Best Gig of 2009: SXSW

Ok, perhaps this isn’t really all that fair. Festivals really do, by their very nature, out shadow just about any regular gig. Their sheer size and stature, for one, assures that they are forces to be reckoned with. And last year’s SXSW was no exception. It’s the biggest show and biggest festival I’ve ever been to, and hot damn was it a good time. It was head and shoulders above just about every other show I went to last year, and easily wins this here category.

From our first night’s dive bar special seeing bands like Cartright and Your 33 Black Angels at a wonderful dive to the bitchin’ New Zealand party in Brush Square Park to the awesomeness of Primal Scream at La Zona Rosa to the killer wall of drone put forth by The Black Angels and special guest Roky Erickson, the entire festival was an endless, frantic, frenzied party. I mean, you know it’s gonna be good when entire city blocks are literally shut down to traffic to allow for the smooth (-ish) foot traffic of bands and festival-goers. Bar after bar after bar plays host to hundreds and hundreds of bands and thousands and thousands of press and industry people. Sure, I got so into SXSW that I was physically sick, but it was so worth it.

The schedule of the festival was so jam-packed full of bands that trying to schedule what to see was a Herculean task. But really, it was a no-lose situation. No matter what you see at any given SXSW, you’re almost assured that it’s going to be something good. And after seeing The Black Lips, Primal Scream, Ringo Deathstarr, Graham Coxon, The Love Language, Glasvegas, and many others, I can safely say that SXSW 2009 was the top dog of 2009 live events. And man oh man, I sure do wish I was going back this year. The lineup sounds fantastic, and it's just such a grand old time. SXSW 2011, here I come. Dammit.

mp3: Sparxxx (The Love Language from The Love Language)

mp3: Veni Vidi Vici (The Black Lips from Good Bad Not Evil)

mp3: Medication (Primal Scream from Vanishing Point)