Weeell, I never made it to Waterloo Park for Mess With Texas fest (where I was considering spending most of my day, originally, but as I’ve discovered with SXSW, plans change.) Ma’chell convinced me to go see Langhorne Slim, whose recorded sound simply does not do his awesome live show justice. He was performing at the PureVolume party, which was a really good time– it wasn’t too crowded, had a big, shaded outdoor area, and offered up free Sweet Leaf Tea and vodka. The vodka, of course, was cheap (as in, it smelled like rubbing alcohol), but Sweet Leaf Tea is easily the best bottled iced tea I’ve ever tried. As far as I know, it’s not well-known in the Northwest, but I found some at a random rest stop between Portland and Seattle not too long ago. It was also where I met my first bona fide Texan friend. You guys sure are friendly. It almost makes me want to move down here. Almost.But I digress. Before Langhorne Slim came on, we watched Adam Stephens of Two Gallants, which was okay, but honestly, Two Gallants never really did much for me. The first time I saw them, they were opening for Modest Mouse at the Reno Hilton, like, four years ago (yes, the Reno Hilton: I grew up there and was home visiting from college, where a friend of mine hooked me up with some freebie tickets. It still reigns supreme as the weirdest venue I’ve ever come across for a band like Modest Mouse.) Since then, I’ve tried to give the band another chance, but I still have the same tepid feelings about them. Langhorne, however, blew me away. He’s a really engaging, animated performer, and toward the end of the show he invited most of his audience to come onstage with him. I have a whole slew of photos of that show, which I’ll post as soon as they’re finished uploading, which will explain more about how awesome his set was better than I could in so many words. After that, I was excited to, for the first time, have a place to go in the evening that not only didn’t require a wristband, but had free booze to boot: the Blastro Party. Unfortunately, when we showed up there, it turned out not to be what I expected– Dead Confederate and the Von Bondies were both originally on the bill, but when we showed up, they’d been replaced by other bands that were unfamiliar to me. And the free booze was gone. Therefore, I concluded my evening at the Reeperbahn party, which cost $8 for non-wristband folks, where I watched a Danish band called Murder sing sweet, harmonic folk songs that were exactly the opposite of what you’d expect from a band with such a sinister name. Seriously, I was expecting death metal or something. Then, after ten plus hours of watching music, I went home. Though yesterday was the last official day of SXSW, there are still a bunch more shows happening today, which will hopefully be easier to check out. More on that later, and photos are forthcoming.