Started yesterday off at the Mohwak for the Hot Freaks party. The place and party always put on a great day of live music. I got to hear These United States for the first time. I’ve had their record on my desk for a long time, and now when I get home, I’m gonna give it a proper listen. Great stuff, check them out:

MP3: These United States – “West Won”
MP3: These United States – “First Sight”

I got to see The Rosebuds with Brad from Megafaun holding down bass guitar duties. Some two years ago, they put on one of my favorite shows ever and introduced me to this guy. This year, they had the fantastic new Life Like material injected into the mix, great stuff. Coming soon is a video from the end of their set where they played “Bow To The Middle” in the crowd.

Muzzle of Bees Presents The Rosebuds + Megafaun at Club Garibaldi in Milwaukee on Sunday, April 5th. Tickets are $10, send me a message if you’d like to get advance tickets. A proper post/announcement coming next week!

I was planning on not seeing the Hold Steady at all during SXSW. I’ve seen them enough to know what it’s all about. They’re one of my favorite bands, so I didn’t need to be won over. Then I hear a few chords coming from Club DeVille, saw a bunch of friends in the front row, and next thing you know The Hold Steady throw down 18 songs during their 70-minute set. Pure rock and roll.

After some dinner, I checked out Common Loon at the Polyvinyl Party. You’ll be hearing a lot more of them as a result of their performance and their forthcoming album. Took the opportunity to walk across the street to catch The Felice Brothers, who debuted some new material, but it was their Elton John cover and Townes Van Zandt’s “Two Hands” that really tore the roof off the pace.

St. Vincent was up next. She played what probably turned out to be my favorite set of the day. I absolutely cannot wait to hear Actor and have her back at the Pabst Theater.

Finally, we got convinced to go to the La Mar St. Bridge because Vivian Girls were playing on there. After walking ourselves lost we finally arrived to find hundreds of other people waiting to see what, if anything, would happen. Around 2am some death metal band threw tons of boxes of Converse shoes into the crowd which people used to throw at each other for the remainder of their set. We got scared and left, but I guess the Vivian Girls did end up playing. Oh well, probably a better story that we left terrified, right?