While I still had a fun time there this year, it’s an undeniable truth that SXSW is not quite what it once was. Long gone are the glory days of Fader Fort, Hype Hotel and an abundance of big name acts playing throughout the week.
Ever since Covid, and probably even slightly before that, SouthBy has definitely felt a bit smaller in scale. But despite that, there’s still a lot of cool stuff going on throughout the week. And the Friday of the festival was the day that felt the most like a throwback to the old days, with great shows all day, including two unique performances from St Vincent and Twin Shadow.
St. Vincent @ Rivian Electric Roadhouse
A surprise “secret” show from St. Vincent on a Friday night that also features an open bar? Sure, why not?
To close out the Rivian Electric Roadhouse, Annie Clark took to the stage to perform a special stripped down set that saw her joined by a pianist for the duration. The absolute highlight of her set was a performance of “New York” that also saw her slip into a bit of Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” adding a bit of editorial commentary as she asked, “what the fuck is that?” after singing the chorus. It’s true, Mr. Loaf never did quite specify exactly what ‘that’ is in his song.
Also, because this show was sponsored by an electric car company, there was a car parked on either side of the stage, making it seem a little like we were watching a concert from a showroom. Maybe in a way we were. Either way, we decided to sit down in the front seat of one of the cars for a bit of her set, giving it a bit of a drive in theatre feel. Luckily for everyone, we resisted the urge to honk the car horn during the show. That would have been poor concert etiquette for sure.
Twin Shadow @ Central Presbyterian Church
Taking to the stage of the Central Presbyterian Church, Twin Shadow’s George Lewis Jr. addressed the crowd, announcing that this show would be focusing on his latest album Georgie, just freshly released earlier that day.
“We’re gonna play most of it, so if you came to hear old stuff … go fuck yourself. Just kidding,” he added, noting that he probably shouldn’t be saying such things in a church. Happily, he wasn’t struck down on the spot for blasphemy and he also didn’t stick exclusively to just the new album, throwing in a few old crowd pleasers like “Five Seconds,” though, to be fair, I would have been ok with a show focusing exclusively on the new stuff.
Much like St. Vincent did earlier in the evening, Lewis delivered a stripped back set alongside a single accompanist, in this case a pedal steel player, who added a lot of cool texture to moody tunes like “Funny Games” and “As Soon As You Can.” Lewis announced that this was only their second time ever playing these songs live, and they sounded fantastic, with the church setting and the lava lamps surrounding the stage only adding to the mood.
