Austin – One week ago today, I was in Austin, amongst my musical compadres, in nice 27 degree weather and watching show after show whilst eating good BBQ meat. Today, I am in almost sub zero temperatures at my desk job reminiscing about the time that was. Yay. The last SXSW review I am writing is about the Late of the Pier show(s). Late of the Pier is a spacey sounding electro rock band from England. I can’t even find the proper terms to describe the music, they have duel synths, appreciate beats but also like pop music at the same time. It’s something else.
The first show we saw them was at the Levi’s/Fader Fort. Let me say something about Levi’s/Fader Fort – it’s too far. They had some fantastic acts (including Kanye, Graham Coxon, Handsome Furst) but seriously, you have to go under the interstate into some ghetto industrial part of town to get there. That is too far in the Texas heat and too time consuming. The Late of the Pier set started off promising, but ultimately equipment problems got the best of them, despite Sam Eastgate’s promise that “we are going to go fix everything”, the set seemed to have been cut short. So we left, and being too tired to walk, took a pedicab:
Despite having a short set with technical problems, we were impressed enough to catch their set at Filter’s UK party the following day at the Cedar Street Courtyard. Filter decided on that day they wanted to squeeze in an extra band, and so everyone’s start times were pushed back. When Late of the Pier went on, it was about 45 minutes later than they were supposed to and with Razorlight and White Lies still coming up, you knew that there was a good chance that they would get cut short again.
About the show itself, LOTP came out to a decent crowd. I am not sure a lot of people knew who they were, and I am not sure that the newspapers marketed them properly, comparing them to MGMT for some reason. They played songs from their debut album, including Space & The Woods and The Bears are Coming. It was a pretty solid set, the dueling synths were nice. The music is definitely louder and messier in a live setting then on the album and with increase focus on guitar work, the songs definitely come off as less electronic and more rock. The band didn’t really engage with the audience much, rather letting their music do the talking. I guess with time that will change.
The real fun began when the promoter of the party decided that LOTP only had one song left and told the sound guy that. It was looking like LOTP was getting cut short again, so they played what was perceived to be their last song (I forgot what) then at the end of that extended song, they announce ‘Now, this is our last tune’. The promoter on the steps threw a fit fitting for a queen and during the song, ordered a security guard to get the sound guy to turn the sound off, and when the sound guy refused, he ordered the security guy to bring the sound guy over, which prompted either the stage hand or manager of the band to interfere, which resulted in that guy getting dragged up the stairs which resulted in Sam Eastgate going nuts and next thing you know, its all out war. However, cooler heads prevailed and LOTP and the sound guy finished their set to a rapturous ovation. Pictures of the fracas is here.
All in all, a fairly memorable show. Even if the events at the end overshadowed the music that the band put out.