SXSW 2009
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Metallica Pound SXSW With 90-Minute Greatest-Hits Set at "Surprise" Show
"Surprise, surprise — you're all surprised, right?" singer-guitarist James Hetfield cracked in his sea-captain's growl, leering at the heaving crowd two songs into Metallica's poorly kept-secret SXSW show, March 20th at Stubb's. "Thank you for letting us come to your party." Then his voice changed. "We are an unsigned band from Norway," he said in […]
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Chairlift, The Soft Pack, Wild Light Lead SXSW 2009's Indie Rock Invasion
A slew of indie-rock next-big-things used Thursday night performances at SXSW as a platform to further fuel the hype machine. California art-dance mutant Nite Jewel has been making waves this year with her mix of '80s freestyle grooves, distorted synths and ghostly vocals. At Red 7 she wanted to make sure everyone knew she didn't […]
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Big Boi Talks Solo Album, Future of OutKast After Rowdy SXSW Gig
After a rowdy, hit-filled SXSW performance at Austin Music Hall, Rolling Stone caught up with Big Boi to talk about the status of his long-awaited solo debut and the future of his group, OutKast. Big Boi says his album, Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty, is finished, save some "additives and preservatives" currently […]
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Jane's Addiction Rip Through Early Catalog at SXSW
A band like Jane's Addiction doesn't need to play a music festival like South By Southwest. But sometimes SXSW needs a Jane's Addiction. The band — with its recently reunited full original lineup — performed a not-so-secret 10-song set at a former supermarket off an Austin highway Thursday night. It was both an affirmation of […]
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Peter Bjorn and John Squeeze Strong New Song Into Ill-Fated SXSW Set
To say Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John experienced technical difficulties at Wednesday night's highly anticipated SXSW gig at Vice would be putting it a bit mildly. After what felt like the longest sound check ever, the band took the stage around 20 minutes late and promptly stopped playing because drummer John Eriksson's electronic kit […]
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Punk Pioneers Circle Jerks and the Dicks Take Over SXSW
Aging punk fans with a little gray in their mohawks had a short, fast embarrassment of riches when two of punk rock's early legends played on opposite sides of Austin on Wednesday night at SXSW. (Check out images from Austin's hottest shows in our SXSW gallery.) First, Austin punk-rock forebears the Dicks hit the stage […]
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Janelle Monae, Ladyhawke Nod to Past and Future With Polished, Poppy SXSW Sets
Janelle Monáe — the funky R&B rocker Rolling Stone named Hot Sci-Fi Beyoncé on last year's Hot List — likes to make an entrance. The OutKast protégé made not one, but three during her brief Wednesday night SXSW set at Stubb's, first flouncing onto the stage as a female voice-over instructed the audience "no phasers, […]
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Rising Rapper Charles Hamilton Hits SXSW With Endless Energy, "Twilight" References
In a 15-minute SXSW set at the Back Alley Social, Harlem rapper Charles Hamilton was as upbeat as a motivational speaker: expressing equal enthusiasm whether the crowd was cheering or quiet, joking with the guy who flipped him off, rocking a bright yellow Sonic the Hedgehog T-shirt and being so amped about having a new […]
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The Decemberists Premiere Perfectly Over-the-Top "The Hazards of Love" at SXSW
Three weeks before the Decemberists premiered their new album, The Hazards of Love, at SXSW, the band's singer-songwriter Colin Meloy told me that they had not rehearsed the record in its entirety yet. In that interview, Meloy also marveled on how the Who used to perform all of their rock opera, Tommy, with just guitar, […]
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