Abbey Fox writesAbbey Fox Goes to SXSW2015: Day 3

CHIRP Radio’s Abbey Fox visited this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival and documented her experiences. Click here to read about Day 1 and here for Day 2!

Day 3

The forecast called for rain, and we were prepared with ponchos and what I call “my gross festival boots” (thanks, Riot Fest 2014!). We decided to keep it simple on Friday and planned to spend the whole day at the Spin Magazine showcase at legendary BBQ joint/music venue, Stubbs.

Post-punk (& recently controversial) rockers Viet Cong kicked off the event by asking the audience who else was hungover and exhausted. After a unanimous YES by screamed by nearly everyone, they played as if their lives depended on it, which was extremely impressive considering their drummer played with a broken hand.

Both METZ and Kate Boy played another set, and we caught the end of Screaming Females while waiting for one of Odd Future’s aggressive young rappers, Earl Sweatshirt. Up next was the Arcade Fire’s Will Butler performing his solo album, which was incredibly reminiscent of early Arcade Fire - volatile, alive, and constantly in motion. The clouds moved in and we danced so hard to the last song “What I Want” while it started to rain.

Twin Shadow killed it despite the downpour with an awesome set of 1980s new-wave tinged pop, and my personal favorite Aussie, Courtney Barnett played songs off her new album released this week throughout the downpour to us adoring fans. The last set of the day (and perhaps the most hyped) was critically acclaimed Hip-Hop duo Run The Jewels. Killer Mike and El-P obviously had live performance in mind while creating both RTJ & RTJ2 and their ferocious energy riled the crowd up in ways that only true masters can.

Again, not only was their set amazing, fun, and incredibly alive but it was also impressive based on Killer Mike’s torn rotator cuff(he was attacked by an audience member during a Monday night show). Another nod that neither rain, crazy fans, nor a midday performance can stop these guys.

I returned to Chicago on Saturday night with an arsenal of new albums and an energetic attitude about the current state of independent music (and the listeners). It turns out, sometimes you just need a break before fully re-emerging into the beautiful chaos of a city-wide music festival. Sometimes the best medicine for a wild year is over-saturating your eardrums with new music that forces you out of your head and into the moment. What was SXSW to me this year? A Vacation? Yes. Increased beer consumption? Of course. Friendship time? Completely. But ultimately it was about what it should always be about: the music.

Check out Abbey's SWSW2015 Spotify playlist!

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