#SXSW2011 – Tricky-Kid.com

SXSW 2011: The Parties – Perez Hilton, Village Voice, Fader, Spin & Vice Bring the Noise

So now getting into my fourth day at SXSW and its usually around this time that I’ve only slept for a few hours a day and surviving on free bbq and beer, and with constant ringing in my ear, my ability to absorb much more becomes a bit cynical haha.

Perez Hilton One Night In Austin

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton drew a huge crowd for his annual SXSW show at the new ACL Live venue Saturday night.
I was here for one reason only & that was to se Taylor Momsen & the Pretty Reckless. I had caught her live a few times already and she is the real deal. Forget all that shit about her being an actress that is trying to sing, this is where she belongs & will be so from now on.

Taylor Momsen

Village Voice Showcase – Austin Music Hall

I got there pretty early (around 7pm) and the place was already a madhouse of people swarming to get in. This was one of the most anticipated showcases of the entire festival. I go up and get my credentials that thankfully (and I don’t care about being pampered and all that shit) gave me access to a private room with a nice bathroom, couches, earplugs and free booze, cause this place was like the fraternity in Animal House.

After taking advantage of that situation I went out to the main room to check out Wild Flag that couldn’t possible have lived up to their hype. The band is made up of key members of Sleater-Kinney and the Jicks, and while I’m a fan of both of those bands, and clearly I’m not the only one feeling the absence of SK, but you would think that Led Zeppelin had re-formed with the press they have been getting. So, either their following was far more dedicated than I realized, or they have a killer PR team – and with singer Carrie Brownstein post SK foray into journalism, I’m thinking that she knows just how to get it done.
Regardless, they were pretty good and exactly what you think it would sound like, the songs that Brownstein sung for SK, not an antithesis of Black Flag.

Wild Flag

– Fishbone who was up next (and probably the act I was looking the most to seeing) probably played for less time than it took to set up all their horns and the Theramin-in-a-suitcase. Lead singer Angelo Moore, was behind the stacks wearing an Andy Warhol wig and practicing his cartwheels, so this was gonna be as nuts as he is and I was getting excited but were taking forever.
With the crowd getting antsy, they sent out comedian Donald Glover (who I had just seen last night host the MTVu Woodie Awards) to do a brief set as his rapper alter ego, Childish Gambino – it felt planned, but it gave the party an awesome burst of spontaneity and he was super entertaining that you had already forgotten the shittiness of the previous two acts and did exactly what it was designed to do, get you hyped and keep you entertained.

Fishbone finally takes the stage and shit gets real weird/awesome real quick –

Their shit was so great, how are you gonna top that? Well again I’m a hip-hop fanatic and a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan, but if you have read this blog or had the misfortune of trying to see any of them in concert, individually or collectively in the last 5 years, you don’t know what to expect, which is half the fun/misery, but I’ve learned sadly, not to expect much.
Having said that, they still managed to greatly disappoint with their shenanigans they just keeps lowering their stock and legacy, who but me will still keep putting up with their shit?
Their was literally over 90 mins after Fishbone finished before they finally got their asses onstage – and during that time, I had personally seen two dudes piss themselves, three get escorted out of the music hall, and the bartenders had basically given up trying to keep service in order. It was that kind of party – As always, when its billed as Wu-Tang, their shit is so dysfunctional, the thing you do is try to guess/hope who is actually going to show up. For those who have been down this road a few times, you know to automatically dismiss the notion of the RZA and while your at Method-Man. It’s like you have to go “Ok, which ones’ career is suffering the most right now?” and that’s how you can guess accurately of who your gonna get.
After all that wait, only four of the nine members showed –
The GZA
U-God
Inspectah Deck
..and surprisingly – Ghostface Killah

They did their run of the “classics” with irritating mic problems the whole show (hey guys, with all the people onstage with wireless mics, that might be your problem?) that lasted about an hour. The best thing about the show was their joined by Erykah Badu for the last couple of tunes. Even with the feedback problems she still sounded great as always.
Around 2 a.m., Wu-Tang Clan called it a night and turned the party over to Badu, who switched to her other identity, DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown and played a great set of vintage dance tunes and modern hip hop for the stragglers who had made it through the night.

