Catalina Perez
University student, coffee addict, and freelance music journalist hailing from Austin, Texas. In my spare time you can find me perusing record stores for CDs.
SXSW day 4 & 5 was a mix of relaxation and madness that saw us front of the barrier for The Black Keys at the Mohawk
DAY 4
This morning I woke up and lost track of what day we were on (reminder that this is technically day 7 for us) but I fought through tired eyes and sore muscles to get out of bed, jump in my car and head off to the midst of the city. Steven was already at the Austin Convention Center when I parked so I apprehensively hopped on a Lime scooter and hoped for the best. Arriving safely after almost crashing the scooter on 6th street, we headed to the press lounge to prepare and set up for an interview today.
Following the interview, we hurried off to check out some merchandise before rushing to Lustre Pearl to check out our first show of the day. Arriving at Lustre Pearl, we faintly heard Faux Real beginning their set and since we’ve seen them already we already knew what kind of show to expect. However, we didn’t realize that they were performing at the Dillon T. Pickle party and that a giant pickle was going to be dancing amongst the crowd during their set. Faux Real’s set was just as good, if not even better, than what little we managed to see at BME. The group played through songs like ‘The United Snakes of America,’ ‘Second Sweat,’ and ended their set with ‘Kindred Spirit.’ Much like their show at BME, during ‘Kindred Spirit,’ they performed the same jump kick choreography in the crowd but it was neat seeing it in the daytime and from a closer angle. After their set finished, we made the long voyage back to our cars to drop off our backpack with equipment and merchandise we had, then rushed to grab lunch before heading to the Marshall Funhouse at Parish.
Unfortunately, after we ate we tried going into Parish, but they had closed for an hour so we decided to walk around and peek into Target and Whole Foods nearby. The hour went by fairly quickly and soon enough, we were able to enter Parish where King Nun was setting up for their show. Having never seen King Nun, we didn’t know what to expect but were delighted to witness such an amazing and energetic show from them. The quintet fostered a high energy atmosphere and entertaining indie-punk show that invoked the audience to move around and dance, especially when vocalist and guitarist Theo Polyzoides joined the crowd whilst singing during ‘I Must Be Struck By Lightning To Fly.’ The energy of this show mirrored other acts we’ve seen thus far, which is admirable as it’s nearing the end of the week and I’m sure everyone is as tired as we’ve been. Another highlight of the show included the London group’s last song ‘Escapism’ in which Polyzoides and guitarists James Upton and Caius Stockley-Young jumped in the audience with guitars and joined in the mosh pit while playing. After their extraordinary show, we did an interview and then headed toward Mohawk to get in line early for The Black Keys’ show.
Legs aching and feeling exhausted, we walked into Mohawk ready to endure hours of waiting to get a good spot to see The Black Keys at a smaller, more intimate venue than the stadiums they’re typically seen at. As we made our way through the crowd towards the front of the stage, we were awestruck by the stage presence of a man sitting down on a stool wearing a white satin suit. He was playing the blues on a souped-up bejeweled guitar that was decorated with red tassels, a small gold hawk plaque and other stickers. We later learned that who we were witnessing make the guitar sing was Gabe Carter. Despite us walking in mid-set, what we saw was an embodiment of pure soul and blues and I wish we had gotten there sooner to catch his whole set. Before he played his last song, he stated “If you don’t mind, since I wore my Sunday best, I’m gonna take you to church before I go,” before absolutely going to town and bringing his set to a passionate close.
What followed the gospel-like set was Detroit-based instrumental duo Moonrisers whose relaxing music calmed my anxious mind as I worried about scattered falling raindrops getting heavier and raining out the show. Their performance was bluesy and peaceful, but after standing in the hot and humid crowd on top of already being exhausted, I was ready to see The Black Keys and head home. After Moonrisers’ set, the next act that made me forget about the fact that the crowd was packed like sardines and that my legs were tired and aching. I had never heard of this man but I wish I would have before his set because it was an unforgettable experience. His backing band set up first and having no clue who we were seeing, I was intrigued when I saw a backup singer help an older man on stage wearing an red-embroidered black western outfit complete with a black cowboy hat. Robert Finley was the name of the older man whose set was more than a music performance; it was a storytelling, advice and jam session. Before each song, he told the audience the backstory behind each piece; one was written about a visit to a friend at a nursing home, another about infidelity, and another about a hard time in his life called ‘Livin’ Out a Suitcase.‘ His performance felt like a conversation with an elder who was giving life advice and sharing stories, which made it all the more personal. After Finley walked off stage flashing his joyous gap-toothed grin and waving, the time was finally here– the countdown until The Black Keys took to the stage.
After waiting what felt like an eternity (it didn’t help that I was tired, thirsty and sore), Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach walked out on stage joined by a backing band including American blues slide guitarist, Kenny Brown. When the group started at 12:29 AM, I could feel the pulsating vibrations radiate from Carney’s kick drum from about 5-10 feet away from the stage. Since the show was labeled “Black Keys performing songs from ‘Delta Kream’“, a good portion of the setlist included songs from their 2021 album. Other tracks on the setlist included covers as well as other songs from their own discography such as ‘Busted,‘ and ‘Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire,’ and ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine.‘ Towards the end of the show, the group brought out members from the Swiss band, Hermanos Gutierrez, to play a few songs on additional percussion instruments and a lap steel guitar. Although we left Mohawk at 1:30 AM, it was 100% worth it to see all of the emotion, passion and soul from all of the blues talents and end our Wednesday night with an iconic force like The Black Keys.
DAY 5
After getting back home late into the night, I woke up feeling the most exhausted and sleep deprived that I have felt in a long time. Luckily, our only concrete plans for the day consisted of doing a few interviews early in the day so we had some free time at night. When I woke up, I got ready fairly quickly as I tried to stay in bed as long as possible and as a result ended up at the Austin Convention Center to do my interview right on time with not a minute to spare. After conducting the interview we walked around and checked out Camp Funk, put on by Poo-Pourri. When we arrived, there was a giant inflatable poo that you could walk through, a DJ, and a bar (which is a really weird combination I know). After walking around and picking up a few prizes at Camp Funk, we left to conduct another few interviews before heading to the British Music Embassy to recharge and do some work.
When we arrived, the band Highschool was on stage but we unfortunately didn’t stay because we just wanted to sit somewhere a bit warm as it was getting quite chilly and windy outside. Once inside, we looked at the SXSW schedule to plan out which acts we wanted to see next and decided on seeing Ellie Bleach at Las Perlas. As the show was a bit later into the night, we continued to do some work before we headed out to check out Ellie. In the middle of doing work, Steven fell asleep and I started to doze off because we were still extremely tired from not only the night before but the days prior. After waking and packing up kind of late, we left to Las Perlas to see if we could catch some of Ellie’s show.
When we reached Las Perlas, we walked into the middle of Ellie’s set as she was playing ‘Tupperware Party.’ She then explained that her backing band couldn’t all make the trip here so she decided to do a stripped down, acoustic set at her performances at SXSW. The next song she performed was ‘Doing Well Thanks’ in which she asked for audience participation in singing the lyrics “But you’ve all done worse for free” after she sang “I’ve done awful things for money.” The audience enjoyed the performance as they repeated the words back to her as they swayed along to her music. The last song of Ellie’s set was named ‘Pamela’ which she said is going to be on her upcoming EP. It was by far my favorite song that she performed yesterday and it was a beautiful way to end her set. After Ellie’s performance ended, we decided to call it a day early because we needed some sleep in order to make the most of our last day at SXSW on Saturday.