Merge Records Showcase: Spoon!

After a grueling day of travel, Brendan and I met up with Kevin (our resident Texan and guide to all things Austin) and made it out for a solid night of shows, a drink or two, and way too many women who looked 20 inside the dark clubs but in retrospect were probably in their 40's. Nonetheless, it was a great night of music.

To start the night off, we headed to Stubbs BBQ to catch the UK sensation The Automatic. More on them later, though.

Then it was off to the Merge Records showcase at Antone's, a phenomenal little club with a great bar and a dirty-but-not-too-dirty atmosphere.


11PM: The Rosebuds
This Raleigh, NC based indie outfit screamed of early Blondie with a very serious streak of aggressive dance pop. Didn't hurt that singer Kelly Crisp looked (and sounded) like Debbie Harry in her prime, either. Their new album Night of the Furies drops April 10th.




12AM: The Broken West
These Los Angeles natives lived up to their hype, delivering exactly what they're known for: hook and harmony-laden rock. The crowd was pumped, and the band responded by driving through an impressive set, making more than a few fans in the process. I was floored, to say the least.




1AM: "Special Guests from Austin"

So Kevin told us that Spoon would be the night's "special guest," and that was completely too good to be true, so I totally didn't buy it. But despite all of my doubts, Spoon showed up for an unannounced set to close the show. The club had been buzzing the whole night about their alleged appearance, but that didn't stop me from thinking things like "Holy shit, Spoon is three feet in front of me," and "Holy shit, Britt Daniel from Spoon just spit on me," and "Holy shit, getting spit on wasn't that cool, even if it was Britt Daniel." That said, they were in their element and they played their asses off. Definitely was a great way to close day one.

Jim Eno and Britt Daniel (Spoon)