Next Day….

Spin Magazine Party – Stubb’s BBQ

We get down there around 4pm and get checking in and take time to say hello to some of the staff that are friends of mine before heading toward the stage. The Spin Magazine party used to be the premier party during SXSW before turning into a day thing at Stubb’s a few years ago, and its still cool and always one to look forward to. One of the things you survive on during this festival is the free boze/soda/food – and its almost always not what your first choice would be, as anything free usually isn’t. It’s most likely something you have never tried/seen before because the sponsors use the festival as a test market, so you will find yourself drinking chocolate flavored water and chewing fish flavored gum.
Today, we each grabbed a tall can of this lemonade drink – that’s kinda like Sparks – and though I know I’m a serious lightweight when it comes to drinking and it was early in the day, I swear we both were shitfaced after three sips of this poison.
With my new drunk induced inflated ego, I seriously almost punched this total asshole that was being insufferable as the Killls were starting their set.

They were having serious sound issues – so much so that I thought they were actually doing a soundcheck onstage, because they were stopping and starting literally dozens of times – it wasn’t until singer Alison Moyer – finally relented and quietly made a few apologies.
I can’t make my mind up about her – I like the Kills and I’m all about the Dead Weather, her voice and image and super-cool swagger is totally hot. However sometimes I see pictures of her and I’m kinda like – meh – and sometimes she seems a little too cool. But hey she probably is – they finally got it together and turned in a decent set.As always they had DJ’s playing between sets and between these two acts, Skrillex (didn’t I tell you this guy was freaking everywhere) doing a set – His extremely punchable hipster face is enough to make me want to take him out, but holding him responsible for the rise of dubstep is truly worthy of ball-kicking trespass –

Up next was TV on the Radio who has just attacked this festival – usually a band with their visibility comes here to do one high-profile show and doesn’t really have to slog through multiple-show days like the smaller bands unless they just want to, but TVOTR I think had like 8 gigs this week. Like I said earlier, Jah from The Death Set is playing drums for them now and he couldn’t have been more excited.
(Check out the awesome Clutch sticker hanging there in the back)

This show was really good and they are an incredible live band – sadly however this was one of the last performances with bassist Gerard Smith as he died just a few weeks later of lung cancer.

The Fader Fort Party –

After TV on the Radio finished at Stubb’s we ran across the freeway over to the Fader Fort (running from show to show is a time honored tradition at SXSW) As a testament of how busy I’ve been this week, this was my first (and only) sojourn over to the Fort this year. This place is usually a destination for me and last year I practically lived there all week. Where else in the world let alone at SXSW can you go to a place for free, drink free booze and soda all day, get fed, free clothes, free internet, free magazines and get entertained by the best at that time? – The place is a goddamn utopia and my greatest dream of a totalitarian state come to life, and this year didn’t disappoint either.
Remember my earlier post about open RSVPs? – The Fader Fort is the most popular of them , (see above description as to why) and if you just do the open RSVP you have little or no chance of getting in – those public wristbands are worthless, you gotta go the extra mile if you wanna get in – thankfully I had an advantage – and we were ushered right in – I’m not talking about some elitist, velvet rope Studio 54 bullshit, I’m just giving a tip, that its best to contact someone involved ahead of time so that you don’t waste your time standing in line when you could be doing other rad shit.

As we are heading backstage, we are finally seeing Odd Future and what all the hype is about as they are causing a literal riot with them as the aggressors. Various members would either flat out threaten photographers in the photo pit and others would challenge the entire crowd to a water bottle fight. Debris, empty bottles, clothing and other general garbage started flying during every song –

Near the end of their set, the group prompted the entire audience to chant “Fuck tha police!” – Together, they are truly aggressive to the point of intimidation. Though I appreciate how youthful and overflowing with energy they are, I have to admit, instead of just having some good fun, it really seemed like they are assholes, going out of their way to be bigger assholes.

Speaking of overflowing energy, (but used for something COMPLETELY different) it was after 7pm and somehow I had gone all day without seeing Matt & Kim (something I had yet to do all week) so here they come and the crowd greeted them ecstatically.

