Saturday afternoon’s party by TV foodie Rachael Ray exemplified how much SXSW has become a festival for hanger-ons and non-musical marketeers. But it also proved that’s not entirely a bad thing.
Ray’s bash on the rooftop patio and groundfloor of Sixth Street club Maggie Maes featured two of the best guts-n-grime rock bands of all time, the Hold Steady and the New York Dolls. It also had a bunch of excellent lesser-known bands on two stages, including Airborne Toxic Event and Ra Ra Riot. And to top it off, Ray’s minions were predictably serving up the best free grub of the fest. All my complaints about the corporatization and wussification of SXSW dissolved in my mouth along with those beer-marinated mini-burgers.

Playing their last of four SXSW gigs, the Hold Steady rock ‘n’ roll band played it loose and fast, tearing through “Constructive Summer,” “Sequestered,” “Massive Nights,” and 10 more. Craig Finn dedicated “Hoodrat Friend” to “all the people from Minneapolis-St. Paul who are here.” Woo-hoo, we love our hood rats.

The Dolls were killer again, too. Seeing those guys up close in daylight was something of a scary proposition, but Johansen seemed extra animated. He must’ve had some of those mini beer burgers.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 12:50 am and is filed under Main, SXSW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.