This Weeks Reviews on Kevchino.com

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

SXSW Day 2 March 18th 2010

Grandaddy Earlimart new project Admiral Radley


Started off seeing Admiral Radley at a bar called Vice-Lose Control 2. The band may not sound familiar, but its members are, as half are from the band Earlimart and the other half from Grandaddy, who blend electronic samples and folk to make a really pretty blend of old and new. Gotta say, these guys and gal are worth checking out.

Afterwards, I headed over to Stubb’s, which is one of the best barbecue joints in Austin and just happens to have an outdoor venue the size of a football field that serves BBQ and beer and has a free pool table. This was one of the bigger shows of the night going on. On the bill were the Besnard Lakes, hailing from Montreal, who brought a psych-mixed-with-pop sound that didn’t feel like it fit in a performance space this size, but did their job at getting the crowd ready for the bigger acts to come.

The Soft Pack
Up next was The Soft Pack, who originally were called The Muslims, but changed their name for obvious reasons. Bringing rock and roll with hints of a punk sound, the guys got the crowd jumping in this never-ending night of music.


The Drive-By Truckers were up next, and from Athens, Georgia, they had the crowd in the palm of their hands with their heavier classic Southern rock anthems, even bringing out Muscle Shoals legend Spooner Oldham, who played keyboard on their last song, “Let There Be Rock,” which was in remembrance of Alex Chilton who had just passed on the day before, and to dying record stores where kids would once go to learn about music.

Band of Horses


Up next was Band of Horses, who, from start to finish, completely blew everyone away and were the winners of the night. Their set sounded polished, and the band had fun with the audience, joking around. But live, their performance converted me, and I’m sure everyone else there, as a fan.


Broken Social Scene


The show and the night ended with Broken Social Scene were plagued by technical difficulties and a stage filled with different members coming out for select songs, including former singer Emily Haines coming out of nowhere with her Metric bandmate James Shaw to perform “Anthems for a 17-Year-Old Girl” as the audience went crazy. But with twelve mics, and musicians wandering in and out of songs, their show was confusing, while the new material left everyone dry, aside from their new song, “World Sick,” which is one of the best songs the band has ever put out. Aside from all that, it was good to see Broken Social Scene back together again.




Words by DaVe Lipp | Photos by Kevin Serra

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