SXSW 2015 Recap – Saturday

In recent years, Saturday at South-by-Southwest has declined a little bit, from being the all-star weekend to being when acts get out of town early. And it didn’t help...
SXSW 2015 Preview

SXSW 2015 Recap - Saturday

South-by-Southwest returned to Austin this year, Tuesday-to-Saturday, March 17th to 21st. It was once again a massive event, spreading well beyond its Sixth Street ground zero, to such stages as Auditorium Shores Stage to the south and FADER Fort to the east and further. Admittedly, the weather wasn’t the best that SXSW has seen, but for those coming from the frozen rest of the country, it was a welcome respite.

 

 

In recent years, Saturday at South-by-Southwest has declined a little bit, from being the all-star weekend to being when acts get out of town early. And it didn’t help that it rained in 2015.

 

The Noise party @ Des Moines Embassy

Air Bag One

Air Bag One

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

For some reason the capitol of Iowa had an “embassy” in the capitol of Texas. I blame Rick Perry & Ted Cruz…

~

 

Do512 party @ Empire Garage

A lot of the events at SXSW had their official event pages on event listings site Do512.com, so Do512 threw its own party with the hard-hitting likes of Gang of Four, Diarrhea Planet, and Palma Violets.

Palma Violets

Palma Violets

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

 

Diarrhea Planet

Diarrhea Planet

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

 

Gang of Four

Gang of Four

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

~

 

Quantum Collective party @ Whole Foods

Of course Austin has a downtown Whole Foods, and of course it had performances during SXSW, including Rocky Dawuni and the iconic Zombies.

Rocky Dawuni

Rocky Dawuni

Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck

 

The Zombies

The Zombies

Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck

~

 

SPIN Magazine/Axe White Label party @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

SPIN Magazine teamed up with Axe White Label to bring John Legend and Lolawolf to SXSW.

Lolawolf

Lolawolf

Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck

 

John Legend

John Legend

Click image for full gallery – Jerri Starbuck

~

 

FADER Fort Presented by Converse

Alex G

Alex G

Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase

Final day of SXSW, final day of FADER Fort. The rain pushed everyone under the big tent with holes, and the bartenders started enforcing the drink tokens. You would be forgiven for thinking that Alex G was going to be a rapper when you saw his name on the schedule, but instead was some moody alt-rock that the crowd wasn’t into. He made some joke about McDonald’s, and then hinted that the special guest was either in Space Jam, Chicago Bulls & Hanes Underwear, or had the initials M.M. and was in True Detective, for no apparent reason. It felt a bit like he could tell that the crowd wasn’t into his sound, and he wasn’t taking his appearance seriously, just snarkily getting through it.

 

Kevin Gates

Kevin Gates

Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase

But nothing was harder to get through than the fans for Kevin Gates. His gangsta-rap had the clusterfuck crowd (though, not to sound like Bill Cosby, should pull his sweatpants up, as they seemed to threaten to drop to the stage floor his whole performance), but even FADER Fort was wearing thin by this point.

~

 

Rachael Ray House

So headed to a much easier to swallow spot, Rachael Ray House, for the enjoyable, if not particularly original, blues-rock of Roto’s Magic Act, The Cringe (Rachael Ray’s husband’s band), and the more energetic Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Bird.

Roto’s Magic Act

Roto’s Magic Act

Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase

 

The Cringe

The Cringe

Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase

 

Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Bird

Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Bird

Click image for full gallery – Ted Chase

~

 

Converse/Thrasher Magazine showcase @ Gypsy Lounge

Converse Shoes and Thrasher Magazine teamed up to bring the thrash to Gypsy Lounge during SXSW, with such acts as Sick of It All, Ceremony, Power Trip, and Code Orange:

Code Orange

Code Orange

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

 

Power Trip

Power Trip

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

 

Ceremony

Ceremony

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

 

Sick of it All

Sick of it All

Click image for full gallery – Chris Becker

~

 

Other notes:

-You know you’ve been doing SXSW for a long time when your favorite moment isn’t some performance or even some fan, but security. The ones working at FADER Fort were very nice to your correspondent, recognizing him from multiple appearances, waving him in at the entrance, and pulling him from the packed crowd into the photo pit (after waving aside a would-be photographer without credentials in front of him…).

 

Unfortunately missed:

-Mew (QRO live review) @ Red 7, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM.

-Rubblebucket (QRO live review) @ Scoot Inn, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM. The rain made the main crowd area at Scoot Inn a mud pit.

-Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (QRO spotlight on) & Delta Spirit (QRO album review) @ Stubb’s. Rachael Ray’s big SXSW party.

-Not In the Face! @ Holy Mountain Backyard, 1:00 AM – 2:00 AM.

Categories
Concert Reviews
Album of the Week