Well after they cut Department of Eagles (with Victoria Legrand from Beach House – foreshadowing, people) off promptly at 6 right when they were in the middle of a jam out we poured out onto 6th street ready to try and tackle a night showcase. There were actually a ton of good ones this night, any of which I would have been more than happy with, but there was certainly one I had my eye on from several months back, that being the Cedar Street Courtyard showcase which had a killer lineup. So in the interest of trying to get into that we headed down 4th street after grabbing some Taco Shack to seek out our destiny….

Upon arrival I was a little concerned because it was WAY more crowded early than the Sub Pop party we tried to go to the night before (that we gave up on and I’m sure wouldn’t have gotten into) so I initially thought “we’re fucked” and already began psyching myself up for trying the Scottish showcase at La Zona Rosa. But after Dinosaur Jr. rekindled my love for all things solo I decided it would be worth taking a shot and sticking in this line for him again, not to mention the other bands on the bill.

At first there was just a mob at the entrance but they eventually split it into the badge/wristband crowd and us bottom dwellers. We were probably 25-30th in line with the bottom dwellers so I was once again aprehensive about our chances, but we remained in the line. Just as with Sub Pop the venue didn’t let anyone in until after the first band was supposed to go on, and was still slowly letting people in as Pete & the Pirates were playing.

Pete & the Pirates actually sounded really good from around the corner where we were standing, but I felt bad for the guys. How much does it suck to be playing a showcase to an empty venue just because they didn’t open it up soon enough. Honestly, if I was Pete & the Pirates I’d be pissed about this. Anyway, from what we could hear they sounded tight, I would love to properly see them sometime.

So as they played they kind of slowly trickled people out of our line and we moved up a little ways but were still in line as Beach House was taking the stage. Fortunately soon after Beach House started we made it to the front of the line and were allowed to pay our money and get in the venue (though the lady with the badge scanner tried to shut Daigle down and kick him to the back of the line; other side note, the line was long as SHIT by this point).

Beach House – Cedar Street Courtyard – 3/20/09

When we finally got in Beach House was kicking it off and they started with a song from ‘Devotion’ I believe, but largely played new material which sounded totally awesome. Their sound has always been extremely chill, and I know they have played live shows before sometimes entirely without a drummer, but the drummer was here for the whole set and the new songs really utilize him a lot more. From what I heard of the new material it sounds like they have really taken their chill, subtle songs and added a bit more edge and tempo to them which just really makes them come to life a lot more (see: Bon Iver live show vs. album). They were incredibly good and I can’t wait to hear more of the new stuff and hopefully see them again live sometime soon (still bitter I passed on their Schuba’s show last year).

Bedouin Soundclash – Cedar Street Courtyard – 3/20/09

These guys were alright, kind of a bluesy/soul band outfit that had some upbeat very danceable songs that actually did pretty well considering I bet zero people in that place were there specifically to see them. People were kind of moving and dancing a little bit so it went over pretty well actually and I thought they were pretty solid. Not mindblowing and not the craziness of King Khan, but still solid.

Peter, Bjorn & John – Cedar Street Courtyard – 3/20/09

I had seen Peter, Bjorn & John once before back at the Vic in Chicago in 2007 on their Writer’s Block tour and I thought they were incredible. The thing that stood out to me most during that show was how they took what seemed like fairly basic, simple songs from the album and really rocked them out in a live setting, making them much more fun and interesting in the process. Well for their new album “Living Thing” they have really gone in an entirely different direction in terms of production and songwriting, with a lot more electronic elements and staccato/dancey kinds of numbers thrown in there quite a bit. The new album probably bears more in common with the Lykke Li album (produced by Bjorn) than the last PBJ album.

Anyway, given this shift in styles the live show was necessarily different as well, considering that every song they played during their short showcase set was from the new album. The songs actually sound fairly good live and they do a good job of fleshing out the sound and making the songs come to life, but the one aspect from their show last time that is kind of gone is the crazy rock outs, since the new songs don’t really lend to that. The new stuff is much more layered, percussive and slow-building. I kind of miss the old sound/show, but even still, they still put on a solid live show.

Grizzly Bear – Cedar Street Courtyard – 3/20/09

Grizzly Bear still seems like an odd opener for Dinosaur Jr. to me and the contrast was kind of throwing me off a bit during their set, but they were actually really really good. They were pretty much as I expected them to be live after my experience with Department of Eagles earlier in the day, kind of more groove, more band-sounding but also very similar. The songs they tore through off of “Yellow House” sounded really solid, and all of the new tunes sounded great as well. I am looking forward to seeing them in June at Granada though where they can put together a full set of songs because it felt like they had more in the tank just didn’t have time to develop it out. Also if I was more familiar with the new songs it probably would have helped a little too.

And there was yet another super special guest with Victoria Legrand from Beach House coming down to the stage to do a song that is supposedly going to be on the new record (with her doing vocals) called “Two Weeks”. The song was really good and it was pretty awesome to see them all do it together, yet another of the awesome things about SXSW. Grizzly Bear was great and can’t wait to see them again soon.

Dinosaur Jr. – Cedar Street Courtyard – 3/20/09

I know, two nights of Dinosaur Jr. in a row, it is a wonder my head didn’t explode halfway through his set this night. It goes without saying that I love Dinosaur Jr. and I really just can’t get enough of the ear-pummeling solos that he drops left and right. I think basically every song he played during this set he had played the previous night, except for maybe “In A Jar” (I am pretty sure it wasn’t played on Thursday), which he opened with during this set. That initially made me think maybe I would get a totally reworked setlist but I think that might have been the only one. There were actually more subtractions than additions as unfortunately the Cedar St. crowd missed out on “Out There” (possibly the greatest Dinosaur song ever, so so good) and “Kracked”, as I mentioned in my previous post. I think there might have been one other but I wasn’t taking notes on the setlist.

The crowd on Friday night was quite a bit different than the previous night as well. The crowd was much more well-behaved, I don’t think I saw any moshing or crowd surfing, but despite that they were still way into the show, and you could even see Peter Moren of PBJ bobbing his head and rocking out to Dinosaur, as well as all the other musicians up the stairs at Cedar St. That was probably one of the coolest things about this show, as you rarely get to see very popular musicians of today getting to watch someone as a fan who has to be pretty universally regarded as an indie rock pioneer/veteran, someone they all undoubtedly knew about when they were growing up.

Speaking of which, once again Kevin Drew came out to make his extra special appearance on guest vocals on “The Wagon”, a song which once again totally kicked all kinds of ass. Everyone went pretty crazy for that performance, but once again the performance that got the biggest rise out of the crowd was “Feel The Pain”.

This was once again an awesome setting to see Dinosaur in, out on a patio with great weather and just ear-splitting solos washing over the huddled hipsters. Once again, truly awesome, and seeing J two nights in a row pretty much makes this SXSW completely and totally ridiculous and awesome.

Check out my other writeups on our time at SXSW 2009:
Thursday Day Parties – March 19, 2009
Thursday Night Showcases – March 19, 2009
Friday Day Parties – March 20, 2009

Check out all of our photos from the Cedar Street Blackberry Showcase here!

Dinosaur Jr. – No Bones – From In Session
Grizzly Bear – Knife – From Yellow House
Peter, Bjorn & John – Nothing to Worry About – From Living Thing
Beach House – Wedding Bell – From Devotion
Pete & The Pirates – Jennifer – From Jennifer