South by Southwest 2009 Looks to Be a Vibrant One
Recession has done little to stave off crowds
Mar 20, 2009
Forget all the talk about this year’s South by Southwest festival floundering because of the recession. On Wednesday, the venerable music conference was as crowded as ever, as musicians of all genres filled the streets of Austin’s music venue-saturated downtown. Buzz on the ground was that, if anything, the economic downturn might actually increase attendance this year. During these cash strapped times, the festival’s offer of so much free (or nearly free) music only becomes more enticing.
Befitting a festival that coincides with spring break, downtown Austin takes on a mardi gras air for the event. Last night drunk music fans stumbled from venue to venue, while a man in a panda custom passed out flyers for his band and an affectionate young woman walked around with a sign promising “Free Hugs!” as packs of police socialized and looked on approvingly. Hungry revelers lined up to order from pizza-by-the-slice windows and vans turned into makeshift barbeque stands.
Emo’s, a bar that like so many in the city is fitted with a surprisingly large backyard amphitheater, hosted one of the night’s more anticipated bills, with punk veterans the Circle Jerks and Juliette Lewis’ new, non-Licks (but very Licks-like) band Juliette and the New Romantiques opening up the stage for Echo and the Bunnymen. Looking exactly like you’d expect three-decade punk veterans to look, Circle Jerks blitzed through an overstuffed 30-song set that kept the crowd moshing, while sometimes actress Lewis paid homage to Karen O with her oversexed rocker shtick.
Some of the bigger headliners treat their SXSW performances more like commercials than concerts, plugging whatever new project they have in the pipeline, but Echo and the Bunnymen were more concerned with pleasing the crowd than promoting their upcoming album, which they didn’t mention once. Refuting conventional wisdom that the band has grown mellow with age, the band kicked up a marvelous rumble, playing a mix of moody album cuts and familiar hits, turning “The Killing Moon” and “Lips Like Sugar” into mass sing-alongs. The band’s sentimental 2005 album Siberia, underrated like much of their newer material, yielded just two tracks, and singer Ian McCulloch cut one of them off early on, deeming it “too sad,” then leading the band into a frantic version of the Porcupine single “Back of Love.” McCulloch’s voice has lost much of its power, its resounding baritone neutered by years of nicotine, but he was still the consummate rock star, attired with dark glasses and a thick black jacket even though it was well past midnight and at least 80 degrees on stage.
Most Recent
- Fresh Shares New EP ‘Merch Girl’ (News) — Fresh
- Premiere: LOVECOLOR Shares New Video for “Crazy Love” (News) — LOVECOLOR
- Final Summer (Review) — Cloud Nothings
- Tallinn Music Week, Tallinn, Estonia, April 3-7, 2024 (Review) — Virta, Musta Huone, Mari Kalkun, Sven Grünberg
- Picnic at Hanging Rock [4K UHD] (Review) —
Comments
Submit your comment
May 7th 2010
9:16am
It was good that the music conference was nearly free. Hence it gathered so much crowd in the time of such crisis. The way it is pasteurized by Evan in this article is really very true. I was noting the same things around on that event. Any way I like to enjoy such events and I enjoyed it in my own way. It was a nice get together of the popular personalities in the field of music . Eco and the Bunnymen pleased the crowds with wonderful presentation.
May 8th 2010
7:29am
I like Politico and have really enjoyed their online info. Newspaper and print advertising is completely going to the wayside, so it is just natural progression to bring the papers online for all. I wonder what will happen in the future with world online newspapersbt uj5k k6i6
June 8th 2017
5:44am
It’s full of insightful information and entertaining descriptions. Your point of view is the best among many. keep posting ..
سكس خليجي
July 11th 2017
3:38am
I am very happy to see this article which is written by you. The post that you have written here is really very helpful in getting the information.
August 4th 2017
4:26am
October 2017 calendar
Printable Calendar 2018
Here you have really shared one of the best post. I would like to follow your blog for the more
December 1st 2017
9:19am
Great Post!! I appreciate your writings.
