Saturday was the last hurrah for Jodi, but her sunburn and sore feet were okay with that . . .
Saturday was a much lower key, but still solid day. We kicked things off with an acoustic set with Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club at the Current tent. Next up was Love Like Fire at Bourbon Rocks and then back to the Stereogum/Paste bash for the second half of No Age and then HEALTH—both sets which absolutely blew my face off. I only have heard a handful of tracks from HEALTH prior to SXSW, but after witnessing their fierce set of thrashing and squealing, I was sold.
The highlight of Saturday evening, without a doubt, was The Most Serene Republic at the Arts & Crafts set whom I had checked just the week before back at Schuba’s. The group killed it with their Broken Social Scenesque seven member line up of strings, horns, guitars, keys and breathy male/female vocal styles, playing the majority of their tracks from their recent release “Population.” We then finished up with Georgie James at the Dirty Dog for a glimpse of the Saddlecreek showcase and then ended up calling it a night.
Even though I missed some bands I was hoping to catch, like Nada Surf, the Raveonettes and Yeasayer, I managed to catch some new great bands I never even knew—which essentially is the point of SXSW so I would have to say ’08 was a successful trip. Now I just have to explain this hideous red-neck sunburn action to my co-workers tomorrow . . .
