Lyle Lovett Set List from August 23rd in Pittsburgh, PA USA

Set list from Lyle Lovett August 23rd:

Post-Gazette had a very positive review and gave a lot of help for this set list

Opened with an instrumental just like an old soul review. Mr. Lovett does indeed support a very large band. The 14 members consist of:

· Cello – John Hagen

· Guitar – Ray Herndon ( stood at left side of stage )

· Acoustic Guitar/Mandolin – Keith Sewell

· Fiddle – Luke Bulla

· Guitar – Mitch Watkins ( seated at right side of stage )

· Bass – Leland Sklar

· Drums – Russ Kunkel LA session legend, is originally from Pittsburgh

· Percussionist – James Gillmer

· Piano – Jim Cox

· Steel Guitar – Buck Reid

· 3 Male Singers: Willie Green, Jr. , Sir Harry Bowens, Sweet Pea Atkinson

· 1 Female Singer: Francine Reed

1. The Blues Walk from Lyle Lovett and his Large Band ( 1989 )

2. Stand By Your Man from from Lyle Lovett and his Large Band ( 1989 )

3. Penguins from I Love Everybody ( 1994 )

4. Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel from Natural Forces ( 2010 )

5. Here I Am from from Lyle Lovett and his Large Band ( 1989 )

6. Cute as a Bug from My Baby Don’t Tolerate ( 2003 )

7. I Will Rise Up/No More Cane from It Ain’t Big Its Large ( 2007 )

· Lovett tells story about singing national anthem at 1992 world series in Toronto. Bands meets Ted Turner. He asks Willie Green, Jr what he was talking about with him. Green answers, “I thanked him for his cable network”. Here is Lyle singing anthem in 2010 with the same cello player.

8. My Baby Don’t Tolerate from My Baby Don’t Tolerate ( 2003 )

9. She’s Already Made Up Her Mind from Joshua Loves Ruth ( 1992 )

10. Friend of the Devil from Dedicated ( 1991 ) a tribute record to Grateful Dead, which is where Lyle met Sklar/Kunkel, did the vocals with Billy Payne. Says if you listen to the record do keep in mind that Payne was eating a sandwich, but came right in on queue.

11. Fiona from The Road to Ensenada ( 1996 ) – note Julia Roberts middle name is Fiona..

12. Lights of LA County from Pontiac ( 1987 )

13. Nobody Knows Me from Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (1989)

14. Keep it in your pantry from Natural Forces ( 2010 ) band is reduced to Bluegrass core, guitar, fiddle banjo

15. I’ll Come Knockin’ from Step Inside this House ( 1998 ), which reminds Mr. Lovett Of Walter Hyatt and the Uncle Walt’s Band, an Austin Legendary band…

16. Up in Indiana from It’s Not Big It’s Large ( 2007 ) – great segue during song from bluegrass combo to full band, then solos from everybody. Awesome guitar solos.

17. The Front Porch Song written with Robert Earl Keen, not on any Lovett release

18. If I Had a Boat from Pontiac ( 1987 )

19. Nobody Knows Me from Lyle Lovett and his Large Band ( 1989 )

20. North Dakota from Joshua Loves Ruth ( 1992 )

21. What Do You Do from Lyle Lovett and the Large Band ( 1989 )

22. Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues from Live in Texas ( 1999 )

23. She’s Hot to Go from Pontiac ( 1987 )

24. That’s Right ( You’re Not from Texas ) ( 1996 )

25. Church from Joshua Loves Ruth ( 1992 )

26. It’s Rock and Roll from Natural Forces ( 2009 )

27. You Can’t Resist It from Lyle Lovett ( 1986 )

The Head and The Heart, Bush Hall, London, 18 July 2011

Setlist: Cats and Dogs / Coeur d'Alene / Ghosts / Honey Come Home / Josh McBride / Heaven Go Easy on Me / Lost in My Mind / Winter Song / Sounds Like Hallejah / New Song / Rivers and Roads / ? / Down in the Valley
The venue was busy before the band came and the band arrived to great audience excitement. hen they started playing, the atmosphere was euphoric and the band played with joyful abandon.

