SXSW 2015 Day 4: Tha Dogg Pound Reunites With Snoop, E-40 Joins Big Sean, Killer Mike Performs With Injury & More

Billboard Staff
·10 min read
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The music portion is in full swing at SXSW, and we’re bringing you daily recaps of the action from Austin. Here are some unforgettable moments from music’s fourth day at the fest on Friday (March 20).

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10:30 a.m. — Opening for the South By Southwest keynote address has some legacy of success. One remembers Polyphonic Spree winning worldwide attention after it woke up the conventioneers during the mid-’90s. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble threw down hard before Snoop Dogg took the podium for his keynote conversation, giving the SXSW audience a (relatively) early morning jolt designed to shake the cobwebs joyously off even the most hungover. The Chicago group’s claim to fame, “War,” a track featured in each of the first two Hunger Games films. — Gary Graff

2:45 p.m. — Shazam set up shop at the W Hotel to show clients demos of some of their new technology, including their newly-launched artist portal, new blue tooth receivers that when placed inside venues will deliver location-specific data and promotions to Shazam users, and scannable print ads. — William Gruger

3:05 p.m. — “Thank you for standing in the rain for us,” Twin Shadow (aka George Lewis Jr.) told the Spin Party crowd at Stubb’s. “That’s so sweet of you.” It would take more than mere precipitation to bring down the Spin affair, a staple on the SXSW schedule since it began as an after-hours hotel suite party during the mid-’90s. After drizzle and mist for much of the party — though Earl Sweatshirt and Screaming Females got away relatively unscathed — the rain hit hard as Will Butler and his band (all sporting black T-shirts bearing their first names) were in the midst of his particular brand of pop idiosyncrasy and sent fans scurrying either for cover or out of the venue entirely. But plenty of hearty souls remained to hear Twin Shadow and Courtney Barnett, who told the crowd, “Thanks for standing in the f—ing rain for us. I wouldn’t do that for anybody.” The skies wound up clearing for Run The Jewels‘ closing set, however, which the group’s Killer Mike — performing despite a torn rotator cuff — decreed “a rap miracle.” The duo rewarded those remaining by taking the party into overtime with a 45-minute set they promised would “burn the city to the f—ing ground” — which the diligent Austin police were certainly happy to hear, as well as a subsequent song dedication to “f— the Ferguson Police Department.” — GG and John Mogos

4:40 p.m. — Author and now filmmaker Joe Nick Patoski initially intended to do the biography of Texas musician Doug Sahm as a book, but his agent rejected the idea. Sahm, Patoski was told, was not as famous as his previous subject, Willie Nelson. Fifteen years after that rejection, Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove made its premiere at the SXSW Film festival. “Of all the stories I’ve gotten to tell,” Patoski told the audience at the Alamo Lamar, “it’s the one that almost got away. His story needed a film.” — Phil Gallo

4:45 p.m. — The official SXSW Music Hackathon drew to a close with finalists presenting and fielding questions from a panel of judges, including Neon Hitch, who then played a song next to a virtual reality projection of herself created using an Xbox connect. The winning team was called Dandelion, a solo project by Daniel Noskin that allowed users to share their personal listening history with their Apple Watch. — WG

5:00 p.m. — Fresh from the rain-soaked Spin party, Courtney Barnett made her eighth and final show at SXSW a good — and drier — one, closing the Public Radio Rock Showcase inside the Austin Convention Center. Looking Cobain-esque in flannel, the southpaw guitarist — one of this year’s leading buzz acts — opened with an appropriate grungy early favorite “Lance Jr.,” but mostly focused on her upcoming debut album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit via tracks such as “Nobody Really Cares if You Go to the Party” and “An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleeplees in New York).” Barnett was also pleased to see a few stalwarts who made it over from Stubb’s, declaring them “true friends.” — GG

5:29 p.m. — Atlanta rapper-singer-eccentric ILoveMakonnen gliding into hazy breakthrough hit “Tuesdays” in front of an at-capacity crowd was the perfect antidote for the non-stop rain that hit SXSW on Friday. It’s venue, the Hype Hotel, was mercifully indoors, which made the club go up that much more easily. — Alex Gale

5:32 p.m. — Ty Dolla $ign energized the crowd at the MTV Woodies with such recognizable radio hits as “Paranoid” and “Or Nah.” The singer-songwriter didn’t leave out any of his song’s explicit language, nor did concert-goers. “No filter,” he yelled. While the crowd didn’t know all of the words to Ty Dolla’ $ign’s new song, “Drop that Kitty” (featuring Charli XCX and Tinashe) — except for the hook — they bounced to every word. — Erika Ramirez

5:38 p.m. — Mike Wallace, the drummer for Calgary-based post-punk band Viet Cong, deserves an award of some sort. He broke his hand shortly before SXSW, but at Fader Fort, with his arm sling, he found a novel workaround with some help from an unidentified friend standing next to the drum kit. During the band’s ferocious set, Wallace pounded at the kick, snare and hi-hat for the most part, while his literal right-hand man, who was also holding two drum sticks, smashed at the cymbals and toms. Well played. — AG

