Despite not getting to bed until nearly 4am, I was up and downstairs for breakfast by 8.30-ish.
I ran into Ian and Steph, grabbed some food and sat with them while catching up with all the scopitones forum gossip. Then I retrieved our luggage and took it back to our room. Phew!! That was a huge relief, I had visions of having to wear the same outfit all week or having to go to somewhere like Target or Walmart and having to buy inexpensive clothes and look like a redneck for our entire stay.
Note to self: Next time pack at least one change of clothes into my carry on bag.
IODA poster.
Once everyone was up and about, Kia arrived and we set off to the first gig.
This was officially called the "IODA at SXSW" and was located at a place called The Red Eyed Fly.
The venue was a bit scruffy, but it was outside, with a roof and a lovely breeze blowing through, which was a bonus as it was really hot and muggy weather. We discovered that the venue was selling Boddingtons and Kia, Mark, Derek, Ian and myself proceeded to attempt to drink the place dry. The ladies, Kellie and Steph sensibly abstained.
Kia, Mark and Me on the Boddingtons at the Red Eyed Fly
Me and Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph.
The first act was a trio of dreadlocked African American ladies playing proper gospel and blues, not really my type of thing, but still quite good.
Next was Canadian Dan Mangan, he was very good, I bought his CD but haven't listened to it yet. Then we had the excellent Polica, followed by Tychio, the hilarious Thee Oh Sees and an "old skool" rapper called Oddisee. They were all pretty good, but obviously we were here to see The Wedding Present and were basically just counting down the acts and their songs until our heroes took to the stage.
Finally everyone was done and TWP took the stage, David introduced them as "The semi legendary Wedding Present" They kicked off with "Back a bit... Stop" and blew through a 7 song set.
Setlist from the Red Eyed Fly
We had a chat with the band afterwards and Jessica told us that the next gig at the Swan Dive wasn't a freebie and she'd add us all to the guest list.
We decided on having a wander around and attempt to find something decent and cheap to eat. Unfortunately this proved rather difficult so after scoffing at a Mexican restaurant that informed us we would have to wait an hour for a table and thee cheapest item on the menu was $15, we thought, "Fuck that" and ended up eating pizza by the slice.
SXSW appeared to be mainly populated by freaks and knobends, there was plenty of eye candy, but to be honest this was no compensation for the plethora of twats wandering around.
The Swan Dive was a rather small place, sparsely decorated, but pretty cool.
First up were The Pinky Piglet aka Toquiwa and my thoughts that they couldn't possibly live up to the hype from fellow scopitoners and DLG and Jessica were instantly dispelled as the tiny Japanese rock quartet literally blew the roof off.
The next two bands were decent enough, but I really can't recall their names and just wanted them to hurry up so we could see TWP again.
This time they played a pretty awesome nine song set ending with a bang with "Drive" and "Brassneck"
Setlist from the Swan Dive
The new songs were sounding great live and certainly a lot more rockier, while everyone agreed that the new line up was kicking some serious ass.
After the show ended our plans for drink meant that we stopped at a gas station and loaded up with Boddingtons, Sam Adams, wine and ready made sarnies. Rock and roll guys, rock and roll.
Day one was exhausting, but it was well worth it.
Me and a Pinky Piglet outside The Red Eyed Fly.
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