BIGGEST SURPRISE I DIDN’T SEE: Kanye West. And I’m not ashamed to have missed him. The Chicago rapper — who blew me away at Target Center last year and is one of my all-time favorites — went on unannounced (as expected) at the Levi’s/Fader Fort with protoges on his label, Consequence and Kid Cudi. After spending so much time on Metallica on Friday, I felt guilty about the idea of spending the night waiting around on a megastar with so many great new bands to see. West also showed up at Perez Hilton’s party later in the wee hours, in the same abandoned grocery store as Playboy’s party with Jane’s Addiction. I didn’t head to that one because I’ve soured on Perez (see Fri afternoon post). Oh, and I my knees were shakey in exhaustion and my nifty sneakers felt like wood clogs. 

MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE: Solange Knowles. Even after Perez Hilton was such a dink to me, I admire him for being the Champion No. 1 for Beyonce’s kid sister. She played early at his party Saturday night, but I caught her later at Buffalo Billiards. I knew from her music she had more of a vintage soul thing going on than her sister’s glitzier R& B, but it was hit home with an Ike-era Tina Turner-like performance. Most impressive of all was her sheer energy and charisma, something sis could pick up on.

LEAST PLEASANT SURPRISE; Saturday night on Sixth Street in Austin has turned into one gross affair, laden with drunk wannabe frat boys (it used to just be the real frat boys), wannabe gang-bangers, mean gutter punks (they used to be nice) and young girls who should really cover up their bodies more and their faces less.

MOST LUKEWARM THING I’VE WRITTEN THIS WEEK: The first six songs of P.J. Harvey’s set with her old heyday collaborator John Parish at Stubb’s were just OK. Harvey was the picture of cool in a stylish white cocktail dress and her sly rock-starry onstage delivery. The tunes from her new record with Parish, however, came off relatively tepid. Their mellow but intense style – with mandolin, banjo and even ukulele — might be mesmerizing in a theater, but not outside a barbecue joint on Saturday night of SXSW. Things started picking up when she kicked up “Taut,” but that’s when I left to see…

BEST BAND I SAW ALL NIGHT: The 757s. And that’s not hometown favoritism talking. The foursome of Twin Cities music vets (Jimmy Peterson, Paul Pirner, Seth Zimmerman, Steve Sutherland) had twice the enthusiasm and volume of many bands half their ages, and their cover of Grant Hart’s Huskers classic “Diane” amounted to three of the hardest-rocking minutes of the fest. They have a new album coming soon on Eclectone that could seal the deal for them.

WORST BAND: British electro-pop/punk trio We Have Band. It was their last of 10 SXSW gigs (!), but energy wasn’t the problem. Their synth-driven, drum-machine-backed, Depeche Mode-meets-LCD Soundsystem style came off as pretty derivative and one-note after a few songs.

FAVORITE GAME TO PLAY DURING SXSW: Spot the bearded, hippie-ish indie rocker and guess which band he’s in or wants to be in (i.e., Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses).

WORST QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Please hold steady for the Hold Steady.” Said by a hoarse and seemingly tipsy Rachael Ray as she introduced the band at her party.

THE PERFECT FINALE: I ended with the first band who blew me away at the fest way back on Wednesday afternoon, when I was still white instead of bright-red and black-n-blue: Austin’s Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, whose Stax-ish horns, bouncy organ and howling vocals would finish off any party well, much less this party. I also wanted to confirm these guys are genuinely special. Confirmed. Thank you, SXSW.

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.

