Video (01:29) : Devo's set at the Austin Music Hall on Saturday night, playing their famous version of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."
AUSTIN, TEXAS - Metallica and Kanye West ate up a lot of the spotlight by crashing the party, but the biggest surprise at the South by Southwest Music Conference this year was simply the fact that it remains so ... well, big.
Rock 'n' roll music has a great knack for either reflecting the times or transcending them. The latter was clearly in effect at SXSW 2009. In theory, it should have been the year the 23rd annual music-biz megabash saw its first downturn, what with the economy and the recording industry's own long-simmering meltdown.
Official registration for the 23rd annual music-biz megabash -- which costs around $700 for a laminated badge to get into all the clubs and daytime panels -- was indeed down about 10 percent, a SXSW organizer said.
However, SXSW long ago stopped being an official affair. There's another pirate-style festival on top of the sanctioned one. Call it SXSW4HO (South by Southwest for Hangers-On), with tens of thousands of Joe Blow music fans and a sea of free, privately held day parties where some of the bigger buzz bands play nonstop over four days.
That side of SXSW was more bulging and hyperactive than ever.
"What a week," marveled Thomas WP, frontman of the London dance-rock trio We Have Band, playing his band's last of 10 shows in Austin after midnight Saturday night.
A clear sign that South by Southwest has become as much a marketing vehicle for outsiders as a get-together for insiders, one of the hottest parties of the fest was Saturday's rooftop patio bash by TV foodie Rachael Ray, headlined by the Hold Steady and New York Dolls.
It's hard to argue with the commercialization of SXSW when those are the bands signing up for it, and they're served with gourmet, beer-marinated mini-burgers on the side.
The fest was such a dizzying whir for New York up-and-comers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the fuzz-rock band completely missed their slot at the Paste magazine party.
Probably the least busy people in town were whoever was supposed to keep a lid on West's and Metallica's "secret" shows. Kanye himself was part of the hanger-on crowd: He showed up Saturday night at the private parking-lot Levi's Fader Fort compound, and he performed later at celeb blogger Perez Hilton's late-night party -- no doubt hoping Perez will be nice to him now.
Metallica, however, played an official SXSW showcase at the 2,000-capacity backyard amphitheater at Stubb's BBQ on Friday night. That officially makes the metal giants the biggest acts ever to perform at the more independent/newcomer-oriented festival (runners-up: Johnny Cash, the Beastie Boys, R.E.M.).
"We're glad to be a part of the live-music vibe here," frontman James Hetfield said near the end of his band's 80-minute set, which veered sharply between way-old classics to songs from its intense new record. Seeing the hipster SXSW crowd erupt to "Master of Puppets" confirmed that nobody is too cool to headbang.
While countless young bands made their first big splash at SXSW '09 -- including the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, rousing Scottish rebels Glasvegas and urgent San Diego band the Delta Spirit -- several acts cemented the stardom they earned at previous fests, particularly the Heartless Bastards, Blitzen Trapper, Grizzly Bear and St. Vincent.
And at least one band added to a buzz it generated three decades ago: Devo. On Friday, Ohio's deconstructionist art-rock band debuted spaz-tastic new material (its first in 19 years) and then brought out the old plastic hats for "Whip It" and "Uncontrollable Urge." In this case, SXSW proved you're never to cool to be a nerd again.
BREAKOUT ACTS
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears. Austin's own buzz band du joir won the international spotlight with a high-velocity mashup of Stax soul, feisty Delta blues and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings' onstage verve.
Janelle Monae. The pointy-headed Atlanta soul/rock singer roared like a lion and entertained like a black Gwen Stefani or a (more) feminine Prince.
King Khan & the Shrines. With its kooky, howling, cape-wearing frontman, this Berlin/Montreal big band offered up wildly unhinged, organ-bleeding '60s garage-rock.
St. Vincent. Already a buzz act, this Dallas-bred former guitarist for the Polyphonic Spree added greatly to the excitement around her May 5 sophomore album, "Actor," playing the songs in a church with an unholy mix of Bowie, Kate Bush and PJ Harvey.
BREAKDOWNS
Dirty Projectors. These buzzing New York art-rockers are trying too hard to land Brian Eno as a producer, and should work on harmonizing in key instead.
Tinted Windows. A brand-new supergroup featuring middle Hanson brother Taylor, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and ex-Smashing Pumpkins bassist James Iha, it played derivative, dumbly anthemic pop-rock with choruses such as, "I'm your cha-cha."
U.K. buzz bands in general. Aside from Glasvegas and White Lies, this year's allotment from across the pond was mostly a letdown. We Have Band doesn't have much of a band. Electro-pop songstress Ladyhawke was stuck in the '80s looking for Missing Persons. Worst of all, teen quintet Late of the Pier was like the Jonas Brothers covering Franz Ferdinand.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
