SXSW 2010
by Brianne Turner, Photography by Nick Chaivarlis and Brianne Turner

All good things must come to an end, and like the best of things, SXSW’s finale is leaving us feeling a small void these last few days. The social networks (for the most part) have stopped crawling with ridiculous hash tags and concert updates, and you don’t have to read about how much fun your friends (or the people you envy) are having in Austin without you on a minute-by-minute basis.

We may not have had time to see your favorite band last week in the midst of all the musical chaos, but it’s an absolute certainty that we covered some bands who could definitely become some of your newest favorites. We know this because they became ours. Here is our SXSW coverage, broken down by day:

Day 1: Brazos, Body Language, Visqueen, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, The Walkmen, Broken Bells, Spoon

Day 2: The Antlers, Bobby Long, Delorean

Day 3: Toro Y Moi, Freelance Whales, Local Natives, Solid Gold, Tanlines, Delorean, WhoMadeWho, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Trews, The Very Best

Day 4: The Morning Benders, Wye Oak, Ben Gibbard, Titus Andronicus, Here We Go Magic, Pictureplane, The Very Best, Sleigh Bells

Musicfest NW 2009
by Brianne Turner, Photography by Justin Patterson

Dominating Portland, Oregon’s primary music venues, Musicfest NW began Wednesday at Berbati’s Pan with a lineup featuring Fences, Portland Cello Project, Damien Jurado, and Will Sheff of Okkervil River. Not so much a “Let’s get this party started!!1!” vibe for the festival’s inaugural show, but Portland Cello Project covered Britney’s “Toxic” (on cellos!), and Will Sheff had the venue packed by the end of his soundcheck.

Just off the plane from a show with his band in Tel Aviv and a subsequent 23-hour flight back to the States, Sheff used his Musicfest NW set to create a place where the grizzliest, beardiest bastards in Portland could sing along and sway with every WASP with a fairly credible music collection.

Thursday was the only day during the festival that called for any amount of planning and sacrifice. Torn between being an indie music blogger (Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), an indie music blogger (We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit), or participating in a sweaty mess of an underage (hi, all ages venue) dance party, we opted for Girl Talk at the Roseland.

Too sweaty and crowded to take notes with a pen, I took notes with my mind and with our Twitter account.

If Hot. As. Fuck. is not yet a scientifically recognized measure of body heat, someone should look into taking a thermometer to the next Girl Talk show. With the audience dancing and sweating all over each other below him, Gregg Gillis played maestro-dj while he extended his dance party to the stage and buried the crowd in toilet paper and confetti.

Friday’s obvious show choice was Sunny Day Real Estate, but we instead ventured out to Mississippi Studios for Weinland, Port O’Brien, and Deer Tick. For the last song of their set, Port O’Brien handed out pots and pans to anyone willing to sacrifice his PBR hand and become an extended member of the band’s rhythm section. When Deer Tick emerged for their set, lead singer John McCauley lifted his mini kilt to flash his gray briefs to the audience, so that was a special moment. The crowd spent the remainder of the evening dancing it out and enthusiastically shouting McCauley’s lyrics back at him.

[ Side note: Before the Beach House show at Berbati's Pan Saturday night, a van pulled up across the street and ninjas came spilling out to play two punk songs, draw a crowd, then drive away. Guerrilla ninja punk band (not "from outer space" because this really happened). If you know what that was, email me. I'm serious. Odd (and also awed). ]

Opening for Beach House were Avi Buffalo, The Morning Benders, and John Vanderslice. The crowd for Avi Buffalo and The Morning Benders was sparse, but the full sound of both bands helped to fill the empty space. Neither band was big on banter, but the crowd made up for it by talking both between and during songs. John Vanderslice and Beach House kept the vibe mellow and rounded out the last full night of Musicfest NW for us. We cover that more extensively here.

The apex of the week was easily Girl Talk at the Roseland Theater, because sweating all over yourself and also strangers has never been more enjoyable. If nothing else, Musicfest NW effectively created a lineup for eclectic music fans who don’t need big-name headliners to carry a festival.

Monolith, 2009
by Nick Chaivarlis, Photography by Jon Bielecki, Angora Holly Polo, and Jake Cisneros

“She’s a bitch in September,” I heard a bystander mutter to whoever was listening. I was listening. “Who’s a bitch?” The dedicated music fan looked up at the clouds and without even thinking, answered me with, “Colorado.” It didn’t take long to figure out that he was talking about the weather.

Autovaughn put on a decent show for being one of the first bands playing for the smaller crowds outdoors. Festivals are created for the mere fact of supporting musicians, so why be there if you weren’t planning on checking out bands you have never heard of? The indoor stages were cramped regardless of the artist’s mainstream popularity. These United States were playing inside at the WOXY.com stage and the room was packed. Between both days, the Fire Marshal had to step in and regulate the crowds (safety is so lame) between acts.