January 1st 2018
5:29am
I am waiting your More Updated Post…Keep update fastly.
Easy Simple Santeria Love Spells with Honey Jar
January 28th 2018
9:05pm
Thank you so much for caring about your content and your readers.
February 17th 2018
3:39am
Really I appreciate the effort you made to share the knowledge. This is really a great stuff for sharing. Keep it up
activate target card
. Thanks for sharing
March 17th 2018
12:18am
It proved to be Very helpful to me. Thank you so much And I hope that other readers will also experience how I feel after reading your article
March 21st 2018
12:25am
I am so glad to peruse this Zaful Coupon Codes . This is the sort of manual that should be given and not the arbitrary falsehood that is at alternate web journals.
March 22nd 2018
11:12pm
Your article is really very nice and $1 web Hosting informational.
March 22nd 2018
11:13pm
Your article is really very nice and informational.
March 22nd 2018
11:14pm
nice Post! i really appreciate this post.
March 22nd 2018
11:15pm
nice Post! this is for an informational site.
south by southwest 2009 looks to be a vibrant one.
April 3rd 2018
1:32am
Great post. Thanks for sharing.
April 26th 2018
7:44am
Collaskin Drink
Collaskin Skin Care
May 4th 2018
11:47am
thanks for sharing great article please check my website. Thanks For Sharing Great Article Admin
May 18th 2018
1:59am
PSD stands for Photoshop Document. It’s a Photoshop document created by Adobe Photoshop. It is layered image file which will let you save and edit parts of the respective image into PNG or JPEG file formats. The file can be easily opened in Photoshop and can be edited further.
May 22nd 2018
5:19am
Nice post. Complete your all shopping need at our store.
June 4th 2018
4:30am
hlo every one how are you
June 14th 2018
10:18pm
The article is very easy to understand, I also read many other articles and I found your article has helped a lot of information for me, thank you for sharing.
June 14th 2018
10:18pm
The article is very easy to understand, I also read many other articles and I found your article has helped a lot of information for me, thank you for sharing.
usps tracking
July 5th 2018
8:33pm
Very captivating i must say
July 9th 2018
6:04am
Really it’s so much insightful info.your point are endless keep posting these type of things.
July 27th 2018
7:33am
The unmistakable post I should need to thank you for the endeavors you have made in beautification this dazzling and made article.
August 7th 2018
7:43am
You have great choice and i think it is good to have this post here.I was hoping for this post.
Delhi Call Girls
September 6th 2018
12:22am
nice postLove Marriage Solution
September 6th 2018
12:58am
very good post tnx
Love marriage or arranged marriage astrology
September 18th 2018
1:15am
Thanks for your great effort and I was waiting for this post. I am delighted to read this kind of brilliant informative post.
November 24th 2018
5:30am
I believe there may well become a few duplicates, but an exceedingly helpful record! I’ve tweeted this. Quite a few thanks for sharing!
Muslim Kala Jadu Ka Tor
April 23rd 2019
9:14am
Hi to every , since I am actually eager of reading this weblog’s
post to be updated daily. It consists of good stuff.
balanoposthitis (Brandon)
http://clashofclanstrichegemmesillimit.blogspot.com/
May 5th 2019
8:31am
Can a Web Designing business survive in Recession?
May 5th 2019
8:34am
I have Faced Recession a time in my Life. the particular news about recession is https://www.backlinkshub.xyz/web-2-0-submission-websites/
May 5th 2019
8:44am
How Much Time can Survive a Man in Recession without job?
May 5th 2019
8:45am
What should be the Needy Resources in Recession?
May 5th 2019
8:47am
Can i survive in Recession as a singer?
September 5th 2019
4:03am
NCERT biology class 12 notes; This page consist of all chapters of Biology for class 12, get inside all chapters of botany class 12 which includes details notes with more than 300 objective and subjective questions prepared by expert of entrancei
February 10th 2020
5:28am
this concept is informative..and for more offer and deals. you have chance to grab best deals and offers for online shopping https://www.couponpitara.com