Gruff opened with explanation of the man he's made a film and album about. He also held up a picture of him.
He then put on a wolf's head hat to fit in with this theme.
Before the first song, he told us what the first line of it was, and asked us to cheer when he sang it, as the show was being recorded and so he wanted to have cheers of recognition on the recording. The first song had an interesting repeating structure, with each section changing key and including "one.." (then "two.." etc up to eight or nine) "..hundred unread messages, and not a single note from you".
All the key changing and chords meant Gruff got lightly lost part way through and couldn't find the next chord. He interrupted the song. "Hell of a lot of chords," he said. "That's the most key changes ever committed to one song". It turned out the lost chord was C, which he managed to work out without too long of a delay.
As well as picture of the face of the subject of his film and album, and the hat, he also had a giant sign for the song "American Interior".
Throughout the set he used vocal effects and loops to so that he was accompanied by himself to great effect. He was accompanied on one song by a metronome, which he had sound checked earlier (the only SXSW request to the sound desk for more metronome in a stage monitor).
He also played a song he hadn't played for two years, and had to stop because he forgot the words, but the audience helped him out. He closed with a song in Welsh, whose title and refrain meant "driving, driving, driving". At the end he held up signs saying "Thank you" and "The End", which made everyone laugh and smile and was a really nice touch to a show which made a great connection with the audience.
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