The crowd were really enthusiastic, seemingly determined to dispel rumours of London audiences being tricky, cold and apathetic. For a band that are still new to the UK, they had people singing along from the very start.

The show included a quality new song and the encore opened with a solo acoustic number. The set maintained a consistently high standard. It certainly never seemed like a band with one album and an audience waiting for the 'hit' or the couple of songs they new. Everything was wolfed down with gusto, including the new songs.

All through the set there was a fair bit of audience participation on the choruses, with people still singing along on the Tube ride home. It was a really enjoyable, and a times moving, show. Really looking forward to seeing them in the UK again, and will hopefully be able to persuade some more people along for the ride next time.

Paul Thomas Saunders, Bush Hall, London, 18 July 2011

Paul played with another guitarist, a keyboard player and a drummer. Paul has a lovely voice which melded well with the female keyboard player's singing.


The band were pretty accomplished and made a decent amount of noise for the four of them (including great crunching guitar work on one of the songs). The general style, and the guitar playing in particular, brought to mind I Am Kloot. There were even moments with nods towards stadium rock.

The songs were all pretty long and there were only a handful in the half-hour set, but none of them dragged or seemed to have been stretched out beyond their natural limits. A really good opener - look forward to seeing him again.

The Head and the Heart, In-store show at Rough Trade West, London, 18 July 2011.

Setlist
Sounds Like Hallelujah / Honey Come Home / Winter Song / Lost in My Mind / Down in the Valley / Rivers and Roads


An excellent set.

The harmonies seemed slightly changed on a couple of the songs, presumably to suit the stripped-down arrangments.

Winter Song, for instance, was strummed, rather than plucked, which worked well, though a courier did arrive in the middle to collect a package from the shop staff. That didn't put the band off, though they did seem a bit perplexed - wondering if he'd come to sell candy (apparently a US store has similar livery).

Grupo Fantasmo, Habana Bar Backyard, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

Grupo Fantasmo played latin rhythms and created a great, happy atmosphere. A great end to SXSW.

Charlie Mars, 18th Floor at Hilton Garden Inn, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

Charlie sang really softly, gently beating his guitar and reminded us of Jack Johnson, or even a bit Flight of the Conchords. He was really funny chatting between songs and closed with 'Dark Side of the Moon' which got everyone sining along and was quite lovely.

Blue King Brown, Habana Bar Backyard, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

Blue King Brown brought to mind Amparanoia, with lots of funky drums and guitars and soulful female singer and backing singers. The atmosphere felt very reminiscent of the Jazz World stage at Glastonbury.

The Sway Machinery, Habana Bar Backyard, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

World-tinged old-school R'n'B from the Yeah Yeah Yeah drummer's side project and a trumpeter looked like the movie portrayal of Mesrine.

Bobby Rush, 18th Floor at Hilton Garden Inn, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

Bobby Rush played with just him, a guitar and some bluesy harmonica. As well as old School R'n'B with Bo Diddley-ish guitar, we got lots of old stories.

Amanda Shires, Creekside at Hilton Garden Inn, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

Amanda sang in a husky voice accompanied by her violin, as well as pedal steel and guitar.  The guitarist gave a good rhythm which drove the tunes on and the band made a good noise for the three of them.

At one point, as she tuned her violin, the guitarist told a story about how Amanda, being from Texas, thinks Texas is the best place in the world. He said about how they were driving into Texas and Amanda was saying how everyone says please and thank you and is polite. Then, as they pulled away from a gas station soon after coming into Texas, they drove past two guys beating each other up.

Amanda played the last few songs were just her and the ukele. The songs seemed to have more depth and impact as the set went on, the effect of their seeming simplicity seemed to build and was quite affecting at the end when she played a song that sounded very autobiographical and close to her heart.

Jeremy Messersmith, The Ale House, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

With the fervour of the newly converted, we had spent the week telling everyone to come and see this set. we managed to convince one friend to accompany us and luckily she enjoyed it as much as us. As new fans it was great to see that we weren't the only ones either.

The set thoroughly lived up to expectations. We hadn't been familiar with Jeremy's work before SXSW, besides the YouTube hit Tatooine Song. A lovely song, it doesn't quite provide the listener with the full breadth of his beautiful songs.

