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| SXSW 2013 |
Saturday mornings at SXSW read like a scene from The Hungover. Half awake concert goers blocking their eyes from the sunlight with the biggest shades they can find, while cramming into the food truck park to drown the previous evening's debauchery in grease and shame. It's pretty much a ghost town for SXSW standards.
After making the trek from our hotel in the burbs we headed towards Rachael Ray's popular Feedback event. I was feeling pretty good about getting there 2 hours into the 6 hour event. The line-up was pretty fierce this year and when we strolled up to Stubb's everyone that decided to peel themselves out of bed that morning were in line for free food and music. Not only was the line ridiculously long but people were flooding the streets and peering over the top level of the parking garage across the street to soak in Macklemore & Ryan Lewis on the main stage.
Sadly we decided not to wait in line and risk missing any more amazing acts that afternoon. So we headed to the W Hotel for a rooftop concert by one of my favorite artists, ZZ Ward.
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| ZZ Ward |
Last year I had the amazing opportunity to interview Miss Ward at Trees in Dallas and she was as lovely and warm in person as she is on stage. I was excited to see her in such an intimate setting.
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| ZZ Ward |
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| ZZ Ward |
ZZ has this amazing swag that only a west coast blues singer can carry and she's absolutely magnetic on stage. Diving into her first big single, Put the Gun Down, she had the crowd clapping and singing along with her and her amazing 3 piece band. Singing songs off her latest release Til the Casket Drops it was amazing to experience such pure talent that closely.
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| ZZ Ward |
Whether she's singing about love lost on Last Love Song, or forbidden passion on Charlie Ain't Home, you can see every ounce of emotion drip from her lips when she sings. And not to mention she's a damn good guitar and harmonica player.
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| ZZ Ward |
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| SXSW 2013 |
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| Poolside |
If you've ever wanted to bottle up summertime by the pool, drinking margaritas in the sun or hanging out on the beach then just pop in some tunes from the Los Angeles based duo. Yes their sound is deemed "Daytime Disco" and I couldn't have found a better way to describe them myself.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra was playing directly after Poolside so we only stayed for a few tunes before making our way to the Brooklyn Vegan Day Party. I was happy to at least hear my favorite track, Slow Down, and get my dance on with the rest of the moving crowd. I love a band that makes you feel completely happy and ready to just kick back and party the day away. Thank you Poolside, now I'm ready for summer!
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| SXSW 2013 |
After waiting in what seemed like a the most scorching (literally) line we made our way into Old Emo's to check out the Portland based rock group. The influence of the psychedelic sounds of the 60's is evident in the groups songs and front man Ruban Nielson's voice.
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| Unknown Mortal Orchestra |
Supporting the release of the groups second full length album, II, UMO pleased the crowd with a mix of new tunes as well as a kick ass cover of Jay Reatard's My Shadow.
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| Unknown Mortal Orchestra |
Nielson's grungy guitar licks and wispy, almost ethereal vocals is reminiscent of a time when free love was in the air, grunge was king and flannel was cool, but modern enough to have a distinct sound of its own! Amazing show.
To round out the trip we checked out NYC based singer songwriter Jillette Johnson, Haim, Le1f, Kelela, Xxyyxx and Delorean. Check back for my final thoughts and more pics of the shows!
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