Day 2 report from SXSW: Bishops, Blitzen and celebrities. Woo-hoo!

Editor’s note: Peter Lewis, the only cultured member of The City Wire staff, is in Austin, Texas, providing updates on the popular SXSW music festival. He will provide updates on festival events and performances Thursday through Sunday. This is his second report. Stay tuned.

story by Peter Lewis. (photos from someone who proves that you can’t hold a beer and take a picture at the same time!)

Day two proved to be quite a bit more subdued than day one. Of course that should not imply that your dutiful correspondent didn’t party his (big) tail off with all sorts of folks in all sorts of venues, just that the night didn’t dissolve into crazy shenanigans.

The weather here in central Texas is absolutely perfect. With temperatures reaching the 80s during the day, once the sun sets the city reaches an optimal temp. Warm enough for shorts and t-shirts but just cool enough to keep you from sweating too much. So I was very much looking forward to a night of outdoor patio shows.

HARVARD MUSIC
After recuperating with copious amounts of basketball, the (loose) plan was to hit the patio at Mohawk on the the corner of 9th and Red River in downtown Austin. Awaiting our arrival was the Brooklyn based and Harvard educated group, Bishop Allen. Their infectious pop tunes were a great way to kick off the evening.

Following Bishop Allen was another Brooklyn based act, Phosphorescent. I am well aware that it is only Day 2 but I can say without reservation that this was the best show I’ve seen to date. The leader of the “group” is Matthew Houck (in fact, Phosphorescent is Matthew Houck; the band members are just a backing group of sorts). The difficult job in covering a musical act is describing exactly the sound. Phosphorescent is like a combination of pre-Z My Morning Jacket and Gram Parsons, you know … if he was only 25 and lived in Brooklyn. Their expanded cosmic rock sound was picture perfect draped across the warm night.

CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS
We then soldiered on to the Radio Room patio just west of Red River on 6th Street to hear part of the Sub Pop showcase. This is where the night took a turn. After procuring some beverages, my group of five staked out a spot in the middle of the concert tent to await the show. My friend, Naz, told us that they saw “the coach’s wife” from Friday Night Lights. Though I was initially skeptical, just a few minutes later Connie Britton decided to watch the Vetiver show right in front of me. Her love of the San Francisco-based folk rock outfit was quite evident as she grooved and clapped along with the band’s songs with her (younger) beau.

And if this wasn’t enough, while I was away at the back of the tent conversing with an old friend, I got a text from Cookies telling me that Ethan was there in the tent as well. Of course he was referring to a character from the hit television series, LOST. But this of course wasn’t just any character, this was William Mapother, first cousin to Tom Cruise — the famed Scientologist and part-time actor. As luck would have it, Mr. Mapother spotted Ms. Britton and came over to greet her not three feet in front of my friends and me. Always mindful of other people’s personal life, I was hesitant to engage either of them. Marshaling the courage however, I spoke to them briefly and was able to get the featured photo as a result.

SWINGING HIPS
Celebrity sighting checked off my SXSW to do list, it was now time to focus on the music again. Vetiver’s great set came to a close, the celebrities dispersed and the tent slowly became more and more crowded. Blitzen Trapper, a new hot indie band from Portland, Ore., was scheduled to perform at 12 a.m.

This experimental folk rock sextet has become a critical darling. Lauded by publications such as Spin, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork, the group is on the rise. Seeing their performance, it was easy to figure out why. Their musical vision is certainly catchy and pleasing to the ear, yet somehow inaccessible and enigmatic. They certainly knew how to rock. Their tunes had the crowd bobbing along and swaying their hips. Which, if you ever seen a large group of hipsters, is quite difficult to do.