Drunk by Drunk Drunk: Day Two SXSW Coverage

Tuesday was supposed to bean "off-day" as there weren't all that many day shows and I really needed to recover from the night before. But against my better judgement, I decided to forgo my daily nap and head straight downtown. Welcome to day two.

3pm Had a couple of busts trying to find free booze, but we stumbled in on Jim James being interviewed at a small bar on Rainey street which was pretty rad. Whilst gathering our bikes to leave, a cop, yes a cop, talks us in to going to the Blackberry showcase because there's free beer.

3.30pm We are offered a choice between Dale's Pale Ale (delicious) and Bud-lite (terrible, obviously) for free. I curse the amount of people drinking bud-lite. We pound a couple of Dale's and the worst tasting red wine I've ever encountered (hey, I was trying to mix it up). I felt bad drinking on Blackberry's dime considering how much money the company's lost over the last couple of years.

4.30pm.  We head over to Handle-Bar to hang out with Valadez's friend Andrew (of Mother Falcon). There are more free beers. We learn from a guy there to RSVP under several fake names to get more drinks tokens. It works, and he does it for the sixth time.

6.00pm We decided to cue up for Wavves and Japandoids at Viceland a full two hours before doors open. This proves to be a wise move, as the line soon wraps around the building. A bunch of jerks try to cut in line and succeed, all while my friends and I loudly tell them to fuck off.

8.30pm It looked like it was going to get ugly in the line, but the cops show up and everything settles down. We all get in. Within 10 minutes of getting in I have a beer in each hand and two slices of pizza. All animosity towards the jerks that cut the line dissipates. I was weary of the "complimentary drinks' moniker on the poster, thinking it was going to be one or two beers each. Turns out Vice knows how to throw down and it's an open bar the whole night.

10.30pm Wavves takes the stage after two hours of 500 kids and free beer. All hell breaks loose. The already thin security staff tries desperately to keep people off the stage. The head security guy, a 50 year old bespectacled African-American, has a terrified look on his face. He probably thought "it never used to be like this back in my day." He gestures to the other security staff to close the show down. I can see why he's getting worried, it was getting dangerously close to Hillsborough territory.

The sound is atrocious; Vice obviously spent all of their cash on beer and opted to borrow a PA system from a local Bar-Mitzvah. Nathan's guitar keeps cutting out, but no-one seems to mind. They play a few new tracks of their new album. Nathan starts shredding over some guy that managed to flop face down on stage. I managed to hi-five Nathan in between said shred.

12.00am. Japandroids are up next. Just like Wavves, they curse out the security and actually force them to leave the stage entirely, leaving two sound guys as the last bastion of security.  It's basically a house party at this point, with multiple fat guys crowd-surfing. Japandoids talk shit about the US (as they're from Canada). Everyone is hi-fiving. Brian king is on the sound guy's shoulders ripping a solo. They fall over whilst the other sound guy tries desperately to keep the monitors working. Despite the absolute pandemonium, no-one, not even the sound guys, are getting angry. Best crowd atmosphere yet. Everyone had been waiting in waiting in-line for ages, and was obviously there for the music.

Definitely a feeling that we were all witnessing something special. 

A nerd jumps on stage, takes a picture of the crowd, and is immediately thrown back into the mix, much to the delight of everyone.

I am soaked entirely in beer and my legs and shins are fucked from being pushed up against the stage. I spend the rest of the night talking Malort with a bunch of Chicago-ians.