This boy is exhausted.

It’s was pretty appropriate that first song of the best set I’ve seen at SXSW thus far was “This Boy Is Exhausted”. I am talking about, of course, the Wrens [MySpace]; those middle aged New Jersey indie rockers with grey hair and paunch who completely blew away bands have their age. One of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. I have some amazing pictures that I can’t late to upload to the site.

And of course, I’m exhausted. Don’t get me wrong. SXSW is pretty much heaven. You’re drinking and watching music by noon, the drinks and bands continue until 5 am, it’s 80 degrees out, and the tacos and hot indie girls are plentiful. As I said, heaven. Old indie rockers don’t die, they just go up to that great SXSW in the sky.

The one downside is the lack of sleep. Or maybe it’s not a downside. The past four nights I’ve slept 30 minutes, 7 hours, 2 hours, and 6 hours. I’ve drank more beer each day here than I have had total hours of sleep which is either a statement of how awesome this place is or an explanation for my doctor as to why I’ll be chronically sick for the next three weeks.

Thursday started with a long wait to get into the Brooklyn Vegan/Paste Magazine show at the Radio Room. This is why my face is the the shade of a cooked lobster. However, if the free Magic Hat inside didn’t quite make up for the wait, the Wrens definitely did. The Wrens came on stage, grabbed the audience by the balls, and more or less said “come with us”. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen a band so thoroughly engage and captivate an audience and to just force them to go insane. It also didn’t hurt that the band sounded fantastic. Best quote of the day came from them too: “WE’RE GONNA PLAY SOME NEW STUFF. THIS DOES **NOT** MEAN GO GET A DRINK, OR GO TO THE BATHROOM, OR GO MAKE OUT!”

Also at the Radio Room I caught a few minutes of These Arms Are Snakes [MySpace] (who flail around like these arms are stuck in electrical outlets) and Daniel Johnston [MySpace] (who was beloved by the audience but, I fear, for more who he is than his actual music).

I was also able to catch The D’Urbervilles [MySpace] at Rusty Spurs. I have recently fallen in love with their song “Hot Tips” and I was pretty pleased to stumble upon their show right as their set was beginning. Hailing from Canada, if Hipster Runoff were to create and dress a band, The D’Urbervilles are what that band would look and sound like. Fortunately, they sounded awesome. A more peppy Joy Division (but sounding a lot better than that weak analogy would suggest), they left a really good impression.

After attending the PopCandy meet up, I made my way over to the Central Presbyterian Church where I was able to sit down and interview the Rural Alberta Advantage [MySpace]. We will post the interview/review of their set separately and at a later date but I can say right now that the band is one of the nicest bands I’ve ever spoken with. They also played one the better shows of the night. Here is a band that has an opportunity to get some serious buzz and who are sprinting through the door to get it. Great set with a great Arcade Fire-esque acoustic in the crowd good night song. Great stuff.

Grizzly Bear [MySpace] was the headliner at the Central Presbyterian Church. I will admit I’m not that familiar with the band but their reputation as one of the top acts in not only the indie scene but in music in general is not unknown to me. The giant cathedral they played in last night was an absolutely perfect venue for their intricate and subtle arrangements. With a good 50 feet of space between them and the sanctuary ceiling, every little sound the band made rose into that expanse of air and swirled and danced and mingled before diffusing out into the crowd. It was a magical venue in which to see a magical band.

The final stop of the night was again the Red Bull Tower party which, sadly, was no where near as entertaining as it was the night before. The Riverboat Gamblers [MySpace] provided some coked-up hyper energetic (although slightly monotonous) vaguely screamo-esque punk. The worst band of the entire festival for me (and possibly the worst live show I’ve ever seen) was next by Gringo Starr [MySpace]. It was painful. You almost felt bad for the band but they you realized they were the ones up there making that horrible noise. Somebody threw a burrito at them towards the end of the set and nobody clapped when they finished.

Sorry guys.

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