Many cities around the country are renowned for their deep musical roots and legacies — no better place for country than Nashville, no home more fitting for jazz than New Orleans and certainly no challenger to New York's throne of musical theater. But none of these have been dubbed the "Live Music Capital of the World." No, that honor goes to Austin, Texas.
It is a rather grandiose motto, to be sure, for a town that claims no genre as its own, yet it is fully deserved. With over 100 venues staging live music every night and the longest−running music series in American television history (PBS's "Austin City Limits"), the city is certainly a force to be reckoned with. And yet even these examples do not properly convey the true spirit of the town as effectively as the annual South By Southwest (SXSW) festival.
Every year for five days in March, the entire city transforms into one gigantic music venue as thousands of bands invade to make themselves known and share their art. Unlike any other festival, the action goes down in small, intimate clubs. On nearly every block downtown there is a show; at every show, there are a multitude of bands; and for every band, there are eager fans looking for the next life−changing gig. And the fans don't need to look very far.
The festival's official showcases feature big−ticket headliners such as Spoon, Muse and Motörhead, and are geared more toward the industry — hence the $500 passes, nearly twice the average festival ticket price. However, there is no shortage of free gigs sponsored by magazines, Web sites, etc. At this year's festival, for example, right down the street from the Rachael Ray−hosted party on March 20 at the legendary outdoor venue Stubb's BBQ, where classic Texas grub and live music draw crowds in equal measure, lay social networking site MOG's shindig at the Mohawk, a veritable microcosm of SXSW.
A unique open−air club in the middle of the city, the Mohawk and its acoustics provided relief to the weary ears of the audience. Its intimate and fully packed 700−person capacity created warmth through proximity on an unexpectedly chilly afternoon. Strangers became friends over frosty cans of Lone Star beer, recounting the week's highlights, swapping new favorite bands and eagerly anticipating the next act.
Up first was Philadelphia−based Free Energy, a quintet of fresh−faced rockers armed with Les Paul guitars and free copies of their debut album, "Stuck On Nothing" (2010), on cassette tapes. Playing an energetic set packed with sunny power pop anthems that recalled the glory days of Thin Lizzy and Bachman−Turner Overdrive, they had no trouble getting the audience moving.
Less successful was the following band, Demolished Thoughts, who had a difficult time capitalizing on the early momentum. A supergroup of sorts consisting of Andrew W.K., J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, the group made its debut at the festival, blazing through a series of minute−long thrash and punk covers that elicited more laughter than head−banging as Moore barked unintelligible lyrics read from a packet. Although it was playing to the wrong crowd, the band captured SXSW's "anything goes" musical spirit and cannot be considered a failure for starting a mosh pit, small though it may have been.
A last−minute addition, Broken Bells continued to fulfill the MOG party's surprising variety with a set of solid and catchy, if unremarkable, pop. Playing one of the band's first live gigs, frontman James Mercer, who also fronts The Shins, was in good spirits as he joked about the dour weather: "It's good to be here in Portland, Oregon!" Mercer and band mate Brian Burton (better known as Danger Mouse) and their mellow vibes were a pleasant change of pace from the previous act and set the stage for one of the most remarkable indie bands to play the festival: The Antlers.
Hailing from Brooklyn, this trio deftly combined clean finger−picked electric guitar, dynamic and complex drumming, and heavy bass synth and keys to create a wholly unique sound that recalled at turns post−rock, folk and even chamber pop. It was not an uncommon sight to see audience members transfixed, swaying in place with their eyes closed, transported to another place and swept up in the grand textures and emotionally powerful melodies. The show was a transcendental experience.
Thus was the audience set up for a brilliant change of pace as headliners The Black Keys closed the show, packing the stage area to capacity. Though a simple two−piece band, these blues−inflected garage rockers' full sound had everyone in the audience shaking their hips. There's nothing quite like a good, old−fashioned rock−and−roll catharsis, which Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney delivered in spades with soulful vocals, funky rhythms and blistering guitar solos.
And the MOG party was just one of the hundreds of shows over five days of nonstop music at Austin's South by Southwest festival. Live Music Capital of the World, indeed.
