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Andrew WK, Titus Andronicus, Screaming Females, 2:54, The Young & Caged Animals @ Bar 96 (BV SXSW pics & video)

photos by Amanda Hatfield

“Fun times at @brooklynvegan show last night. Shout out to @titus_ndronicus 4 saving the day. Best thin lizzy cover since Ted Leo.” – Caged Animals

“Shouts out to Caged Animals from Hawthorne, NJ #973” – Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus @ Bar 96
Titus Andronicus

One night after our Daniel Johnston show at the Belmont, and after a full day of bands on three stages at “Hotel Vegan“, we hosted our 2nd official showcase of SXSW 2012, on Wednesday night (March 14). The venue was Bar 96 on Austin’s Rainey St., and the lineup loooked like this:

8pm: Caged Animals
9pm: 2:54
10pm: The Young
11pm: Screaming Females
12am: Andrew W.K. (full band)
1am: Titus Andronicus

NJ/Brooklyn’s Caged Animals were great and had a decent crowd for being a relatively unknown band playing as doors opened to the six hour, mostly-badges-only show. Bill Pearis, who got to Austin right before this gig, wrote:

“You can sit for the first two songs, but then lets get up and dance” said Vincent Cacchione of Caged Animals who opened the set. He played affable host, running into the crowd and dancing (and hugging people). Nice mellow start to my week.

2:54, who had just come from being in NYC, followed, and clearly the recently signed to Fat Possum band has some serious buzz behind them because the room, which was actually an outdoor, astro-turfed backyard under a tent, filled up nicely for them. Many in the crowd could be heard talking in English accents. 2:54 call London home. Bill wrote:

After that it was 2:54 who have gotten exponentially better than when I saw them at Pianos last year, a much more confident band. I am a sucker for their dark, moody, shoegazy sound. Good set, though it was cut short a song by equipment problems.

2:54’s 2011 Pianos show was, completely coinedentally, also with Caged Animals which I forgot until I looked up the link as I was writing this post.

Then Bill left to go catch some other bands, and Austin’s Matador-signed The Young, who also played Hotel Vegan the next day, took the stage. Bill was definitely not alone in leaving after 2:54’s set, though many were hanging around in the various nooks and crannies of this spacious venue that includes good food, and tables wrapped around an entire house-turned-into-a-bar, adjacent to the backyard stage area.

Screaming Females @ Bar 96
Screaming Females

That said, by the end of Screaming Females, the stage area was at capacity. The NJ 3-piece band led by pint-sized powerhouse Marissa Paternoster on guitar and vocals had the place rocking out and going nuts. The talent those three posess is truly mind-blowing, especially with a few Lone Stars in your system. I am positive that every single person at Bar 96 Wednesday night, if they weren’t already, left a Screaming Females fan.

Andrew W.W. @ Bar 96
Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K., complete with full band and Cherie Lily, took to the stage with chants of “It’s Time to Party.”

“He opened with “It’s Time To Party,” because it was time to party. He closed things out with a song that was also about partying. In the middle he urged us to party, and Cherie Lily, acting as the Fergie of the ensemble, handed out fist bumps. Sh*t, how do you even review an Andrew W.K. set? “He came out and was Andrew W.K. He continued to be Andrew W.K. until he left.”” [UpRoxx]

Mosh pits, fist pumps, and stage diving ensued for the 30+ minutes of Andrew’s set. I could see Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles watching from the crowd, and I felt bad that he needed to follow that act, not to mention Screaming Females. It was only after the show that I noticed he was thinking the same thing, and I think he said something similar from stage, including a bit about feeling that way every night on tour with the Scremales (at this point I was completely wiped out from going for so long with almost no sleep and knowing I needed ot do it again the next morning).

Luckily for Titus, not only was there still a big crowd for their post-AWK, 1am set, they opened with a rousing cover of “The Boys are Back in Town” that got people going again. It was an awesome night.

Here are some pictures and a video of the mayhem during AWK. More below…


Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

Caged Animals

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

2:54

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

The Young

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Screaming Females

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Andrew W.K.

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

AUX at SXSW: Watch Andrew W.K. party with a packed room to “She Is Beautiful”