Friday at SXSW kicked off in style with a great day party hosted by Insound at Club De Ville. Obits opened the day with an impressively scorching set, followed by one of my favorite bands, The Handsome Furs, who’s energy and chemistry did not disappoint. I had yet to see them live so was thrilled to get up close and personal with them at such a great venue. (Loved Alexei Perry’s leopard print jumpsuit too.) American Analog Set followed but they were a bit too quiet to be appreciated with a crowd in the full throws of an all you can drink PBR pint party, so off I headed to the Spin private event at Stubbs.
At the Spin party, which was a blast, I caught The Black Lips – who lived up to their infamous stage performance reputation — Glasvegas and the seminal band of the 80s Echo and The Bunnymen. Ian McCulloch’s voice was amazing and the band’s performance was one of my highlights of the festival for me. Between sets we were entertained by the likes of The Crystal Method and NASA. A great show all around! Thanks Spin!
Without missing a beat, we headed to the TopSpin party to see White Denim crush it. If you don’t know this band already, you are missing out. Exposion is my favorite album of 2008 and they are absolutely incredible live. Whew, okay. I’m a good nine bands in and we haven’t even gotten to the official SXSW schedule yet!
The evening kicked off with Alberta Cross. Man, these guys are good. Really, really good. One of the SXSW sleepers, in my opinion. Loney Dear was up next with a lackluster performance, but all was redeemed when we made it to Emo’s Jr. for King Kahn & The Shrines. Holy crap! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like them. Absolutely and completely crazy live performers. People were hanging from the rafters, taking off their pants, moshing and giving puja to the holy Hindu, King Kahn. I didn’t think the night could get any better until we ended up at the mother of all after parties to see Starf**ker. My new favorite band. I loooovve them!
Listen to Handsome Furs “I’m Confused”
Listen to The Black Lips, “O Katrina”
Listen to Echo & The Bunnymen, “Killing Moon”
Listen to Glasvegas, “Geraldine”
Listen to White Denim, “Shake Shake Shake”
Listen to Alberta Cross, “The Thief and The Heartbreaker”
Listen to King Khan & The Shrines, “No Regrets”
Listen to Starf**ker, “Iaadeedaa”
- The Handsome Furs at Club De Ville
Glasvegas at Stubbs
The Black Lips at Stubbs
At the Spin party. Music, hipsters and free beer - oh my!
Echo & The Bunnymen at Stubbs
Alberta Cross at Rusty Spurs
The Legendary King Kahn enjoying a well deserved drink after his performance at Emos Jr.
Starf**ker Rules!
Hanging with The Black Lips frontman.
the OCMD 
The party with Obits, Handsome Furs, and American Analog Set @ Club Deville was the Insound 10th Anniversary Show. I don’t believe Imeem was involved.
And American Analog Set is defunct so they don’t have a new album, but reunited to play their album Golden Band, which also turned 10. Some of the people are also in the Wooden Birds–they do have a new album coming out–who also played SxSW and were great.
Ack. You’re right! It was Insound. I’m getting the Imeem after party and the Insound day party mixed up. It all happened the same day and is feeling like one big blur right now.
I hope the Stubb’s performance by Echo and the Bunnymen was better than their Wednesday nite appearance. They were 45 minutes late and Ian performed like a total diva. His voice has gotten quite lazy over the past two decades, in my opinion. He seemed more set on looking and acting cool than putting on a great performance. (I thought the heavy coat was a bit much given that he was sweating bullets and he kept interacting with his stage guy to hold the fan on him … and put out his cigarettes, and get him beers … ugh.)
Too bad you didn’t stay for Metallica at Stubb’s later that night – they rocked the house!
The only Echo and The Bunnymen appearance I saw was at Stubbs for the Spin party. It was impressive and I suppose I was far enough away to see any of those unsavory antics. Plus the sound system at Stubbs is pretty great. Perhaps that added to the overall experience.
american analog set are quiet (by nature). i had a guy next to me practically yelling at the woman next to him. i said “excuse me, but you are ruining a beautiful moment for me”. he said “i don’t like ruining beautiful moments” and it seemed to work. ya know what they say, you gotta fight, for your right, to paarrrrrrrrrrteeeeeeee!
i didn’t know about the wooden birds thing. glad to see the am an set sound lives on! thanks adrian!
yeah, I would have loved to see them at a different venue. it just seemed pointless hanging around near the back. the whole experience was lost.