music

why i love sxspants: reasons KANYE

and now, dear pants world, we enter the final evening of sxsw, 2009. i always have mixed feelings on that last saturday night– part of me is relieved at the thought of actually sitting for the majority of the day, not to mention using my own bathroom, while my other half wants to disappear forever into the music and electricity and throbbing streets.

and maybe the tension between those two halves is why the last night of sxsw is almost always the best.

by 6 PM on saturday, i had a pretty good feeling that this year, out of all of my previous southbys, was going to end with the loudest bang… even though it began in a crowd of perez hilton fans.

ok, so i read perez hilton. sometimes. but i wouldn’t say i’m a fan of the gossip gangster himself. a lot of people in this line, though? REAL FANS. they love what he loves (zacquisha). they hate what he hates (lily allen). one guy next to me even said the following sentence, out loud, without any hint of irony, “well, you know good charlotte is one of the hottest rock bands out there right now.”

out of the entire crowd, though, this girl really took the crazy cake:

naturally, the camera people interviewed her! and then they asked her to do it again, but gave her a script, “i’m addicted to perez!” which she did with much excitement and pep. unfortunately, the media missed out on her earlier conversation with henri, which covered everything from the fact that obama will bring on the new world order to her plan to marry a rich businessman because “they love bubbly girls. and i’m bubbly!”

no really, i DID have a good reason to be there. cos in addition to free beverages, perez actually offered some pretty great bands! plus, i have to give him (er, his people?) major props for converting the old safeway into a pretty sweet party space:

i was also REALLY impressed with the sound. usually the systems kind of suck at these parties, but to my (admittedly non-audiophile) ears, the sound quality was pretty great.

unfortunately, tragedy struck before the party even began. you guys I HAD TO USE A PORTAPOTTY. AUUGHHHH! i had successfully avoided them ENTIRELY for the festival and then… on the last night… gah. plus they were super dark so i had to use sadie in order to find the actual toilet which made it EVEN SCARIER AND GROSSER. it was like a scene from “the abyss”!! which i have actually not seen but i know it’s terrifying and set in a cave.

i vowed to refrain from peeing for the rest of the night. which made things painful later but it’s ok, my bladder is hardcore.

after a bathroom and bar break, we headed right up to the front of the stage cos, well, most of the people there didn’t *really* care about seeing music. and for that i want to say: thank you, perez fans. you made my night so much easier and less elbow-y.

perez came out to start the show and dazzled us all with his pink aretha franklin inauguration hat:

i have never, ever said this about any piece of perez’s wardrobe but… i really coveted that hat.

and i had MANY chances to steal it cos for most of the show, perez was sitting right in front of us!!! of course, in true papparazzi fashion, we had to capitalize on this situation with many, many ridiculous photos.

look! erica and perez are totally best friends!

and yes, we ARE winners. big, big winners.

margaret cho started the show, and she was funny! predictably dirty, but funny.

i’m not a fan of those jeans, though.

the surprise guest turned out NOT to be britney spears but was instead… the indigo girls.

that’s right, instead of a superstar pop singer, we got to a little slice of lilith fair. oh well. it was fun to watch perez sing along, excitedly, and it was even *more* fun to see henri suffer flashbacks from his hippie days (when he actually DID listen to the indigo girls. i guess they’re, like, third eye blind for him).

i was WAY more thrilled by the next act, ladyhawke!

she was awesome, again. i like her music even more after seeing her in person, cos she’s got this fantastic rock swagger in her voice, but she’s super quiet and shy in real life. it’s really endearing.

after ladyhawke, thunderheist took the stage. i hadn’t heard of them before, but they (a singer and a DJ) were pretty fun– the perfect music for a party. plus the singer lady was fierce!

also? those tights? NEED.

the next act was TRISH AND CHRIS!!!

ok, no, not on stage. but in my life! and i was super glad to see them! plus the crowd dispersed, so there was plenty of room for them next to me at the front.

i wasn’t so sure about the next band, cos i think their name is stupid: natalie portman’s shaved head. but i must admit, they put on a highly entertaining show. sort of like junior senior, but younger and american (and therefore less cool).

henri basically wanted their entire wardrobe. which i know does not shock you.

