Artists in this Article
The 2011 South By Southwest festival collided with St. Patrick's Day on Thursday (Mar. 17), as Austin's finest checked out some wacky sight and killer sounds while showing their green pride. Check out 10 things that caught our attention in Austin yesterday:
1. Odd Future roamed 6th Street like rock stars, and stopped to take pictures with tipsy St. Patrick's day partygoers.
2. In the wee hours of Thursday night, Duran Duran headlined concert promoter C3's annual party in the Whitley building, and wisely added a couple of old favorites - "Planet Earth" and "Girls on Film" - that were not played the previous night at Stubb's.
3. Yelawolf found the perfect way to beat the glut of SXSX and St. Patrick's Day revelers on his way to open for the Wu-Tang Clan at Austin Music Hall Thursday night. The Alabama rapper was spotted skateboarding down Guadalupe and 3rd Street and meeting his Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment team outside the venue minutes before he took the stage.
4. Alex Chilton's death put a bit of a pall over SXSW last year, and he hasn't been forgotten this year: during their set Thursday night at the Cedar Street Courtyard, the Bangles played Big Star's "September Gurls" and dedicated it to "a friend we lost around this time last year."
5. Miguel was ready to perform "All I Want is You" with J. Cole at BET's Music Matters showcase, but the collaboration never happened due to microphone problems.
6. So what happened to Big Sean on Thursday night? The rapper was slated to play an early SXSW set at BET's Music Matters showcase at Kiss & Fly, but wound up closing the show comfortably into Friday morning after jamming late at the video shoot for his hit "My Last" and missing his original flight. "I'm really happy with [the video]," he told Billboard.com after arriving at the venue. "I think it represents the song exactly the way I want."
7. Amber Rose caught her new man Wiz Khalifa's set at the Fader Fort.
8. Singer-songwriter Robert Ellis was gratified by the reception for his two-song acoustic set at the New West party Thursday afternoon at the Belmont. "When I'm playing these songs, I expect the reaction to be, 'What the f**k is this? We wanna hear some ELECTRIC guitars!' " Ellis, who had play a set with his full band earlier, told the crowd.
9. Melanie Fiona covered "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette at BET's Music Matters showcase -- and killed it.
10. At an Austin City Limits taping, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band inspired a few hundred green-t-shirt-clad St. Patrick's Day celebrants to dance their asses off.
Up for Discussion