For a short set, there was a mix of tempos and styles, from some pretty heartfelt, simple sounding songs reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian at their best, to some subtly baroque numbers, via summery 60s pop.
Credit must also go to the band and strings accompanying the set which were a quality touch.

Hopefully Jeremy will make it over to Europe this summer. It would be perfect if there was budget to bring the full band.

The Naked and Famous, Cedar St Courtyard, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

We already knew'Young Blood' and the buzz surrounding this Kiwi act. Young Blood itself was as enjoyably poppy as we had hoped, as were some other keyboard led more dancey tunes. It was refreshing to see a hyped band that was neither more nu-folk nor Strokes-esque indie rock.

Edwyn Collins, Convention Center, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

Edwyn opened with 'I'm Loving Sleep', which had a fun sax, then played a pretty song, with driving arpeggios, then Make Me Feel Again, It Dawns On Me and a really fun and lively version of Rip It Up. 'What is My Role?' was powerful and emotive and seemed very personal.

His son William joined him for In Your Eyes, which was quite spectacular and really touching - created quite a moment on the Dot Com stage. Then he played Don't Shilly Shally (an old Orange Juice song), with great dual guitar work from the backing band.

He finished with a really nice bluesy, summery version of A Girl Like You, which really built at the end and rocked out. Edwyn's singing was great and the audience gave him a standing ovation after the set.

Shabazz Palaces, The Moondoggies, Papercuts, Dum Dum Girls, J Mascis and The Head and The Heart, Friday Red 7 and Red 7 Patio, Friday 18th March, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Shabazz Palaces, played Old school rap backed by world-music beats and ghostly samples, which felt slightly nightmare-ish.

The Moondoggies, despite their terrible name, played enjoyable country-tinged bluesy rock with a bit of a Beta Band sound mixed in. There was a fair bit of fiddling around between songs and the singer seemed a bit breathless, so wonder if they played stronger sets elsewhere at SXSW, though this one was pretty good.

They had a really good warm sound, though, and created a good soundscape to colour the songs. The sound got pretty reavy at points, heading for Rage Against the Machine territory, but it never went over-the-top. They were a really tight band and good musicians and the swirling keyboards made it sound pretty psychedelic at some points. Jim Bob joined them for one song (presumably not the Carter USM singer - there was certainly no mention of his co-conspirator Fruit Bat)

Hunx and his Punx were a 60s-style girl group in the mould of [Leader of the Pack band] heading twoards indie punk pop like Kenickie,  but fronted by a very camp band leader. The band were better than the singer or the songs.

Papercuts played psychadelia-tinged west coast pop. They didn't have any songs that stood out massively,  but there was lots of appreciative nodding from the crowd. They made a welcoming and calming change of poace after Hunx.

Dum Dum Girls were a fun pop-punk band, with more than a hint of the Ramones and Go-Gos.

J Mascis was approached for a handshake and quick chat before the show by a man in the crowd. That would have been fairly normal if he hadn't done so just as J was leaving a toilet cubicle and if he wasn't at the front of the queue, leaving him wondering whether to cut off his conversation to go to the toilet and leaving other people wondering if they could jump in. After  that, J did his own soundcheck as seems to be standard for him at SXSW these days.

J's set featured much more conventional guitar sounds than the earlier one. His guitar was much less distorted and his playing more delicate. It was really quite pretty for the first few songs. There was very little pedal use and a clean guitar sound with just a touch of delay on it, 'tastefully' deployed, some might say. Fantastic, soaring soloing and he won over some new converts as well as enthralling the dedicated hardcore fans at the front.

The Head and The Heart played to a packed crowd who were really up for it and into them. They went all out for their last set of SXSW and gave a really joyful performance which felt like a big hug and was really celebratory and uplifting. The set was quite different from the one we saw at the convention centre. It seemed much more easy and relaxed, like a homecoming show, possibly because it was their last show of SXSW.

Winter Song was, again, really good. The band seemed really proficient and just to be enjoying it and ripping through the songs rather than playing them for the sake of it. Though there is nothing incredibly original about the instrumentation they use, they really make it work well without seeming too hokey or tired.

