Rolling Cef Concert Reviews
South by Southwest - 2000 Edition
I got in to Austin on Thursday and the first show I set out to see was Tara Maclean. It was upstairs at Jazz and it was billed as "The Girls Room" since there were four female singers performing, all from Capitol Records. When I got there, Kendall Payne was just finishing up her set. I thought she was average, until I found out she was only 19 years old. Next up was Amy Correia (pronounced "Korea", which seemed incorrect to me.) Anyway, she had a nice raspy voice. She played guitar and also what I think was a ukulele. Another girl who played a silver cello accompanied her. The best line during her set was when Amy complained how she grew up in some remote Irish town and was undersexed, and a guy behind me let out a sarcastic "yeah, right." Tara Maclean was next on stage and put on what was not her best show. She complained that the jambalaya she had for dinner was making her stomach upset.
There were free drinks for the next hour, paid for by Capitol records. Last up was a pretty cool singer named Shannon McNally. Shannon had some pretty good material and was joined on stage at the end by Kendall and Amy. They did a couple of songs together, including Amazing Grace, which wasn't so amazing in my opinion. I met a couple of
Billboard marketing people after the show. They were asking me for advice on who to go see.The next band we tried to catch was Cadillac Voodoo Choir, but we were too late. So we headed over to Lucy's where The Nixons were playing. I was doubtful we'd get in since it was a small place, but while standing outside, I happen to catch the staff take a group of people with wristbands around the back. Nagib and I followed and waltzed right in the back door behind everyone else. The Nixons had a lot of energy as usual. They played some stuff off the upcoming record, as well as some of the older stuff such as "Sister" and "Make It Rain".
Friday, March 17, 2000
Adam and I tried to get into the trade show since Trish Murphy was scheduled to perform on the day stage. But unfortunately the rules changed this year and regular wristband holders weren't allowed in. I had places to be anyway.
Ariel Publicity was presenting a show at the Flaming Cantina. I was on the invite list. When we got there, the doorman asked for a press badge. I just said I'm on the list, and he let us walk right in without even checking the list. There were munchies at the door and free beer was being given out at the bar, but since it was already 2:00pm, we ordered a couple zombies. The first band up was Nebula. Their music was good, but the singer was a bit weak. He kept asking for more vocals in the monitors, which was his excuse I guess.Next, we decided to head over to the Four Seasons hotel where it was rumored that Neil Young would be performing at 4:00pm. Of course, it didn't hit me until days later that the rumor probably got skewed such that "at 4:00" was substituted for "at Four". Anyway, the crowd was something to see in the hotel lobby - not your regular group of business travelers. Turns out the Neil actually played at midnight.
The afternoon wasn't over and there was another free party to catch. We walked back up to Sixth Street, and passed by
Trish Murphy who was loading her gear into her car. I stopped to ask her a few questions and I said that Adam and I had seen her play in Seattle. She said something about that show not being a good one in her heart. I'm not really sure. We let her go after a few minutes, and kept on to Fat Tuesday. We got lucky again this time and walked in while a full Texas Barbecue buffet was being served up for free. After we stuffed ourselves, we headed back to the Flaming Cantina for a couple more free beers and caught a set by Lukan, a British hard rock band.Well, after a full afternoon, it wasn't easy to get moving again in the evening. Slowly we made our way back out and hit the back room of Old Pecan St. Ale House for the Ginger Mackenzie set. I thought she would be good, but was unimpressed. However the singer that went on before her, Perla Batalia, was really good. Next, it was over to the Buffalo Club for an old favorite, Chris Mills. His set really hadn't changed from a year ago, but it was still good. Scholz Beer Garden was next on the agenda where the Bottle Rockets were playing. We headed in and enjoyed a pitcher of beer, which was the same price as three glasses. The Bottle Rockets were late getting started, but it was worth the wait. They played a whole bunch of rockin' automotive songs with the guitarist from the Black Crowes sitting in. Following them were Government Mule, who were sort of sounded like a ZZ Top clone.
Saturday, March 18, 2000
Saturday was a day that seemed to come full circle. After finally getting moving at 3:00pm, we made it down to Tower Records for The Supersuckers in-store gig. I was hoping for an acoustic country set, but they had all the amps ready to play punk. It was still a good show. After a big dinner, we checked out the talent at The Atomic Café. Evidently there wasn't much. The next gamble was at Maggie Mae's. This bar had a weird rhythmic thing happening in one room and a quiet show by Martha Wainright in the other. We needed to find some middle ground. We headed over to Waterloo Brewing Company (a good name, by the way) to catch The Uninvited from San Francisco. I hadn't seen this band before, but it turned out to be an excellent show. The guys were good musicians, and pretty funny as well. After their set, we walked down to La Zona Rosa to line up for Sister 7. John Paul Jones was on stage at the time so it was pretty packed inside. We waited in line and still got in before the end of his set to hear him play a killer rendition of "Nobody's Fault But Mine".
Sister 7 followed with a lot of material off their new album, which is due out April 4th. Of course, they played their old material and the crowd loved every minute of it. It was their hometown show after all, and the band was having a blast. Patrice, the singer, took off her bra and threw it into the crowd.There was supposed to be a special performance by Blues Traveler at the end of the night, but they never showed. We happened to run into one the Billboard marketing people again from Thursday night and he let us know about an after hours party being put on by
Spin Magazine. The Supersuckers and Meat Puppets were performing and it was an open bar from 2:00-5:00am. We all headed over looking for this party at an old car dealership apparently. We were so drunk; we walked right by it the first time, oblivious to the people standing in line. Finally, we realized where it was and pushed our way to the front. It was some hard work of holding back the crowd and waiting for the bouncers to turn away so that we could sneak under the barriers. I even let the one of the Supersuckers cut in. "One Cigarette Away" I said to him, quoting a song off the album, "Must've Been High". He turned to me and said, "I hear ya." Finally I got through the door and there were a couple guys from the Supersuckers inside talking to Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. We grabbed some free beers, smoked some cigarettes and listened to The Supersuckers play Thin Lizzy, Motorhead and Foghat covers until nearly sunrise. Looking forward to 2001!
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