Toward the end of their set, making her second cameo of the festival, they were briefly joined by Erykah Badu who I saw strolling around backstage.

…and not to be outdone by the previous antics of Odd Future, what is normally a staple of their live show, this time Kim’s bootie dance atop the crowd seemed to have an added interference.

The Vice Party –

The Vice Party has replaced what the Spin Magazine party used to be: a last night of the festival blowout in some hidden/non-obvious location that you wouldn’t think/know about till the night of, where doors don’t even open till midnight and it goes all night, way past 2am and this one was listed as going till 6am.
This time it was at the Starr Building, some non-descript place you would imagine holding law firms not some crazy party and the bands that were set to play were Keith Morris’ (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) new band Off! and one last detonation from Odd Future who has literally stunned this festival. You couldn’t go anywhere without people talking about them and having some story involving carnage in their wake. I personally have already seen two partial performances this week and I think tonight was something like their 12th show of the week, (and third of the day).

We get there and of course the entry to get in looks like Tienanmen Square – just complete and utter chaos. You would think people’s infant children were trapped inside the way they were rabid to get in. The hype of Odd Future plus the exclusivity and free booze in an environment that craves such things? It was 1984 and this was the only place that had Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I’ve been around this stuff for over 10 years and it even frightened me a bit, and poor Erin has never seen shit like this before, but suddenly a knight in shining armor arrived.
Eric and Kim Castillo, a couple from Houston that are good friends of mine and who I stay with when I have the misfortune of being in Houston, arrive.
Eric is a professional DJ, who goes by Ceeplus Badknives and has been on the scene for a long time, and we have done gigs together in Houston and during SXSW for the last several years. His wife Kim is the salt of the earth and one of my favorite peoples.
Though we all had invites they were at capacity but Eric had the juice and got us in no problem and ironically said that they had just been talking about me and was hoping to see me. Boy were we glad to see them.

We get in and the four of us grab some of the free booze and this place just looks dangerous – like total lawlessness.
Perfect for a punk legend to fuck shit up – and that’s exactly what Off! proceeded to do:

They were crazy, unreal loud – and it had that feel that it should – volatile punk band playing at 2 in the morning in some abandoned building. Totally brown –
Outside I could only imagine what people were dealing with to get in to catch the Odd Future 3am slot – the hype was off the charts – this was their last show of the festival and given the late hour probably the last show of the festival, its 3am and its gotta top all of the other ones, so this was the one to catch according to the hype. Matt was texting me from outside so I told him to go around back and I had security let him in.

Going from Hardcore Punk to Hardcore Rap seamlessly is what makes an event like this so memorable and fun to attend. It’s 3am and here comes Odd Future:

Their show was as violent as the punk of Off! but I have to say I was more impressed with the intensity as well as the crowd as compared to any real musical gratification. In fact I would have to say, it was so super sloppy, it never seemed like the show ever actually started. It just seemed like Tyler the Creator and company, came out, got the crowd worked up, complained/cursed alot, and seemed to go out of their way to be destructive assholes.

Now I’m not exactly old, just a bit older, but I will be the first to admit, that this probably has something to do with why I just simply can’t relate to these guys. In a generation of constant self-promotion and being ruthlessly crass breeds huge rewards by your peers, that’s something I will never identify with. But as a life-long student of Hip-Hop, it really wasn’t that good – I was super excited about seeming them, and I loved their story. Totally all about their DIY punk ambition and did all of it themselves. Some young guys looking like the next Wu-Tang Clan, but I just didn’t get it. They def got some talent, but instead of showcasing that, or even having some knucklehead fun a la Beastie Boys cira License to Ill era, instead that appear as actual dickheads.

I didn’t sweat it though, the spectacle still provided weird entertainment on what had to be one of the weirdest nights of my life.

After they played, the whole place turned into a dance party, with these two DJs playing all this great 60s garage soul music that was fantastic and it 4am in the morning.

We shook our asses in celebration of a long week, and a day that felt just as long, and I just couldn’t leave – I just had to keep going somehow. Finally after the clock struck 5am, people really started to clear out and we danced the last song, to finally put this year’s SXSW to rest.