At the end there was a mini stage invasion. It started with one man, who didn't look like he was part of the band's scene, and people in the crowd looked at each other, not quite sure what to do. But he knew all the words and was soon joined by others and the band seemed to enjoy having him on the stage, so maybe they knew him.

On the way out of the back of Red 7, a mariachi-ish New Orleans funeral band ripped through as at the beginning of Live and Let Die, or Black Parade-era MCR, which was weird by exciting and seemed to fit the moment perfectly.

Jesse Malin and the St Mark's Social, Friday 18th March, Aquarium, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Our second Jesse set of the day was a real rip-roarer. He played at least three songs at the end saying each would be the last. He got a shot from the bar and really won over the non-devotees in the audience. A really fun show.

Felice Brothers, J Mascis, Bobby Long and Caitlin Rose, Radio Day Stage, Convention Centre, Friday 18th March, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Alternative folk rock and lively performers, though the sound mix was a bit clattering. The third song morphed into slightly Elton-John-esque driving piano rock. The songs after that were a bit more brooding and melancholic, until they ended with a foot-tapping hoe-down of a tune.

J Mascis mainly played songs from his new album. As is his wont recently, he played an acoustic with a pickup, linked up to pdeals, giving distortion, delay, loops etc.  He played two straight off from the new album, opening with 'Listen to Me'. He was, for him, pretty chatty. He talked about the tapes the band used to play on the tour bus, with Morph having the Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. He said initially he couldn't stand it, then realised it was OK and eventually began to like it. He then played a cover of Brickell's 'Circle', which was excellent, if much rawer than the original.

Bobby Long wasn't  ground-breaking, but good nonetheless, and the set was enjoyably soothing in the middle of a hectic SXSW day.

Caitlin Rose showed one of hazards of SXSW: 'I just dropped my pick in my beer. And I was so thirsty', which was sweet, and showed she was very personable, even if her chat was hardly extensive. She played alt-ish country, reminiscent of Whiskeytown or AM-era Wilco. She had a lovely voice, backed by sympathetic playing and was really appreciated by the small-ish audience.

Jesse Malin and the St Mark's Social, Friday 18th March, Shots Bar, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Rejecting the round-the-block queue for at the Flamingo, we decided to catch Jesse at the first chance we had at SXSW. We arrived slightly late for a great Jesse set in slightly surreal surroundings.

It was hot, lunchtime, the sun was shining and we were outdoors.

Jesse was on top form blasting through some old favourites and new material, before ending the set by climbing onto the flat roof and nearly strangling the audience with a trailing microphone cord.

Excellent!

Emmylou Harris and Old 97s, Thursday 17th March, Antone's, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Emmylou Harris played songs off her new album with really stripped-back accompaniment. The band was just her, her guitar, a bassist/guitarist and a keyboardist who pounded an electronic bass drum pad, creating an effective backing rhythm. The set was quiet and restrained, but built towards the last couple of songs. She seemed to be playing to the strengths of what she wanted to do, rather than trying to simply entertain a festival audience with hits.

The Old 97s played lively, punky country rock, with irreverant lyrics (sample: 'I've gone through all my good fortune and the other type of fortune too'). Bob Harris would definitely like them. The track they claimed was 'co-written with Bob Dylan' was particularly good.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Thursday 17th March, Swan Dive, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Bluesy, foot-tapping Southern rock in a Tom Petty mold, which got rockier through the set. Some sings sounded like the perfect soundtratck for a US open-road trip and other tunes brought to mind Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Hiatt.

Sondre Lechre and Darren Hanlon, Thursday 17th March, Maggie Mae's, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Sondre Lechre's set pushed up a gear after the first song which rather drifted by. He played some great guitar solos and has a nice voice, which worked well with the backing from members of Midlake.

He said he was working out how best to perform the new songs and it was nice to see 'behind the scenes' moments, such as him working out the count-in for a song with the keyboardist (who had sheet music - a rarity for SXSW) and when his guitar strap broke and he had to take one off his other guitar. Also nice to see an artist recognising the benefits of things he'd critised when younger (as when he bemoaned his own use of a capo on the fourth song - said he'd always hated people using them, but finally come to it himself).

Darren Hanlnon sounded very Australian and was joined on-stage by one Aussie after another.

