Matthew Sweet disguised as Neil Young giving his cover of "Cinnamon Girl" that extra something.
You know I love to rip on SXSW because it’s an annoying trade show for the music industry. Every year Austin is invaded for a week by poseurs, dim-witted executives and clueless members of the SCLM (So-Called Liberal Media), which includes critics and journalists. Within a few years’ of its start in 1987, SXSW quickly became a festival for them while those of us who live here and have to put up with these jerks received a collective middle finger from its founders. Being discovered at this thing is a myth too. Few acts have ever had their break and signed. The majority were already annointed by the Big Labels as the next big thing this week is their debutante ball: Norah Jones is the most famous example of that lie being spread. Lately it has also been the first stop for a comeback: Billy Idol last year, the Pretenders this year.
My gripe with SXSW is that it’s too much all it once and for too much money. It’s awesome to have hundreds of bands from around the world come to Austin because not all local acts are really worth promoting in my opinion (Vallejo, get day jobs, you suck as much as Sister 7 and Soul Hat). However, paying the outrageous amounts of cash for a wristband which gives you the privilege to endure an overbooked venue for a string of 30-minute sets is pretty much another ugly joke played on us by the Corporations like ACL, Lollapalooza, HORDE, Summerfest and Woodstock (all of them). I will stick to seeing these bands booked at a decent venue, delivering a proper 80-minute set with one encore (that’s standard in the contracts I actually saw during my semester with Stardate). The crowded venue will remain but it didn’t cost me over $100 (sometimes it’s free if Ecology Action works the show).
However, I’m guilty of hypocrisy for going to the Dog & Duck to endure the annoyances of SXSW to see Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs perform for free. I may hate going to a rock concert where the density of aging Hipsters, Indie Petes and Barry-types is increased a hundredfold but when it comes to one of the best American songwriters in my age bracket, I’m willing to swallow dislike of the previous stereotypes to support Matthew. Sadly, the set was cut from the promised under an hour to five songs due to the two scheduled stages being truncated to one. He and Hoffs didn’t appear until after 6 pm instead of the slated 430 so it also meant standing through two other talented yet uninteresting acts. They were quite good under the circumstances though. I am really looking forward to their cover album’s release. Neal, Monique and some of their friends were at the show too. They invited me to dinner which gave this expedition into downtown Austin a happier ending. Big thumbs up to Monique for getting the above picture!