SXSW, 2010 : Day 3

By Staff • March 25, 2010

SXSW 2010
by Brianne Turner, Photography by Nick Chaivarlis

The strongest/longest day of SXSW was definitely Friday, beginning with a very electronic Toro Y Moi set at the French Legation Museum (and more sound problems!). From there we moved to the Galaxy Room Backyard where we caught Freelance Whales and also Local Natives, who are getting better and better at killing sets and winning fans. The crowd more than doubled just before Local Natives took the stage (smart) and grew enthusiastic about the band’s cover of “Warning Sign.” This was the band’s sixth SXSW show of the nine they played, but no trace of exhaustion was evident in the band as they played an incredible and high-energy version of “Airplanes” before bringing Fool’s Gold to the stage to help close the set/crush hearts with “Sun Hands.”

Solid Gold and Tanlines played Club de Ville for the Green Label Sound Party, where the bands played back-to-back sets. Solid Gold got the crowd ready, but Tanlines got the crowd going by combining songs seamlessly to maximize dancibility. Though it did seem to minimize set time, the duo put in their allotted time and made room for the next act.

Down the street at Emo’s (Windish), Danish band WhoMadeWho took beers from the audience while they played an entertaining set, integrating spooky harmonies, trance-based effects, and dramatic buildups while their audience danced it out and fed them more beer. (Best fans!) Delorean (yes, again!) followed WhoMadeWho, continuing the dance party for an even larger, possibly drunker crowd.

In an unintentional attempt to change the vibe, we made a very intentional trip to see The Trews at Prague’s Canada Night. The set was plagued with sound problems but the band played a solid rock ‘n’ roll show for a bar full of enthusiastic Canadians who showed allegiance to their countrymen by knowing every lyric to every song. Though the four band members remained seated throughout all eight songs, their energy never waned. The Trews were also one of the only bands we saw who didn’t let the venue’s sound issues eclipse their performance.
Rock ‘n’ roll, fuck yeah.

We ended the night back at Emo’s (Windish), this time at the main stage for The Very Best, who are the (very) best at getting Americans to sing in a Malawian accent. After handing out Heinekens to audience members and partaking in some stage dives, The Very Best encouraged the entire audience to crawl onto the stage and dance it out to “Warm Heart of Africa,” sans Ezra Koenig.