He started with a comedy song and finished with a song about waiting for a bus that never comes. His songs were quite different from the one I knew ('Electric Skeleton'), which he didn't play, and we thought he wasn't who we thought he was, but it was enjoyable if a lot more jokey than expected.

Bear Driver, Thursday 17th March 2011, Beauty Bar Palm Door, Austin, TX (SXSW)

The band gave a really fun performance, playing sparkly, angly indie pop, with a splash of grunge, a sprinkling of a Yuck and a hint of Los Campesinos. The whole set was lively and fun. There was good interaction between the band members and they knocked out songs after song, with barely a pause, though there was some friendly chat with the audience (it was the female singer's birthday, so she was sent best wishes).

Raphael Saadiq, Thursday 17 March, Cedar Street Courtyard, Austin, TX

Raphael Saadiq had a stack of classic, classy rhythm and soul tunes and great singing voice (though a really quiet speaking voice) and was backed by a great-sounding and really tight band.
He really got the crowd going with a great block-party-esque performance, enhanced by way the stage were around and above the stage at the Cedar Street Courtyward.
The set had a really summery feel about it. The songs will sound great for a sunny afternoon in a park.
It sounded, and he performed, as if he could fill big venues on his own, making it hard to believe that he was playing all new material in a short set for a festival crowd, many of whom didn't know any of his material.

Telephunken, 17th March 2011, Sounds from Spain showcase, Brush Square, Austin, TX

Telephunken were playing in a tent and the sun had come out, so most of the audience had decided not to be upfront, but were instead enjoying the warmth and a cold Estrella outside. Their sound was beats- and samples-driven party music and one tune opened with the 'Harlem Shuffle' fanfare that House of Pain borrowed for 'Jump Around'). Their Spanish chat between songs was interesting.

Emmylou Harris, Josh Ritter and The Head and The Heart, Thursday 17th March, Radio Day Stage, Convention Centre, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Emmylou Harris opened with the first track from her up-coming album. The second song was about Kate McGarrigle who Emmylou was close and who died last January. She only played two songs, but around them there was a question-and-answer session with a presenter from the radio station the set was going out live on. She told some really interesting stories about her time with Gram Parsons amd made a call to support the campaign for public radio to continue to be funded. She was in amazing voice and provided good, simple accompaniment to herself on guitar.

Josh Ritter played a superb set that kept the audience in rapt attention.

He started off very stongly with 'Change of Time' which was excellent. He just sang and played guitar and, without being willfully strange or tricksy, his playing and singing was interesting without being over-stylised and seemed to fit the songs really well. The second song, 'Folk Bloodbath', he introduced as a comedy, but was sad, with some really nice fingerpicking accompaniment. The next song was more strum-y and louder. It didn't seem quite as effective as the first two songs as a solo performance in the Day Stage setting, but worked well in terms of balancing the set. 'Kathleen' was really good. Josh seemed really into it and seemed to enjoy playing it, bouncing off the audience's appreciation. He played a really majestic version of 'Moon River', which was light of touc hand really cut to the core of the romance at the heart of song. He dedicated the last song he played to the 'folks in Japan'.

The Head and the Heart were absolutely excellent.

A real SXSW treat, and a new find for the people I convinced to come along to see them. They played lovely Americana-tinged songs, with beautiful harmonies and good use of multiple percussion. They had Ray Lamontagne-style vocals and a ramshackle-esque, but very tight, band, sounding like Faces or The Band playing acoustic instruments.

There were lots of photographers and the seating areas in the Day Stage seemed to be almost completely full. At times it was hard to tell who was singing what as the voices melded together really well. The set had a really joyful, almost gospel-style feel to it, with really belting singing in places.

Yuck, Wednesday 16 March, Club De Ville, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Yuck were certainly reminiscent of Pavement and early Dinosaur Jr, as everyone says, but they weren't slavish copyists. They were also tight enough as a band to carry themselves. Having hear the record, it was quite surprising to see who was singing different parts. Lots that seemed on the album to be a female voice were sung by the boys in the band. They created an impressive sound from the four of them and they had a great energy. They played the non-album track Milkshake, whuch was pretty good and certainly didn't sound like a leftover cast-off.

