For the purposes of breaking things down into neat (or not so neat) little categories, I’ll be dividing my coverage of the last full day of SXSW into two sections – Mojo Nixon and not Mojo Nixon. This is not to say that Mojo was necessarily better than anything else I saw on this day, but it did stand out as its own weird, crazy little thing separate from everything else. But other than the fact that they’re not Mojo, there’s nothing really linking the acts in these reviews together besides the fact that they all happened on the final Saturday. I guess that’s enough. Here goes:
Celeste
After scarfing down a few top notch breakfast tacos from Pueblo Viejo, I made my way to the convention center to take in a set from London-based soul singer Celeste, who started the day off nicely with some chill, jazzy R&B vibes on the Radio Day Stage. I’ve got to say though, going by just Celeste makes her slightly more difficult to Google, but I guess the one name thing worked for fellow Brits Estelle and Adele (and Sting), so then again, why not?
Dylan LeBlanc
Making our way back out to South Congress later in the afternoon, we lucked out and arrived at Hotel San Jose when there was a bit of a lull in the lineup and only had to wait a few minutes before things started to move, getting inside in time to catch a few tunes from Nashville based singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc. LeBlanc and his band The Pollies impressed with a sound that brought to mind the likes of Jason Isbell and Neil Young at times.
Low Cut Connie
I’ll readily admit that we were mostly there for the fried chicken, but the fact that Philadelphia’s Low Cut Connie were playing a set to close things out for the night at Lucy’s Fried Chicken was just the icing on the cake … or the hot sauce on the chicken if I’m not mixing my metaphors. And much like the fried chicken, Low Cut Connie served up a greasy, satisfying experience to the packed house at Lucy’s outdoor stage, running through a set of down and dirty rock and roll. “You wanna see me get on top of this piano?” asked singer Adam Weiner at one point in their set and my only thought was, “Dude, I’m so far back I can’t even see the piano. But thanks for getting on top of something, I guess.”
More Or Les
After taking in an excellent set from Say Sue Me at Beerland (read Ricky’s review of their show from earlier in the week), I will admit that the week was starting to take it’s toll on me and I retreated back to Chez Panic Manual for a bit of a disco nap. I thought I might have been done right then and there, but I managed to rally and headed out to Flamingo Cantina to take in some nerdcore, catching a bit of MC Frontalot and Schaffer The Darklord before seeing the sole Torontonian act I would catch all week – More Or Les. Les performed a set of songs from his latest, Nerd Love, along with a few choice selections from throughout his career, including set highlight “Brunch Again” – as Les pointed out, you can be a nerd about anything, including his favourite meal of the day. Performing with a projector for the first time ever (“a delicate and dangerous situation,” according to Les), he went full multimedia, which meant he had to contend with the projector getting jostled about for a bit, but after taping the damn thing down, the show went off mostly without a hitch. It went by too quickly for sure, but without too much of a hitch anyways.
Body Type
The final act of the night for me also put on one of the most energetic sets of the entire week. These four Australian ladies almost seemed to be having more fun than the audience for their 1:00am slot at Swan Dive, although the dude who felt the need to try and fist bump the members of the band during their set probably felt like he was having more fun. Body Type have only got an EP to their name so far, with another on the way in May of this year. Here’s hoping for even more to come soon.