6:00 p.m. — Raury stormed onto the Woodies stage with the energy of a seasoned rockstar. With every song he performed from his recent EP, Indigo Child, the barefoot singer-songwriter moved as if he’s been doing this for years, even twirling and kicking the water (from the day’s ongoing rain showers) off the stage when performing “Chariots of Fire.” — ER

6:30 p.m. — Clean Bandit changed up the feel of the show when performing a more upbeat, electro-pop set, livened even more so with the band’s range of instrumentation (bass, keyboard, drums, cello and violin) and the energy and talent of Elisabeth Troy. The band performed majority of their New Eyes EP alongside Troy, before evoking more concert-goers to dance when singer-songwriter Jess Glynne joined to perform their songs “Rather Be” and “Real Love.”  — ER

6:50 p.m. — First of two Fader Fort guests, Big Sean brought in the most concert-goers of the day. Performing a solo set, the rapper ran through his hits from his Detroit mixtape to his recent Billboard 200 No. 1 album, Dark Sky Paradise. The crowd went crazy when Sean spit his verses from huge hits as Kanye West‘s “Don’t Like” and Drake‘s “All Me.” He closed his set with his latest hit, “I.D.F.W.U.,” bringing out the song’s featured guest, “the f—in’ legend,” E-40. — ER

7:26 p.m. — Shortly after a surprise set from Big Sean at the Fader Fort, OG Maco jumped on stage, with dyed blonde hair, a black poncho of some sort and a deranged look on his face. He only did two songs, though, and the closer, was of course his Hot 100 breakthrough “U Guessed It,” a millennial take on Mystikal‘s dynamic scream-rap that’s made him one of Atlanta’s most promising new rappers. — AG

7:38 p.m. — Halfway into their 20-odd-minute set, Atlanta rap trio Migos jumped into their undeniable hit “Fight Night,” but their onstage energy oddly didn’t match the song’s pugilistic bite. Maybe it was the result of exhaustion — the group, perhaps the most influential of Atlanta rap’s new wave, had already done several shows at SXSW — but they were disengaged and flat. Even their 20-man entourage onstage couldn’t muster the energy their songs deserve, looking on glumly. — AG

8:00 p.m. — T-Pain reminded people just how many hits he has under his belt. The singer-songwriter ditched the auto-tune for a live band and backup singers, and performed a 40-song set, broken down into six sections. T-Pain blazed through his own hits and those who he wrote or produced for other artists, such as Chris Brown‘s “Kiss Kiss.” He never missed a step throughout his set, at times even doing the robot and kept the growing crowd moving and reminiscing. — ER

8:47 p.m. — “If I was at this show,” said Tobias Jesso Jr.,”I’d want my money back.” The Vancouver-raised, L.A.-based singer-songwriter is on most critics’ SXSW must-see lists but he’s remarkably humble about it. Hunkered over a piano — he’s 6-foot-7 — at Central Presbyterian Church — Jesso took five tries to get through “True Love,” a standout track from his debut album, Goon. He likes to say but he’s not the I get it pianist, but his songwriting, which sometimes recalls Labi Siffre‘s simply poetic pop moments, is undeniable — and the crowd already new every word. “I did the best I could,” he said. — AG

9:00 p.m. — It’s hard to go to spend much time in SXSW’s host city without seeing a few (and that’s an understatement) “Keep Austin Weird” T-shirts. So the Residents, merchants of musical weirdness for more than 30 years, were perfectly appropriate to perform  at the Paramount Theater. The semi-anonymous, costumed  San Francisco trio was in town for the premiere of the documentary Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents, and closed its stay with a performance of it’s latest concept piece, “Shadowland.” Frontman Randy Rose introduced the work as part of a trio of albums, this one focusing on “birth, rebirth, reincarnation and near-death experiences,” both in the song lyrics and videos that  were shown on a globe-shaped screen and separated sections of the show. Trippy and existential, it was a fine fit for a city that claims to embrace weirdness — and a music festival that certainly does. — GG

9:45 p.m. — YouTuber MAX kicked off the official YouTube Awards Party at Coppertank with an energetic set, including “Gibberish,” his original song he created for the 2015 music awards and with an outstanding “Baby” medley, which featured just about every single song that mentions the word “baby” that you could possibly imagine. — WG

10:30 p.m. — Former Austin residents Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance of Jamestown Revival unveiled two new songs likely headed for their first album with Republic Records. The new material, performed outdoors on the Pandora stage at the Gatsby, revealed a tougher country-rock sound for the harmony-rich band. Co-sponsored by the Americana Music Association, Della Mae, Houndmouth, Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear and Green River Ordinance treated the crowd, huddled under an array of large umbrellas, to a variety of styles that fall under the Americana heading. — PG

11:45 p.m. — In probably the smallest, most intimate venue we’ll ever see a legend of this caliber, Snoop Dogg was joined by Kurupt himself for a wildly entertaining set that rolled through decades of hits as the headlining act at the YouTube Awards Party at the space at Coppertank. In what turned out to be a Tha Dogg Pound reunion, rapper Daz Dillinger was onstage as well. — WG

12:30 a.m. — Killer Mike and EL-P continue to prove that Run the Jewels is one of the most important groups in hip-hop today, as the dup absolutely killed their set at Flood Fest, located at Cedar Street Courtyard. The crowd moshed during each song and the group provided highly politicized context for many of their songs. — WG

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