Photos –

Roy Turner
Nate “Igor” Smith
Brenna Rushing
Todd Seelie
Heather Browne
Joe Gall
Max Blau
Samantha Marble

SXSW 2011: TrickyKid Brawl for All w/ The Death Set in a boxing ring!

The first people to arrive is the Here Holy Spain crew so Erin and I take them across the street to a Mexican restaurant and treat them to dinner, hoping Randy and the boys would be gone when we returned. Having Mr. Palmer drunkenly supervise my event was not part of the deal. This was our place for the evening per the agreement but that didn’t stop his pride from dictating that this was his place and he calls the shots.

Matt arrives, and despite Robyn asking me not to officially announce the showcase (or namely the Death Set’s involvement) until a few days before for fearing that it could compromise their position at an official showcase, I hand him a list of RSVPs that total close to 2k.

We finally open the doors, equipment is in place inside the ring – I get in, make a few announcements, wish Erica, HHS bass player a Happy Birthday and the show begins.

They kicked ass as I knew they would, their were only about 60 people thru the doors by the time they finished playing, but it was a great start and was so glad to have them.

Next up was the Blind Pets, By the time they started the place had almost tripled in attendance.

Now pay close attention cause this is where all hell breaks loose. After the Blind Pets had played their equipment remained in the ring as I had worked it out with them and the Death Set that the DS was just gonna show up and plug in as they were coming straight from another show to play ours and everyone was in agreement that the Death Set would just play on their equipment. The spot was about to be blown up – here’s how:

I had a million people a second stopping me to talk to me or somebody needed something or my supervision, so much so that I didn’t even recognize Robyn when she came in with the band until she grabs me and I snap out of it and start directing them where to load in.

They blew the spot up and insisted on using a mixtape they had just released over the PA (that meant thankfully no more DJ Randy Palmer) Their were now noticeably even more people there to see the Death Set. I could sense Josh’s pride/ego ticking away like a timebomb. Here was a band playing his town on his equipment and I could feel his who-the-fuck-do-they-think-they-are vibe so when the Death Set were not happy that all we had was beer and asked for champagne I thought he was gonna spontaneously combust.

Once again, my team to the rescue, I told her what I needed and again in a flash, they returned with the bottles of champagne I had asked for, and sadly didn’t even get to partake in any of it or even the toast that she deserved to be a part of, for they had to return to immediately assist the bartender.

Ok, ring the bell son, the Death Set are climbing in and here we go – just as I had anticipated/wanted – the band instructs the crowd to get into the ring with them and go freaking nuts, and that’s exactly what happened.

It was all happening, my dream was coming true, my vision was being realized, it looked exactly as I thought/hoped it would.
All for about 40 mins that is –
Here is how it went down –

The Death Set start playing and of course as expected/encouraged, they invite the entire crowd on the floor to join them in the boxing ring for a crazy, memorable time. Mr. Palmer, apparently forgets the conversations we had about this and starts losing his mind. He is in the back on a mic, shouting for people to get out of the ring – ummm..hello? Mr. Palmer, this is why we are here, this is what we came to do, this is why I was willing to have the showcase two miles from downtown – to give people a reason to come and do something different and awesome. Seeing that crowd run into that ring was such an awesome rush and I couldn’t have been happier. Mr. Palmer sends Josh in to do damage control, who is all too happy to bust them up. He makes the crowd leave the ring, but not before stealing the mic Kanye style and bellowing out this gem:

“This is a BOXING RING, not a fucking BOOT RING!! everyone get the fuck out of this ring right now!!”

It was cringe inducing, (no boots in Texas?) and since we live in the information age, something that tasty will not go without its own little meme.