Chapel Club and The Belle Brigade, Wednesday 16 March, Phoenix, Austin, TX (SXSW)

The Belle Brigade played non-alt country rock with sweet girl-boy harmonies. We arrived towards the end of the set by the crowd seemed pretty into it.

Chapel Club made a big opening noise which built tension and excitement effectively. They sounded more interesting live than they do on record and less gothic than we expected, very Echo and the Bunnymen.
The singer was very polite and personable. Their 'Sha-la-las' were quite U2-esque.  The last song was especially good. They created an atmosphere as if the singer was preaching or prophesising with a storm going on around him.

The Vaccines, Erland and the Carnival and Porcelain Raft, Wednesday 16 March, Club De Ville, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Erland and the Carnival played lively, moody Rock'n'Roll with a spiky sound and seemed to have developed and grown as a band since we saw them at the Luminaire in Kilburn in Jan 2010.

Porcelain Raft were one man, a synth, a guitar and a haircut, with falsetto-y singing with drumbeat pretty high in the mix.

The Vaccines played a brutally short set, but were blistering through the six songs they played. They looked appropriately moody and grumpy throughout, especially the singer, and it wasn't quite clear how much that was put on. Great show, though, even if it only lasted abotu 15 minutes and left a lot of people puzzled ('Was that it?', 'Are they coming back?'). Could have done with at least a 'Goodnight' of this is our last song.

Jeremy Messersmith, Keegan Dewitt, Trampled by Turtles, Lost in the Trees, Wednesday 16 March, Paste party at Stage on Sixth, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Keegan Dewitt played Black Kids-ish indie rock, with a dash of Band of Horses. Five people on stage, though didn't sound that many, Last song headed for funky, but seemed to stall a bit and didn't quite take off.
Lead singer and backing singers voices went well together. They didn't have any drums, but assume they do normally as seemed a bit as if it was a stripped-down line-up. Toe-tapping, but not irrestitably so.

Trampled by Turtles were very country and bluegrassy, a bit Bluebells, even down to banjo inclusion.

Jeremy Messersmith was excellent. He was accompanied by a string trio, which was nice in an age where otherwise strings might come from a laptop, but as band was mic-ed and strings weren't, it was a bit of a struggle to hear them. We snapped the strings tuning and warming up before he started:

He had a really good opening tune, which made me think of a US BMX Bandits or Teenage Fanclub or a rockier Belle and Sebastian, and of Plain White Ts, or maybe even Elton's 'Your Song'
Another opened with the riff from Monkees' 'Last Train to Clarksville' and much of the set was enjoyably Monkees-esque with great 60s harmonies.
Several people asked us during the set if we knew who the band were, which seems a pretty good sign.
Excellent, really uplifting show. Creating that great sense of wonder that the people in front of you are, all on their own, creating the sound you're hearing.

 Lost in the Trees had a very Arcade Fire - esque opening, as well as lots of instrumental sections with violin and tuba/euphonium. The vocals a bit Damien Rice at times. Some bits were searing and majestic, others a bit more pedestrian. The last two or three songs were a cut above the rest and the band rocked out on the last one.

Matthew and the Atlas had nice harmonies, with Vocals quite Mumford and Sons, also reminded us of Villagers. They were very rural Americana and the backing seemed to work with songs and support them, rather than whelming them of being over-stylised or posturing.  It worked well enough throughout, although didn't vary that much. The singer's voice sounded very familiar, although I couldn't quite place who it sounded like -  a bit of a not-quite-as-baritone Eddie Vedder or Ray Lamontagne. I was genuinely surprised to hear they were English, although I'm not sure they sang with particularly American accents.

Casiokids and Ximena Sarinana, Wednesday 16 March, Day Stage, Austin, TX (SXSW)

Live on colombian radio!

Las Profetas were quite a tough act to follow for the musically very different Casiokids (Norwegain synth vs indie poppers). But they hit their stride quickly with some fun drum and bongo-led rhythms and falsetto vocals reminiscent of Royksop. Photographers may have outnumbered audience members and the band didn't encourage the audience to dance in the same way Profetas did.

Perhaps Norways has been wrongly labelled as the home of death metal when it produces beardy quirky indie pop like this.  The band looked like they were guests at the party in the video for Peter, Bjorn and John's 'Young Folks'.