Girl Talk, of Montreal, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all put on stellar performances regardless of the rain sessions during their jam sessions. By the end of the night, no one cared how drenched they were, as long as the headliners were able to keep the party going. Girl Talk entertained the audience by allowing a handful of fans on stage to dance their asses off, while of Montreal put on what seemed to be a one-act play (creepy costumes and lights included).

The Knew kicked off day two with one of the first shows of the day (and it was one hell of a show). Everything seemed to be rolling according to plan (sun, cool crowd, reasonable security) until an announcer informed the entire amphitheater of the cancellation of MSTRKRFT‘s show (the word on the street is that they were a no-show due to illness), which sent an uproar through the amphitheater (but not for too long, as everyone then dispersed to go see another act or two).

Due to MSTRKRFT‘s last-minute cancellation, the lineup changed a bit and some patrons missed a show or were late to one due to not being informed of the schedule change (or due to drugs and alcohol, but who is really keeping tabs?), but for the most part, I think things went smoothly. Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Savoy were all equally tossed around the lineup, but everything worked out in the long run (and it worked out better for Phoenix, as they were moved to the main Esurance stage [which proved to be ideal since everyone in Colorado showed up for their set]).

We all learned that Passion Pit means “to dance,” because that’s exactly what everyone did as soon as the band hit the stage. Right before ending their session, Michael Angelakos took the time to inform everyone to go see their “friends” (Phoenix) down at the Esurance stage (as both bands were originally supposed to play back-to-back on the Southern Comfort stage). The crowd followed suit down the many flights of stairs of the amphitheater and filled in the main stage to hear Phoenix and The Mars Volta end a perfect night.

Phoenix had a late start but were totally worth it, seeing as how they filled up the entire arena and had the crowd up and moving regardless of how chilly the night had become. In terms of energy, it seems as if the final acts of the night delivered more than enough. Phoenix‘s Thomas Mars decided to redefine crowdsurfing by taking his ride into the fans (but at an incline) and making his way up the amphitheater rather than through it.

Regardless of the shifty weather, the Monolith Festival was a complete success. It offered a variety of artists to be appreciated by a variety of different music fans. When you’re surrounded by good music, people, food, and alcohol, you can’t really go wrong. Festivals are for music and Monolith proved just that.

There were no reports of devastating weather, tragic deaths, or even threats on national security at 2009′s Outside Lands Festival. There was just some good old fashioned fun in the sun (with music, of course).

If you couldn’t make it to Outside Lands this year, the festival’s lineup is something that you should be so jealous about missing that it will force you to get off your ass and make a trip to San Francisco next time around. It’s not every day that you get to see such a wide variety of acts. I mean, you’ll probably never have a chance to see the likes of The Black Eyed Peas tearing up the stage on the same day as Dave Matthews, much less in a twelve hour window from where The Dead Weather would later give everyone exactly what they came for.

If there is a possibility of ever having too much fun, you can witness it when Matt & Kim make the stage (and the crowd) their own personal playground. If you look hard enough, you can see genuine contentment on their faces (OK, you really don’t have to look that hard), because they make it abundantly clear that the stage is their home and that they’ll treat any guest in their home with the highest level of hospitality (even if that means crowd surfing).

To regain and maintain everyone’s chi throughout the festival, Os Mutantes were there to make sure everyone was doing OK in between bong hits, and Jason Mraz was there to make sure everyone was doing bong hits. John Vanderslice, Lenka, and Modest Mouse made very memorable appearances as well.

In the midst of everyone being collective, M.I.A. came in to stir up a little rowdiness. In her attempt to cause commotion, she handed out blow horns to the audience. Let’s face it though, what’s a festival without an obscene amount of blow horn in unison? After The Beastie Boys had to cancel, Tenacious D were there to fill in the pieces by covering “Intergalactic” and “Sabotage.”

Outside Lands was a promising place if you enjoy good music, art, and food. All of the acts pulled through to give everyone the most accurate definition of a festival. Sure, you can look it up in a dictionary, but I think the only way to really know what it means is to immerse yourself in it. If you couldn’t make it to Outside Lands this year, there is no need to worry (– a need to feel regret and to sulk is a different story) because you still have about a year to make plans for next year’s festivities.

Torrential rain earlier Sunday morning delayed the entire event by at least 4 hours, but those adamant on seeing Coldplay or MGMT (two of the night’s big acts) waited it out. Unfortunately the late opening canceled a few sets including Jersey locals, The Gaslight Anthem. However, the show went on with lots of mud slinging and memorable performances by The Black Keys, Echo & The Bunnymen and Lykke Li. Depending where your loyalties laid, Coldplay — who also performed a piano version of the Beasties’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)” and an acoustic rendition of “Billie Jean” by the late Michael Jackson — and MGMT’s almost simultaneous performances made for a great ending to an otherwise soggy festival.

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