Here is a video someone made of the incident labeling Josh with the new moniker of Boot Nazi –

I’m hearing this from outside as I’m dealing with another crisis – Before I walk in Josh comes running out to find me and starts screaming at the top of his lungs of his desire to smack the singer in the mouth. Apparently Johnny had told him to fuck off or something, or whatever it was etc.
I go back in and reach an agreement that if they take their shoes off, everyone can go back in.
The show resumes for about 20 more minutes.
During that entire time, Josh and company are having full blown anxiety that the band/crowd are harming/potentially harming their equipment etc.
Personally I was standing on the steps of the ring in front of the equipment and saw zero signs of impending doom or I would have seen it and done something about it.
Suddenly power is cut (during Negative Thinking no less) to all of our surprise –

Alot had been said about this, online and in the press and in several interviews I’ve given about the event, about what really went down, and let me set the record straight. I didn’t learn (though I had a sneaking suspicion) till weeks later, that Justin, the Blind Pets bass player was behind the ring where the power source was and he cut the power at Josh’s direction. There you have it – plain and simple.
The Blind Pets did not like the Death Set – resented sharing their equipment with them/the Death Set being the bigger draw/ and a cultural clash of North vs South attitudes.
The ring was not being torn up nor was their equipment in danger or being abused – it was simply ego/attitude/pride.

I jumped in immediately to try to restore order, but by that time the band was just exhausted (this was their third show of the day and their 10th in three days) and this was the last one before they got to go home, so they weren’t really in the mood to fight over it and said fuck it. I do not blame them.

The Death Set and Robyn were nothing but courteous to me and thanked us for having them and we all agreed to laugh about it over a drink next week in NYC. I got a car service to take them straight to the airport, and thanked them for stepping literally in the ring with us.

Sadly this created a vibe that the whole event was over, so I scrambled to get on the mic and remind people that we still had three more bands and as many kegs to consume and this seemed to surge the crowd a bit. The House Harkonnen were up next.

This is a band that I greatly admire, who I feel is ready for national stardom if they want it and are about as good as it gets. Their were alot of people there to see them and I myself was excited and have been championing this band for weeks. Tonight there was a certain swagger that I felt was completely circumstantial of the events of the evening. Like their was something like, “this whole thing is fucked, so we are gonna go down swinging and tear this fucking place apart” . Like the agenda had changed from to entertain to downright maim.
This was evident in the size and volume of power they brought with them – that they used with wild abandon. They weren’t gonna mess with the boxing ring shenanigans and started setting up enough amps to rock a stadium. This picture with the sound guy says it all –

They hadn’t gotten two songs in where they were so loud people were fleeing outside, and with the people gathering outside and the traffic of the door it attracted the attention of some inspectors in the area that jumped on us like white on rice. They talk to Mr. Palmer first, who was totally inebriated and then they came found me. I showed them the permits that I had secured which they went over with a fine tooth comb, and finally gave up and left. Somebody (Randy?) said something to them they didn’t like as they were leaving. I had a feeling that this wasn’t gonna be the last of them and I was right.

The band keeps rocking but their are more people outside than in, all with open containers and the band is so loud the walls are breathing, and about 10 mins after the inspectors left, here come the police. Several people immediately bail and the police run me through the whole procedure again, while telling the band to stop playing. I show them the same permits, but they don’t seem to care. They seem to especially have a problem with Mr. Palmer, who was cool with them, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the evening.Threats of issuing expensive tickets are made and that was enough to permanently end the evening.

I felt the most for Wildstreet, who traveled the furthest, and who are my com-padres back in NYC. Who had come all this way, just to play this show. Thankfully they were able to get some pickup dates and get introduced to the festival, so it wasn’t a total loss, but this was supposed to be the crown jewel and their were alot of people their interested in them.

One of my favorite lines of the evening came from Matt (who has Motley Crue lyrics tattooed on his body) when the Wildstreet guys were coming in, he looks at me and says “Dude who the fuck are these guys? they look like something I’m gonna enjoy”.
Too bad he didn’t get that chance.

I woke up the next day and we are all over the press – the freaking Village Voice listed us in their Top 10 events of the festival just under Kanye and Jay-Z (hey we’ll take it).

Thanks again everybody, we will be back next year with something even more irresistible to the police.