They closed set the set with an uptempo 'Blue Monday'-esque tune with a latin-tinged beat. The band also and changed instruments during last song (when did that come back in? It seems to have been happening a lot over the past few years) and then most of the hit drums (when did that start? Loads of pople seem to have been doing it recently).

Ximena Sarinana's soundcheck created expectation of something quite different from the actual set.
One girl and a keyboard with good hum-along-able tunes, some in English, but mainly in Spanish.

Especially good eas the song 'Differences' about her experience of the culture clash when she came from Argentina to record her second album in LA.

Profetas,Wednesday 16th March, Radio Day Stage at Convention Center, Austin, TX

 

What better way to start the SXSW day than with the ritimos colombianos of thiss infectiously lifely group. Not to be worn down by the small and shy audience, they got everyone on their feet and dancing by the second song.

Jonquil, Tuesday 15 March, 10.00pm - 10.40pm, Latitude, Austin, TX

Vampire Weekend meets Scouting for Girls, with a bit of Rick Astley, sounding like they were obsessed with the first Vampire Weekend album. Didn't sound as might have been expected from how they looked.

The band could've done with a lot more crowd interaction between and during songs, as it all seemed a bit functional, rather than they were out to entertain. The songs themselves were perfectly well crafted, but didn't really jump out and grab the audience. They really needed a killer tune or great bit of crowd interaction to lift the show.

Bright Light Bright Light, Tuesday 15 March, 9.00pm - 9.40pm, Latitude, Austin, TX

A-Ha-style disco pop. Like a more partying Pet Shop Boys. Sounded like the music you would hear playing in a club in a soap.

Lots of recorded backing detracted a bit from the live experience.But that's pretty forgivable, as it's more to do with the need for a band of this size and style to play small clubs gigs than to do with the quality of musicianship.

An entertaining show, though. The singer was impressive and captured the crowd, and it turns out he's a friend of a friend, apparently. Small world!

Buffalo Tom, Dingwalls, London, UK, Thursday 10 March 2011

Great show. Halfway through the opening song they suddenly seemed really up for it. Really tight unit and in fine voice. Some classics in the set, but no Wiser or Would Not Be Denied and quite a few off-beat picks, especially in the encore. But that worked really well with a crowd who were really up for it. No cool haircuts, just a few hundred 30-somethings really up for seeing one of their favourite bands up close in a small venue. Scottish Windows was great and Sunday Night was a brilliant closer.

Mona, Highbury Garage, 21 Feb 2011

The set was very frontloaded with songs I knew (the singles), which made the latter part of it, relatively disappointing, although it was a really good tight set.  The man in front of us went mad for every song. The friend he had accompanying him enjoyed it, evening if he wasn't quite as mad about it.

Neon Trees, Highbury Garage, 21 Feb 2011

Good show, with a great frontman and top muscianship. Made me think of Queen and British mid-90s Glam bands like Spacehog.

They completely won crowd around and people seem to really enjoy it, which they band seemed to feed off. It felt like they could have done an encore if they hadn't been a support band. It may have been a bit of a show, but they seemed to think they only had two songs left, but played three more in the end.

Really enjoyed the set. Realised afterwards that I knew 'Animal' and now keep hearing it.

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Shepherd's Bush Empire, 15 February 2011

Great setlisting and arrangements. Very tight band and great instrumentation. Isobel seem to be suffering from a sore throat, but her performance didn't. Voices melded wonderfully live.

Rather charmingly, the guitarist on the right stuck his tongue out when he began the tricky bits of slide playing.

'Circus is Leaving Town' was very good and a real high point of the early part of the set. Also 'Bird in the Wood' (I think) was great. Brooding, hypnotic. Excellent. And 'Something to Believe' - lovely and delicate, and good whistling from Isobel, too!

The set really captivated the audience.  The last section of the set was more uptempo, which got the toes tapping.  Over all the set had a great sound a variety of tone and pace to keep the audience engaged.

I felt really glad that Mark has managed to keep up a career as a singer for so long. It would be a loss to the musical world if he stopped doing interesting music that people wanted to hear enough to allow him to travel the world and play it to lots of people.