BEST BAND THAT COULD STAND IN FOR THE WIGGLES: Devo. Never a cool-looking band in the first place (without the hats, that is), the 50-something members of the pioneering Ohio art-rock band really look like nerds these days. They added to the Wiggles comparisons during the first few of songs in their Austin Music Hall performance late Friday night by wearing matching men-at-work vests and playing several overly quirky, excited new tunes — their first new stuff in 19 years! The members soon got lost in the video collages playing on a giant screen behind them (some of it produced by Minneapolitan videomaker Chuck Statler, the unsung genius behind a lot of their early work). The new stuff got better, too, especially a jiggly rocker that I’m guessing is called “Fresh,” which played with images of fruit and a girl’s swaying bikini bottom. Seven songs in, the band brought out the old hats for “Girl U Want,” which was soon followed by a string of the classics, all played with complete verve, including “Whip It,” “Satisfaction” and “Uncontrollable Urge,” the latter of which the guys played standing in a tight circle bouncing in unison. In that case, they did actually look a little like rock stars.

BEST NEW BAND: White Lies, who headlined the Filter magazine party at Cedar Street Courtyard. Singer Harry McVeigh is a bit too Peter Murphy-like for my tastes in sound, but unlike Murphy he showed a lot of spark and energy, which the band matched with its powerful and dramatic but not mopey material. The Filter party also featured Razorlight, whose last two songs I caught and impressed me as the rare dance-rock I’d like to hear again.

BEST PERSISTENT RUMOR: That Kanye West is going to show up Saturday for the finale at the Levi’s Fader Fort.

BEST SHOWING BY A MINNESOTA BAND: Solid Gold put down their reputation of thinking their too cool for Minneapolis by going from a set at the elaborate Levi’s Fader Fort — probably the trendiest party spot in town again despite its relocation — to the meager and mostly all-MN Cash Moneyapolis bash in a parking lot behind an East Austin dive bar, where “Get Over It” and “Calm Down” went off as perfect pain-relievers for the SXSW mayhem/stress. The band members said they’re meeting with some label reps and other industry folk in town this week but remain leary of signing a deal. Something else they’re fighting off: Frontman Zachary Coulter came down with a head-cold as soon as they left Minneapolis for the warmer climate (figures!), and he planned to go to bed early. No kidding.

BEST SIGN OF UNDYING BRITISH ROCKSTARDOM: Echo & the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch’s wool coat, which he wore in the near-90-degree heat for Spin magazine’s outdoor party at Stubb’s.

BEST QUOTE OF THE DAY: “These are three of the luckiest virgins on the planet.” Jason Dick, of Austin rock station 101X, introducing the three “Guitar Hero” contest winners who got to perform before Metallica at Stubb’s.

FAVORITE ANTI-SXSW T-SHIRT: “Die Hipster Scum” (replaces my previous favorite: “Welcome to Austin. Now go home.”

They showed. They rocked. No surprise in either case. “The best-kept secret in rock ‘n’ roll,” James joked at the start of the officially unconfirmed 80-minute set in the backyard amphitheater of Stubb’s. “We thought we’d join the party.” The new stuff came off almost as adrenalinized as the old stuff. The one downside was the crowd — about half SXSW attendees and half Metallicats that somehow got in — didn’t go as crazy and as a typical audience, which really is half the fun of their shows. When they kicked off “Master of Puppets,” though, everyone turned a 14-year-old metalhead no matter their hipster credentials. Here’s the setlist:

Creeping Death / For Whom the Bell Tolls / Harvester of Sorrow / Broken, Beaten & Scarred / Cyanide / Sad But True / Sanitarium / Master of Puppets / Blackened

ENCORE 1: Breadfan / Whiplash      ENCORE 2: Seek & Destroy

Oh yeah, and forgot to mention: Word is the band is headed to the Twin Cities this fall, probably October at the Target Center.

The scene: A private ballroom in the Four Seaons hotel, ground zero for the rich and famous in Austin for SXSW. The scenario: A cheesy group photo in front of a Guitar Hero logo-laden backdrop with all four members, who are snuck in through the kitchen, followed by interviews in private rooms with individual members. The letdown: I got the “new guy,” bassist Rob Trujillo.