SXSW 2011 w/ Jack White, QOTSA & more

March 16th (Wed) – The official start of the music

So after a long morning of meetings and filling out endless forms, by noon I was already sick of the biz aspect, and decided to walk down Congress and get something to eat. I hadn’t walked 100 ft, when I turn the corner to see a sizable crowd forming around this yellow truck, that if I hadn’t looked twice, I would have mistaken for a school bus. What got my attention besides the crowd was a logo that I’m very familiar with, (and have flirted with the idea of it being my next tattoo) the Third Man Records logo – As a subscriber to its Vault Series, and dedicated fan of everything Jack White blesses, you could say it had my undivided attention.
As I got closer, before the crowd really started to build, I recognize two people right by the door of the bus, Alison Mosshart (the Kills/Dead Weather) –

Something is about to go down, you could feel that everyone was waiting on who was coming off this fucking bus next, and I had heard about a rolling record store, so this must be what I had been hearing about. Then the bus door flies open, and the Captain himself, Jack White steps off, sets up a microphone, and immediately goes into Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground –

Right there, out of nowhere, in a freaking parking lot at noon on a Wed, one of the most memorable, musical moments of my life just went down. If you know anything about Jack White and his style, then you have heard about during the White Stripes days, where they would do impromptu shows on city buses etc. and here it was happening to me, so completely unexpectedly.
He did one more song, Buddy Holly‘s Not Fade Away – before making a short announcement about the record store and introducing the next singer. Had I been hungry 5 mins later, I would have someone telling me this story instead getting to experience it firsthand.
Not a bad way, to start the first official day of music.

I get there early before the insanity, and I go around back and the first person I see is Hutch, Queens’ long-time soundman. The jokes start immediately and he walks me in so I don’t have to deal with the bullshit around front. I let him get back to work, and when I walk into the backstage bar area, that is doubling as a interview/photo op for Rolling Stone (they were the hosts of the party)- I approach the bar, and suddenly I’m surrounded by one of the most surreal scenes I can ever remember. I take my beer and sit down at the only seat available, and its at round table that is being occupied by, Duff Mckagan, J Mascis (who had just performed) Dale Earnhardt Jr., a few members of the Strokes and someone’s grandmother. I heard Jack White was hanging around too, but I didn’t see him till near the end of the show, standing behind the soundboard.

Shortly after midnight, the show starts and you could feel the anticipation in the air. I heard that the line outside was stretched for six blocks.

First U.S. gig in three years What better way to remind people who you are, than playing your debut LP in it’s entirety, during the week of it’s re-release?
Of the current QOTSA line-up, Josh Homme is the only one who played on the debut. Drummer Joey Castillo has now been in QOTSA since 2002, and is a totally solid drummer in his own right, but former Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez’s style really gave that first record its unique shape, so I was interested in seeing how this would be duplicated.
Josh looks as if he has bounced back from his recent health scare, guzzling Ketel One onstage and smoking cigs during and in between songs. He was his usual sarcastic and randy self with the crowd, at one point remarking that the band had “the only Mexican drummer in town.” He also swatted down the stringent “no photos” rule at the door,
halfway through the show

Setlist –

the Self-Titled LP

Regular John
Avon
If Only
Walkin’ on the Sidewalks
You Would Know
How to Handle a Rope
Mexicola
Hispanic Impressions
The Bronze
Give the Mule What He Wants
I Was a Teenage Hand Model
You Can’t Quit Me Baby

ENCORE –

Turnin’ On The Screw
Misfit Love
Make It Wit Chu
Little Sister
Tangled Up In Plaid
Go With The Flow

March 17th

We finally find the Ginger Man, only to be told that we had missed Mike Watt by a couple of hours and now we had like two hours to kill before their was something worthy of us walking all the way back to 6th St for. So we just chilled at the place and relaxed for a little over an hour before heading back down.
We get to this shithole, appropriately named the Dirty Dog, for what promised to be a double-bill of crushing metal with Saint Vitus and Helmet. I figured we would catch the last half of Saint Vitus and be all primed for Helmet, one of my all-time favorite bands.
When we got there, they had switched set-times with Saint Vitus and were already 40 mins into their hour long time slot. While I was reading Field and Stream in a mock-speakeasy, they were well into doing all of Aftertaste.

Damn the luck, first Watt, now this? My only reprieve is that the sound was so incredibly shitty that if this is what it sounded like the whole time, I may have done us a favor.

