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.
The last day of SXSW was full of heartbreak, cloudy skies and relishing the final performances of the music festival
When I woke up this morning and looked outside at the cloudy skies, it seemed as if the weather reflected the sad reality that my first ever SXSW was coming to an end. Despite the lack of sleep and aching limbs, I very much enjoyed discovering new music, meeting people from all over the world, and exploring downtown Austin. I decided to take it quite easy today and it seemed the festival did too due to the reduced number of shows that were supposed to occur today. I ate breakfast at home, got ready and headed out to the festival to check out the first show of the day at 3:00 PM.
When we arrived around the SXSW vicinity, it was noticeable that the festival was coming to a close as the pedestrian traffic was very low and the streets that were once blocked off were now opening back up. The weather mirrored the mood of the day as it was overcast and there was a large chance of rain, which I was worried was going to end SXSW even sooner. We decided to check out the British Music Embassy to see who was performing and we happened to walk in during the middle of mui zyu’s set. On stage, mui zyu stood with a guitar that had her name on it and next to her was her keyboardist who was jamming out to every song he played. Although we caught the middle-end of her set, we were able to see her perform ‘Talk to Death,’ and ‘Mother’s Tongue,’ both of which were chill and lovely to see live. After she finished, we walked to the alternate stage where Ellie Bleach was setting up.
Since we walked in late to Ellie’s set yesterday, we wanted to see the whole set, especially the beginning part that we missed, to see how it all fit together. The London-based singer-songwriter started off her set with ‘That’ll Show ‘Em,’ ‘Lakehouse,’ and ‘Tupperware Party.’ Similar to her performance at Las Perlas last night, she asked the crowd to participate in a call and response during ‘Doing Really Well Thanks,’ with the lyrics “I’ve done awful things for money but you’ve all done worse for free.” After another phenomenal stripped down performance from Ellie Bleach, we went back down the hill at the British Music Embassy (Downright Austin) to check out Bleach Lab on the main stage.
Bleach Lab started their set with the track ‘Indigo,’ and followed with ‘All Night.’ The London-based group also performed ‘Old Ways,’ ‘Saving All Your Kindness,’ and ‘Nothing Left To Lose.’ During their set, the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds which coincidentally reflected their bright performance and the audience’s response to it. During the last few songs, the amount of audience members dancing picked up and the crowd size grew as concertgoers gathered around to see the 4 piece band. Once Bleach Lab’s performance concluded, we headed off to see what new restaurant or fast food place we could check out.
We landed at the Velvet Taco on Congress, just a short distance from the Paramount Theater and a few blocks from the state capitol. I was excited to try something new but became wonderstruck as I skimmed through quirky menu which included a burger taco, a chicken and waffles taco and a shepherd’s pie taco. Although I didn’t order any of the tacos I listed, Steven did and we were both impressed by how good they were and would definitely go back again. After we were satisfied, we headed to the convention center to charge our phones for a bit and rest. When we arrived, the Austin Convention Center looked like an unrecognizable ghost town as the once bubbling hub was now desolate and the only people inside were workers. I think this is when reality set in that the festival was pretty much over and everyone was out at different venues downtown for one last hurrah before heading back home. Once rested and recharged, we trekked back to my car (which I oddly enough was going to miss doing) to drive to Hotel Vegas and check out a few final acts.
We wanted to see King Nun perform one last time before they headed back home, but Hotel Vegas had three different stages going on at the same time so when we arrived we couldn’t find the stage they were playing on. When we finally made our way to the correct stage, the group was finishing up their set and I couldn’t see very much of what was happening but after the show there was a broken guitar neck that someone was holding so I could only imagine what happened since it was their last US show. Defeated that we missed their show, we waited around and found out that Lord Friday the 13th was going on right after them. I absolutely had a blast at their Low Down Lounge set earlier this week so we decided to stay to watch them. We checked the schedule to see who else was playing at Hotel Vegas and learned that Fat Dog and Lord Friday the 13th were playing simultaneously so we decided to split the shows. Lord Friday the 13th started off with their set with loads of energy, fun stage garb and impressive stage presence, much like their other show. After listening to a few songs such as ‘Patent Leather,’ ‘Sleeping Cutie’ and ‘Larger Than Life,’ we decided to head out to the patio to check out Fat Dog.
As we walked to the patio stage, we had a hard time getting near the front as it was packed with people watching the electro-punk group. Like most of the other bands at SXSW, we didn’t know what to expect so we were intrigued when we noticed that Fat Dog’s drummer was wearing a dog mask on stage. As we walked up to the booming speakers covered in plastic bags in case of rain, the crowd began to form in a circle as the synth player for the group jumped in the middle and began to crab walk. Following suit, the audience began to cheer as they imitated crab claws with their hands while the band played on. Although I couldn’t see very well into the circle, the crowd went bonkers and seemed to enjoy what was happening in the middle. Fat Dog’s set and music was unique; they had a saxophonist, synth player, drummer, bassist, and vocalist who played guitar. The sound they produced could be categorized as rave electro-punk with a bit of klezmer. Their set was also interactive with the crowd as a few band members jumped off stage into the crowd at different points of the set to hype them up, have them jump and dance around and (as previously mentioned) do the crab claw. After their wild set ended, we decided to head back home as the SXSW events had begun to fizzle out.
On the somber drive back home, I reminisced on the memories I made, the people I met and the experiences I had as my first SXSW had officially come to a close. I never thought that as a 4th-year university student studying Psychology that I’d be covering the festival that I see every year on television screens and newspapers, for a magazine thousands of miles from home. It truly was something that I will never forget and will only hope to experience again. Thank you so much to CLUNK Magazine for allowing and trusting me to be a part of the festival coverage this year and thank you to everyone who supported me in this endeavor!
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