Trujillo proved to be a good and mostly frank talker, though. Asked if there was any of the band’s well-documented personal friction during the making of “Death Magnetic,” he said, “A little here and there, but it revolved more around the passion of the music.” About the album’s much-lambested radio-oriented sonic mix (”too loud”), he said, “People listening on a stereo can adjust it to how they want. People listening on a computer, yeah, they might have problems.”

One good thing about Rob is he’s the one member who’s performed at SXSW before (with Jerry Cantrell and another time “with a friend”). He said with a laugh, “In some ways, I wish I could go see some of the new bands here instead of doing our thing.” He realized his current band’s appeance this year — by far the biggest act ever to play SXSW in sales numbers — might distract from the other bands’ exposure. But, he added, “Us being here might create more excitement for” the festival.

The fact that Metallica kept 30-some journalists waiting around for a precious hour did not support his statement. No doubt, thousands will also wait in line an hour or two trying to see them perform tonight at Stubb’s. But I’ll still be one of them.

Post-script: After leaving Rob, I rode the elevator with a shades-wearing, mumbly Perez Hilton, who proved to be quite a drip and seems to be turning into one of the people he brilliantly lampoons. After several attmepts to strike up a conversation, he curtly informed me he had just gotten up from a nap. He wouldn’t even tell me who’s playing his party tomorrow night. “It’s all online now,” he harumphed. I’d already heard PJ Harvey was the headliner, but who cares now?

Click here to check out Tony Nelson’s SXSW photo gallery from Day Two. 

BEST ACT OVERALL: Heartless Bastards (see previous entry) or the Delta Spirit. The latter is a San Diego quartet with a heavy rock sound but soulful overtones. Singer Matthew Vasquez sang with Waterboy Mike Scott’s scratchy urgency, and the band kept up a driving, persistent pace that was downright visceral.

CRAZIEST SET: Surprisingly, it wasn’t King Khan & the Shrines (see next entry), it was Atlanta neo-soul/funk singer Janelle Monae, who sang at the Austin Music Hall a few slots before her pal Big Boi and left everyone there wondering what they had just seen. With a big pointy haircut and a hyper showmanship, she looked and sounded like an unlikely cross between Grace Jones, Prince and Gwen Stefani (the latter of whom, I found out later, she’ll open for on the upcoming No Doubt tour). Weirdest of all, her songs were all like 12-minutes long, including a Judy Garland-like torch ballad called “Smile” that broke up her band’s P-Funk-like funk.

BEST SET THAT COULD’VE BEEN MUCH BETTER: King Khan & the Shrines. The Montreal-reared, Berlin-based freakshow of a frontman Khan came out in a cape and hat with a cheerleader/go-go girl by his side and was all set to blow, but the club (El Sol y La Luna, a restaurant on non-SXSW week) had a fizzling sound system. The crowd kept yelling, “Turn it up.” Even muted, though, Khan’s horn-blasting, organ-laden, guitar-grinding ’60s garage-rock/soul band clearly had a great thing going on, with totally unhinged energy and songs that would’ve been hits in 1965.

BEST NEW SONG BY A MINNESOTAN: “Hell and Back” by Haley Bonar, which she played during a solo/acoustic set Thursday afternoon at the convention center’s day stage while Quincy Jones was giving his keynote speech a few doors down. It was Bonar’s first time at SXSW, and she said, “I think I’ve finally come up to speed with the madness.” She said she was thrilled about her set the previous night inside Sixth Street’s posh Driskill Hotel (right before Mark Olson and Gary Louris), and she had two more shows to go through Friday.

BEST OLD SONG BY A MINNESOTAN: “Take Me Home” by Brother Ali, with which he raised the (tent) roof late Thursday near the end of the Rhymesayers showcase outside the Habana Bar, which also included a fine coming-out of sorts by Toki Wright plus I Self Devine, Eyedea & Abilities, P.O.S. and some of the label’s non-Twin Citian crew. 

DISAPPOINTING SET: Genuinely not a single one on Thursday night, out of about 10. Really pretty amazing.