I asked Jim Shearer (perhaps best known as the long-time host of Subterranean) to share some of his experiences at this year’s South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. These are the highlights from Friday, March 16th, 2007:

The Faint @ Eternal
Some bands are good live, some are fun, and some are downright near perfect. Tonight, The Faint represented all three. Throughout their set I kept thinking to myself, “Wow, these guys got their shit together.” They were so spot on, I was looking
closely to make sure there wasn’t any lip-synching going on. The Faint played a handful of new tunes, which heavily favored their dance jones (although they did throw in a slower number). The multimedia slide show that was projected on top of them during the performance also added a nice little flavor to the set. Since they were closing out the night at Eternal, they also got to do a three-song encore ending with “Agenda Suicide.” I’m going to be dancing in my sleep tonight!

Public Enemy @ Town Stage
When Chuck D and Flavor Flav share a stage it’s gonna be a good time. Besides that, it was Flavor Flav’s Birthday! This was probably the largest show of this year’s SXSW, held on the outdoor lawn of Town Stage. P.E. went through their catalog of classics: “P.E. #1,” “Shut ‘em Down,” “911 is a Joke,” “Can’t Truss It,” “Welcome to the Terrordome,” and “Fight the Power.” Since they were in Texas and only a mile or so away from George W’s former home in the capital building, they made sure to not only play “Son of a Bush,” but were also very liberal with the use of “Fuck George Bush” shout-outs. Yo, them Dixie Chicks got nothing on Public Enemy when it comes to dissin’ the Prez. P.E.’s set did become a bit exhausting after the various stop-downs to introduce band members and Flavor Flav’s somewhat elongated call-and-responses. P.E.’s live band playing simultaneously with turntables also seemed a bit much at times. You couldn’t hear the nice little Bomb Squad nuances on tunes when there were drums and guitar on top of it. However, their closing number made perfectly good sense with a live band, “She Watch Channel Zero.” Twenty years in the game, and still doing it. Public Enemy number one, one, ONE!

The Fratellis @ Bourbon Rocks
Caught The Fratellis again today. I was tagging along with some friends who wanted to see a day party they were playing. They pretty much did the same set-list from last night, but the crowd seemed a little more into it. Sometimes those matinees bring out the best in people. Sorry for the re-run here, but hey, at least you got a better picture than last night.

Galactic, w/ Lyrics Born, Boots Riley (The Coup), and
Gift of Gab @ Emo’s
I don’t care what kind of music you’re into, this was the feel good performance of the night! Live hip-hop at it’s utter best. I left Emo’s feeling like I ate a hearty, homemade four-course dinner! The venue also gave the performance a unique feel. Emo’s looks like a barn inside–half of it is covered, half of it’s open-air. It’s really hard to put into words, but it felt like I was in the deep south (which I guess I was), in the middle of nowhere, catching this amazing, soulful hip-hop performance. Harmonicas, horns, rhymes, and everyone in attendance getting into it. Don’t know if I got my point across, but if you were there, you probably understood everything I just said.