Okkervil River
Day three of the SXSW festival was kicked started by a special talk by Yoko Ono, who is due to perform tomorrow at the Elysium. Beginning with a near 20 minute condensed documentary of her life, Yoko talked through parts of her life with John Lennon, the inspiration for her art, and thoughts on the recent tragic events in Japan.
On a gorgeous sun-bathed day in Austin, there was some funk, Motown and soul hidden away from the heat in the Convention Centre in the shape of Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Underpinned by a small brass section, the band bring the audience clapping to their feet when joined by four supremely talented soul singers for a series of tracks including ‘You Been Lying‘, a feat which is becoming plainly clear is a quite rare commodity for a gig in the ACC. A short time later, PS I Love You play a short set for Consequence of Sound, and make a fantastic racket which transcends both the make up of their band and live set-up, thanks chiefly to frontman Paul Saulnier‘s excellent fret work and use of electric organ pedals.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
After a walk down San Jacinto Blvd punctuated by some street drumming, Latitude was again the place to be in the afternoon, as King Creosote blew away the competition when headlining the Scottish showcase, while Radio 1 DJ Huw Stevens‘ events offered another opportunity to sample the delights of Gallops, who once again put on a storming display, as if their band mantra is to stretch out Holy Fuck‘s ‘Latin‘ to breaking point. On next, Little Comets draw a crowd which rivals that afforded to Brother two nights ago. ‘Isles‘, a bittersweet ode to the UK which is already becoming the perfect 21st century anthem stands out, as does early single ‘One Night In October‘, bouncing and weaving as it does with even more energy than it did on record two years ago.
Little Comets
As night once again draws in, Tapes n Tapes played a warm and jam-packed Rusty Spurs, performing a set laden with tracks from their new album ‘Outside‘, including the memorable single ‘Freak Out‘. Around 1:15am, Okkervil River pack out Antone’s, and proceed to unleash a memorable 50 minutes of stirring rock n roll, closing in on Arcade Fire‘s grandeur while still retaining a real intimacy thanks to a spellbinding solo rendition from Will Sheff of ‘A Stone‘. The scary thing is, this band seem to be only getting better if the new songs played here, especially ‘The Rider‘, are anything to go by, with ‘Unless It’s Kicks‘ and ‘Our Life Is Not a Movie Or Maybe‘ from ‘The Stage Names‘ offering a stark reminder of just where they could go if they are set to top what is to date their strongest released.
Overall, the show will certainly go down as one of the best of this week’s SXSW, and is a fitting way to end another memorable day in Texas.
