I’m most excited about the Pretenders/Lyle Lovett/Rhett Miller show on Saturday, and the Belle and Sebastian/New Pornographers/Mogwai show on Wednesday. (I’d love to see Morrissey, but I’m not a huge fan; if I have to sit one of the big shows out, this will be it.) There are too many other great bands playing to even start listing them.
Anybody else going?
Whether you are or not, the official site has lots of mp3s (legal ones, provided by the bands for promotional purposes), including a 2.5 GB torrent of over 700 mp3s by showcasing bands. (Note: these files are certainly not limited to those attending the conference.)
The Pink Spiders from Nashville (playing Blender Bar) are slated to be the next ‘big thing’ a la Fallout Boy etc. They used to be a super crazy band, but they’ve toned down and are on their way to making it. I saw them a few years back and they threw all their equpment around and tossed cymbals and stuff. They just shot their video and it should be all over MTV eventually. Very catchty stuff.
Good to see Limbeck is playing. Nice guys. Kind of alt-countryish. They recorded the first album on the road, in bathrooms and whatnot. It gives it an interesting sound though.
You are so lucky. Belle and Sebastian and the New Pornographers are two of my favorite bands, and I’d probably explode if I could see them on the same bill. Of course, their tour isn’t coming anywhere close to Florida.
As for Morrissey, I saw him on the *You Are the Quarry * tour in 2004, and he amazes. Even if you’re not a big fan, the man puts on one hell of a show and gives entertaining his all. I am a huge fan, so take that for what you will, but I was skeptical going in to see him live, and pleasantly surprised.
They used to swing through town a lot (before I moved to the sticks, obviously), but I never made it to see them.
Oh, believe me, it will hurt to miss that one, but there are probably a half-dozen shows going on that night I want to see. The one I really don’t want to miss is The Minus 5, but the Nickel Creek/Fiery Furnaces/Dresden Dolls show is also hard to pass up, as is Kris Kristofferson and the Drive-By Truckers, as is…what I really need to do in the next month is figure out how to clone myself.
I’m just coming around to Belle and Sebastian; I had written them off for some reason, and now as I’m going back through the catalog (thanks, Emusic!) I have no idea why. Their new disc is one of the best I’ve heard in a long time; it’s hard to believe this was the band described in High Fidelity as “old sad bastard music”.
That show was also to feature Cat Power, but she had to pull out for some reason.
Twin Cinema never grabbed me the way Electric Version and Mass Romantic did, but anything that puts me in the vicinity of Neko Case for any length of time is a good thing.
I’ve heard Cat Power has major, paralyzing stage fright, so that could be why.
The Dresden Dolls are also awesome, from the one album of theirs I’ve heard. I’d have to call them “dark cabaret-punk,” and I really like the girl singer’s voice.
Hard to say. She cancelled her whole tour for unspecified “health reasons”.
Also of note:
–The much-hyped Arctic Monkeys were listed on Friday night at the Austin Music Hall, but now they’re “TBA”; all the other bands from the bill were moved to La Zona Rosa that night. (One of them, Test Icicles, is still on the list, but according to Pitchfork they have broken up. It’s a shame–their album was a lot of fun.)
–The Flaming Lips are supposed to be playing, but they’re not listed; word is that they’re the “Special Guest” on Wednesday night at the Fox and Hound. This will make Wednesday night a tough call, since I’m a big fan of theirs and I’ve never seen them live.
–There is much speculation about the “Special Guest” at the Pretenders/Lovett/Miller show; many have speculated that it’s Ray Davies. It fits a hole in his schedule, he has a new solo album out, and he is Chrissie Hynde’s babydaddy. This would be cool.
That torrent should be nicely seeded by now. Lots of great stuff in there.