My Morning Headache: The Final Shows

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Final Shows

It turns out that Saturday night didn't have too many shows I really wanted to see. I went to The Dirty Dog a little early to make sure I could get in to see Georgie James. They weren't bad. However, they haven't improved much since I first saw them a few years ago. They're both incredibly gifted musicians and song writers, but their sound hasn't evolved much at all. Oh well.

One more thing about Georgie James. They sound better with a drummer. I know paying a drummer to play with you cuts into the bottom line, but percussion is important! The best acts I saw this year used a lot of percussion, such as WHY? and Holy Fuck. I don't know why so many talented and experienced musicians think they can get away with playing SXSW without a drummer.

I got in line to see The Donnas. The line was much longer than I expected. Since I didn't have anyone else to see, I thought I would just have fun proving to myself how cool my badge is and get into a show with a crazy line. That's when I got a text from Gus saying that he was about to get into the Parish so I thought I would just join him.

I think the show we saw was Jason Collett. I obviously don't remember much about it (it was over a week ago and they weren't very impressive). I did get a picture though.

After that, Jack sent a text to say that there was no way he was getting into The Dirty Dog, where we were all planning to meet up to see Tokyo Police Club at 1am. That's when I decided to leave, just in case the badge line was long. There was a crowd of people out front, but I quickly found the badge line and only had to stand there for about 10 minutes before getting in.

As I was waiting for Tokyo Police Club (they weren't going to be on for another 45 minutes or so) I realized that there was no longer a line outside and everyone was getting in without a problem. I immediately texted Gus to get there ASAP. Even though they had a sign that said "Badges Only", Gus and Jack got in.

Gus and I found that one of the tables people were leaning against was actually an arm wrestling table. We started walking up to the table and everyone immediately knew what was going to happen. It was on! Without us even having to ask, everyone cleared their drinks and a woman even help our clenched fists and told us when to go. I found everyone's compliance with this aggressive, drunken act of retarded manhood quite hilarious. I won't gloat and tell you who won or how weak Gus looked. I'm far too modest for that. (And some people think I'm an asshole, I don't get it.)

We eventually saw Tokyo Police Club. Well, 75% of them. Their guitar tech (who looks awfully like Ron Jeremy) had to play instead of their normal guitarist. They never explained why, but they had to cancel a few shows after SXSW due to a death in someone's family. That's probably why. They were still awesome and you could barely tell that there was a different guitarist who was obviously turned way down.