SXSW 2011: Foo Fighters premier Back & Forth w/ Secret Show

March 15th (Tues)

After a full day of meetings, filling out forms, permits etc – I took a break to have lunch right off Congress Ave. I check to see what’s going on – and I had heard the rumblings of this since I got here so it didn’t come as a complete surprise, but the Foo Fighters were in town to attend the premier of a new documentary on them called The Foo Fighters: Back and Forth – (keep in mind this is still the film period as music doesn’t officially start till tomorrow) – ok, so with all of the Foos in town, to promote a movie and a new record called Wasting Light, you know these dudes are gonna do a show, the only thing is finding out when/where/how to get in – a band that big I would think Stubb’s would be the logical choice – so I checked to see if their was any of that SXSW-TBA-“secret guest” action going on at Stubb’s that night, and sure enough there was,so I called by buddy that works there and he confirmed it.
When this sorta thing happens, the entire festival goes into Lord of the Flies mode, as even non- Foo Fighters fans couldn’t bare, not getting into something so exclusive – so everyone freaks out.
But I stayed calm – and first the premier –
So I hear that the premier of the movie is happening in like 15 mins about 3 blocks away – their is no way I’m gonna get in – I don’t even have a music badge, let alone a film one – and the line must be around the corner by now right?
But since I was so close I had to go have a look – and as I turned the corner, out front of the Paramount Theater, I saw the limo with the FF logo on the side (for the first single, White Limo, the video features a funny car chase with limo driver being Lemmy respectively) –

And yes, the line was almost to the goddamn freeway, but remember what I said about staying calm? – I don’t know what came over me – but I just walked up to the front, in the opposite direction of the line, walked into the front door, past security, past the ticket takers and up the stairs I went – nobody asked me shit, I had no credentials of any kind around my neck, nothing – either I just looked like I belonged, or they were too busy to notice, but I got my ass out there and quickly found a seat.

The Foos did a quick introduction with the director before the show started and then the film began. I loved it, I thought it was excellent and very well made. It picks up right after the death of Kurt Cobain, and covers literally everything, no matter how insignificant from that fateful day in 1994, till the present day if it involved the life of Dave Grohl – (except oddly, for a film that clearly prides itself on completest, for some reason, the Them Crooked Vultures project featuring Josh Homme and John Paul Jones was omitted entirely, weird) – even if you are not a fan of the Foos/Nirvana or whatever, and I admittedly really haven’t kept up that much since the first record came out, way back when, but this movie is done so well, its easy to enjoy. Not to mention the perfect thing to get you pumped up a little bit, knowing your gonna see them in a few hours in a venue that is about a fifth of the size that they could sell out.

So, after the movie, and since I already ate, I thought it would be best to just get over to Stubb’s and get my ass in there.
When I got there, word had spread pretty quickly that the “special guest” was the Foo Fighters and a significant line had already formed but no one was allowed in yet.
Thankfully Stubb’s staff recognize me & quickly escort me in, always grateful for their hospitality.
I couldn’t resist eating again at Stubb’s, so I got a to-go order, ate it outside and shortly after the show started. I didn’t realize that the blue wrist band they gave me would actually allow me to watch side-stage, until I saw some people up there with them on, so I quickly jumped up there as the show was starting.

It was cool seeing them in such a smaller venue than the last few times I’ve seen them, but keep in mind, they were here to play you the entire new record – that’s 11 songs in a row, that you have never heard, that you are about to hear for the first time in a packed live setting. So that can be taxing, but people do it with the hopes that after the agenda has been reached, all bets will be off and they can launch into whatever song they are hoping to hear.
And lucky for them, Grohl, is one of the coolest people there is, and he knows this, so after playing the entire new record – they came back out and did a second greatest hits sets of 10 more songs –

Setlist –

Wasting Light –

Bridge Burning
Rope
Dear Rosemary
White Limo
Arlandria
These Days
Back & Forth
A Matter of Time
Miss The Misery
I Should Have Known
Walk

Encore:

All My Life
Times Like These
My Hero
Learn to Fly
The Pretender
Stacked Actors
Monkey Wrench
Everlong
Best of You
This is a Call