I had a blast at live shows this year, seeing nearly 50 different bands. I hope I can match or beat that in 2017. I’m going to highlight the top 50% of the bunch, five at a time.
Levitation Austin always brings in at least one Tuareg artist, and Imarhan played a packed house at the Empire in downtown Austin. It was early in their first U.S. tour and they put on a fine show of uplifting music.
These two maestros of their respective instruments (Gourisankar on tabla and Indrajit Banerjee on sitar) wowed the crowd at the Stoop Inn. My wife and I were right in front and their energy had us and the whole crowd buzzing.
They were the first band we saw at Levitation Austin in 2016, and they had to play an abbreviated set due to showing up a bit late (Thanks, Austin traffic.). As a result, they played a wham-bam-thank you ma’am set of all their rockers. They threw down the gauntlet early.
#22 – Bleachedat the Grog Shop in Cleveland, Ohio October 21st.
They were a blast, the venue was great, and the crowd was appreciative. They were even better live than I thought they would be and friendly to anyone who stopped by their merch table after their set.
I saw Night Beats three times in 2016. This was the second time, and the third time I saw them came in at #26 on my list of live shows and was only two days later at San Marcos’ MR Fest. They closed the first night of Levitation Austin, after nearly everyone had learned the festival had been cancelled, and they made everyone forget their blues for a little while. It was a raucous set, and we all needed it.
Which shows made my top 20 for 2016? Come back tomorrow to find out.
What do you do when you fly from Indiana for Levitation Austinand it gets cancelled due to bad weather? You go to another music festival in San Marcos not even thirty miles away.
The Levitation coordinators and Travis County Emergency Services were putting out photos of the damaged festival site at Carson Creek Ranch by the time Saturday morning rolled around.
You can’t levitate when you’re stuck in mud.
That’s just one photo. Others showed vendor tents wrapped around trees. You can see collapsed tents in the background. The camping area was underwater. There would’ve been many injuries and perhaps worse if campers had been there during the storm.
We got a nice breakfast, my wife got a manicure and pedicure, and we were off to San Marcos for MR Fest. My Radio Fest (AKA MR Fest) is put on each year by Texas State University radio – KTSW. It’s an indie rock festival taking place over one day and two nights in eight different venues in downtown San Marcos. The best part? All the shows are free. They were actively Tweeting for people devastated by the loss of Levitation to come down for it. I was sold once I learned Night Beats were playing Saturday night for free.
We got into town around 2:00pm and happened to park next door to Superfly’s – a wrecka stow that was also one of the eight venues. We walked in and saw a three-piece rock band called Sloe Your Rollwho were putting on a good set of blues jam-rock.
Sloe Your Roll
We then wandered down to a nice underground bar called Kiva and saw a Hum-like three-piece called Sidechick. “They could play Levitation,” my wife said. She’s right. They have a solid sound that mixes shoegaze with hard rock.
Sidechick
Strange Lotplayed right after them. They were a mix of psych and stoner rock and so good I picked up their two CD’s after their set.
Strange Lot
We got a snack and then came back to see a partial set from Jumping Moons, who were a heavy two-piece that played to the back wall.
Jumping Moons
We then headed across the street to Stonewall – a local gay bar that was hosting four different bands that night. The first we saw was The Real Hands, who played a set of mellow rock and a lot of songs about relationships. Another fun part about the Stonewall shows was that KTSW was giving away hundreds of CD’s from their archives. I snagged a copy of Bob Mould‘s Life and Times.
The Real Hands
Up next were Dayluta Means Kindness, who were the loudest band we’d seen so far. They played a great set of instrumental heavy shoegaze / drone rock. I need to find their material.
Dayluta Means Kindness
We went to dinner at a local brew pub and realized the place was packed due to the NBA playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder starting about the time our food arrived. The pub was full of Spurs fans (as San Antonio is about 40 miles from San Marcos), so we joined in on the fun for the first quarter and then left to see the last half of the set by Mr. Lewis and the Funeral 5 (even though there are only four of them) – who play blues rock with a gothic twinge.
Mr. Lewis and the Funeral 5
We walked across the town square to The Marc – a nice concert hall venue – to see Golden Gravesopen for The Night Beats. Golden Graves played to a welcoming crowd who liked their alt-rock style. You could tell they were having a good time, and that energy transferred to the crowd.
Golden Graves
The Night Beatscame out and put down another killer set. They had some issues with the Marc sound crew not getting stuff right in their monitors, but they soldiered through the difficulties and wowed the crowd by the end. It was their first time playing in San Marcos and they won many fans that night. They are gunslingers on stage, and the crowd knew it. “My face is melting!” yelled one college lad.
The Night Beats
That was about the time I realized my wife and I were among the oldest people in the crowd. Truth to tell, I’ll still be going to shows like this thirty years from now.
We left tired but happy. It was a fun day that took us somewhere unexpected. Plus, we got to see the Night Beats twice in three nights – and once for free. I’d also scored tickets to a Sunday Levitation makeup show featuring Golden Dawn Arkestra – who was high on my list for the festival. Sunday was looking good.
Next: Double sitar and tabla, killer BBQ, electric shocks, the Karate Kid, and Ra worship.
