Just when you thought it was safe to assume you would never receive another SXSW review from myself, based on me saying that last year was my last one, well, you were wrong and I went back again.

A little different this time, I went in one day late and left one day early. I also went on my own, no kids and no members of TheBurningClub this time. I was also lucky enough to accompany the spectacular Thunderpussy to all of their shows and got an opportunity to see what it is like to be a band doing multiple gigs at SXSW. Overall I saw about sixty shows from 18 different countries in about 36 different venues ( yes, sadly, I counted all that stuff). I got to see top acts from Estonia, Mongolia and Hungary along with the usual great bands from Scotland, England, Canada and of course all over the USA. LA and NYC were the most represented cities with Montreal and London not far behind.

So how was it? Quite special. I took a few videos of my most favorite shows and for your ease downloaded them to youtube. You will see some links here, all shot from wherever I was standing, watching

I got into Austin airport around 2pm on the Tuesday by 3pm I was at Cheer Up Charlies’ indoor stage watching Thunderdreamer. A pleasant indie geetar sound to get things started.

Stepping outside I went to see the Montreal singer Helena Deland who has been listening to a lot of the Twin Peak’s soundtrack. Great sound and check out the track, “Baby”.

I always look for omens in these early moments to get a feel for how great SXSW will be. So I did not like spotting a guy wearing this t-shirt. He said it is a place in Brooklyn full of famous folk. I ejected this from my memory and carried on.

I saw out the rest of the afternoon out with Men I Trust another Montreal band, inoffensive pop followed by a Tokyo electronic rave band YAHYEL. Start of the evening showcases now and as is written in tablets of stone I must see my first official show of every SXSW at BD Riley’s where I saw my first ever SXSW show in 2006. This year it was Tino Drima an LA band who described themselves as having a punk big band doo woo sound. They managed to hide that well as they were just another four piece verse chorus indie band. I moved on. To Sidewinder to see Bad Moves a decent power pop band from Washington DC. But to be honest the t-shirt appeared to have set the tone as I was six bands in and only Helena had been above average.

French Vanilla changed that. A cross between The Slits and the Gang of Four with a raging saxophone added in too. Just brilliant and in their lead singer Sally Spitz, a mesmerizing performance. French Vanilla were one of the finds of the week

Here is a taster of their cover of SOS by ABBA. Not a line you will read too often from SXSW.

Sally Spitz of French Vanilla

Into St David’s Sanctuary Hall to see Holy Motors from Tallin, Estonia, pleasant lo-fi americana and then another jolt for the day. Josh T. Pearson, former lead of Lift To Experience, had a barnstorming set delivered appropriately, like a mad preacher. He spun scary tales of devils and broken relationships. Brilliant.

Josh T Pearson.

Popped along Rainey St to see John Jacob Magistery do some of his pomp rock in the Bungalow and then it was time to hook up with Thunderpussy. They were playing a 1am show in BD Riley’s, of all places and fancied seeing some live music first so they came out to see Calliope Musicals in the Central Presbyterian Church. And it was spectacular. Difficult to describe but think Devo meets eighties disco. Last year they won best live Austin band award and not hard to see why.

Here is a snippet

Calliope Musicals.

After that the Thunderpussy went off to get ready. In the foyer of the Driskill minutes before taking the stage

They pulled the largest, wildest crowd BD Riley’s had ever seen. Not band for 1am on a Tuesday night. The street outside was packed too as everyone was drawn in.

A couple of videos. The first is the last minute of their final song and the crowd’s efforts to get them to play an encore. The second is the encore, which Ruby, their drummer said at the end of the week was her favorite moment of SXSW.

And that was day one. Slow start bit three special shows in the evening by French Vanilla, Calliope Musicals and Thunderpussy. The t-shirt had been wrong!!