest pop songs of the last five years or so, but their live performance is simply phenomenal. It’s just impossible not to stomp your foot along to songs like ‘New York Girls’, and ‘Electric Sweat’. They are one of the real American rock bands but somehow manage to get away without suffering too many clichés. Diving into the crowd, jumping off of amps, needlessly long guitar solos, it’s all there, but it’s all in the name of fun and the crowd are enthralled by the whole set. I was supposed to leave half way through to catch someone else, but it was just one of those sets which you really didn’t want to miss. Great stuff.

Scott Matthews was making his American debut, and was quite surprised to find out he had a few fans in the audience. The heavily endorsed Radio 2 artist was obviously enjoying himself and openly voiced his desire to play more gigs in Austin, even if it involves playing in one onlookers toilet – apparently. At one with his guitar, which he’s been playing since he was just seven, Matthews is an extremely talented musician and his half hour set didn’t seem long enough to showcase just how good he was. ‘Passing Stranger’ and his hit single ‘Elusive’ both got a run out, and needless to say both sounded beautiful.



I legged it across the road to catch one of my favourite new bands at the moment, The Cinematics. It wasn’t the best performance I’ve seen from the group, but the last time I saw them at Glasgow’s King Tut’s they were on fine form. Seamlessly merging influences from The Cure, Joy Division and coming across a little like Interpol, but far easier to dance to. Bassist Adam Goemans slinks across the stage like an evil character from a Tim Burton animation, his intimidating stare suiting the band’s haunting ambience. Meanwhile Ramsay Miller was having to fight off an over friendly microphone stand. They end with a collection of their best songs, ‘Chase’, ‘Break’ and finally ‘Asleep at the wheel’.



I ventured back over to Stubbs’, which was becoming the place to be for new British bands, and caught the start of Aqualung’s set. I’d never been particular inspired by Aqualung, and they haven’t done much to change my opinion since I last saw them. Vocally it’s spot on, and the crowd were completely behind them, yet they just don’t have the live presence that The Sunshine Underground had yesterday.

The Bravery were another act making their TV appearance for SXSW, and once again the crowd were being orchestrated like puppets. Still sitting quietly in the Killer’s shadow, it doesn’t look like The Bravery will ever be able to surpass their electro-indie twins. Yet the support for them tonight is brilliant, and the huge stage at their disposal gives them plenty of space to throw all the typical rock star poses.



He may be wetter than a handshake from a senior librarian, but James Walsh has certainly gathered together a collection of hits whilst with his band Starsailor. Performing solo today, with just an acoustic guitar to support him, Walsh takes the crowd through a string of singles from his group, including ‘Silence is easy’, ‘Four to the floor’, and ‘Good Souls’. Each song seemed to blend into one another, and Walsh even sneaked in a cover of Gorillaz’ ‘Dare’. It was actually a rather enjoyable, intimate performance from the singer, and once again half a hour didn’t seem long enough.

Another highlight of the day was from lively all girl rockers The Hedrons, who won the crowd over when lead singer Tippi decided to go for an exhausting walkabout, long even by her standards. Their best track ‘Be My Friend’ got heads bobbing, and single ‘Heatseaker’ also seemed to go down well. It was a shame there weren’t more people to see them, and the fact the doorman had stopped letting people in through the front door might have also impacted on the meagre crowd.


I ended the night by watching another great performance from The Gossip, who certainly had their fair share of supporters. Larger than life singer Beth Ditto had her adoring fans, and constant chants of “We love you Beth” could be heard echoing around the venue. I only stayed for a couple of songs, as I was far too tired to see the set through to the end. Another great day of music at SXSW, and it might just be the weather, but I’m really starting to warm to this festival.

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