This evening I caught up with my good friend and mValent co-founder, Duane Tharp who is visiting Austin. Along with his French friends Stefan and Raoul, we went down to the Town Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores.
First we heard Toots and the Maytals - probably the best reggae I've ever heard. I'll confess that until Raoul explained it to me, I was unaware of just how significant Toots is in the world of Reggae. I might have to buy an album now.
Next was Joss Stone who completely blew me away. I can't express it any better than this quote from the SxSW website: "Joss Stone may well be best old-school, roof-raising, Southern-style soul music to appear in the 21st century: a claim made all the more remarkable when you consider Joss Stone is a 16 year-old girl from England." All I can add is: wow!
After listening to Joss for a while, we went to Austin's best Italian restaurant Vespaio. Thanks to Claude and Alan for fantastic food and wine.
After the concert and food I was unsure if I had the energy to head off to catch the special secret act closing the Barsuk Records show at The Parish. Fortunately, The Parish was very close to the hotel so I decided to go, despite feeling exhausted. The secret act was afterall, my favourite band of all time: They Might Be Giants. (Thanks to my sister Leonie for letting me know they were performing!)
When I arrived at The Parish I got my first ever taste of VIP treatment by bouncers. There was a huge line outside (word had gotten around that the secret act was TMBG) and at first I was worried I would never get in. But as I approached the bouncer to confirm that the line was indeed for the Barsuk Records show, he saw my platinum SxSW attendee badge and let me in ahead of the line.
I slowly made my way to the front of the stage, about twenty minutes before the two Johns, two Dans and a new drummer (Mike?) came on stage. They played a bunch of stuff from their upcoming EP and album. The Linnell-sung songs all had his characteristic style (yet more ascending scales in the melody) but they were just as catchy as ever. "Experimental Film" might just be my favourite song de jour. Also fantastic was "Memo to Human Resources".
Other highlights were a phenomenal two-minute classical guitar intro to Istanbul from lead guitarist Dan; Particle Man, with some very funky bass from other Dan; Birdhouse, which is still probably my favourite song of all time; and the first live performance I've heard of Fingertips which they actually pulled off.
Probably the best TMBG concert I've been too and a perfect ending to an awesome night.