Austin – The party continued – you’ll have to forgive me if my details are a little out of order. It was a crazy night!

I’ll admit it, I really had no interest in watching Solange. I spent her set drinking and socializing with a new friend I met in the line for the bathroom, sprawled on a pile of beanbag chairs near one of the bars. From where I sat I actually enjoyed her songs more than I expected but it wasn’t really enough to get me to pay close attention. Hey, my feet were hurting and I was not about to miss out on the free vodka.

During the week one of my top priorities was to check out Victoria Hesketh a.k.a. Little Boots, who is so new to the scene she hasn’t even released an album yet. Originally from Blackpool, she puts to use a couple of fun musical gadgets in her shows – the stylophone, and a Tenori-on, which is a Japanese “digital musical instrument” that creates light and sound. I kept missing her and was so glad when we got the invite to Perez’s party, because it was my last chance to see her. Expectations met. She was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I could not get anywhere near the stage for a usable photo.

Ryeisha “Rye Rye” Berrain played next. She is an up and coming rapper from Baltimore, discovered by fellow female alterna-whatever-awesome-hip-hop artist M.I.A. This is where a portion of the evening was a bit of a blur to me – I got a bit distracted but I remember enjoying her set! No photo of her so here’s a pic of the swing set sitting on astroturf that was in the back corner of the venue

Lady Sovereign was scheduled to be up next. When Perez came out to introduce her, he announced she had canceled at the last minute. Lame! So he asked us to hang on, and none other than Kanye West wound up taking the stage instead. He had been strongly rumored as the secret special guest earlier on in the show, so it really was an awesome surprise to have him show up and play a few hits. Since the crowd went insane when he went on and I couldn’t get anywhere near the stage, this is the only photo I have to post:

Oh well.

After Kanye tore it up, the crowd (including myself) was even more excited for what was to come. More people than ever were dancing to the DJ’s tunes while the next band, Ida Maria, set up.

Ida Maria is actually a solo act, a kick ass singer who hails from Norway. I had only heard one song by her, the single “Oh My God” and was definitely interested in seeing her perform. She was all over the stage every minute of the set, teasing the audience and infecting them with her energy, as well as pouring a water bottle all over herself and band members, hence the wet hair. I’m excited to hear more of her over the coming months, I have a feeling I will.

By the time Ida Maria finished I couldn’t believe I was still up and partying as it was nearing 3am. The events of the evening had me super pumped for the final performer, French electropop singer Julie Budet, stage name Yelle. Her 2007 album Pop-Up is one of my favorite dance albums and she has been touring almost nonstop since its release. Songs from the album have been featured in several video games and in tv commercials, so you may know who she is without realizing it.

She took the stage and you’d have no idea it was so late (early??) – the crowd went nuts and a giant dance party erupted. Yelle connected with the audience immediately and we fed off of her never ending enthusiasm and vice versa. My arm is sore from holding up my camera trying to keep up with her, there were just so many photo ops that I must have shot a few hundred. I couldn’t resist including more than one in this portion of the review. I walked away from her set with more energy that I had the entire week, and was awake until 6:30 in the morning thanks to pure adrenaline, even after a full day of dancing and booze. If you hear of Yelle coming to your town, don’t be discouraged by the fact she sings in French – the infectious beats and melodies of her music transcend the language barrier.

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