NPSH was followed by solange, beyonce’s sister (i’m sure she hates that her name is always followed with “beyonce’s sister” but whatevs. i hate that i don’t have an older sister that made my family rich, so whatevs).

dude you guys, solange is FABULOUS! she has a killer voice, awesome costumes (note the guys in the banana suits, which matched her tights) and, most importantly, she can dance in high (pink) heels.

really, she put on an extremely entertaining show and worked the crowd like a total pro. after watching her perform, i felt myself rooting for her to step out of her sister’s shadow. you go with yr banana pants, solange!

apparently, the perez party was THE place to be, cos i also ran into robin and reno! it was like a mini-NYE!! and actually, it kind of *felt* like NYE, so the encounter was highly appropriate.

having seen her before, henri was super excited about the next act, little boots. and after her set, i totally understood why– little boots is a SUPERSTAR!!!

i mean, the gold dress and massive geode necklace are pretty good indicators of awesomeness, but that picture doesn’t begin to convey her fantastically poppy voice or her sparkly charisma. i totally want to invite her over for a slumber party and watch “annie” so we can reenact  “it’s a hard knock life.” i just… LOVE HER.

at the end of her performance, perez surprised her with kid cudi, whose song “day-n-nite” she recently covered. i mean, just look at her face!!! now you can see why she goes by little boots cos ADORABLE.

she also had the guts (and the star power) to do what all of us had been DYING to do… steal perez’s hat!!!!

see what i mean? SLUMBER. PARTY.

and in spite of the fact that i’d just seen what felt like a bazillion bands, the party was sooo not over. which by the way meant that i’d been standing for about five hours and had most definitely NOT used the portapotties again.

fortunately, rye rye proved to be a good distraction…

but unfortunately for rye rye, there was an even BIGGER distraction sitting on the side of the stage…

KANYE FREAKING WEST!!!!!!!

ok i realize that’s no longer a surprise for any of you. but you have to realize that it was a preeetty awesome surprise for *us* during the show. i mean, i knew he was at the fader fort, so i figured he’d show up at perez but still. you never know with kanye– he keeps you guessing. like “why does kanye always write in all caps on his blog?” etc. etc.

so while rye rye’s performing, we’re all wondering WILL KANYE TAKE THE STAGE?! this question lead a lot of people that were previously uninterested in actually *seeing* any of the music to rush towards the stage, which then lead to quandries like, “should i stay here, so i can keep my place, or should i pee, which i need to do v. desperately?”

this dilemma, btw, was documented by henri via twitter and then documented publicly via idolator (thanks for sending me that link, josh). so now henri’s identity on twitter will forever be connected to kanye and pee. hurrah!

fortunately, we didn’t have to wait to much longer (kanye reference! what!) cos as soon as rye rye finished her set, perez came on stage and introduced kanye!! and then he came on stage and performed RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. OMGGGGGG!!!!!

honestly, it was really surreal. esp. considering the fact that last year, henri, erica and i paid a good chunk of change to see this dude from a bit of a distance. and now we were seeing him, a mere four feet away, for free.

it was also surreal cos it was FREAKING KANYE! HOLY CRAP!

note the gold jesus necklaces. kid cudi kept coming on stage and adorning kanye with more and more of them. also? i love perez’s face in that picture. he totally looks like everyone else in the audience, because even though he’s used to celebrities, he’s not looking at celebrities. he’s looking at KANYE WEST.

so apparently kanye lip synched for most of the set, which i guess is a common thing, but i had NO CLUE. i was too busy trying to get him to TOUCH MY HAND. TOUCH MY HAND KANYE! trish and i were desperately reaching out our hands every time he came by, and even though he totally touched people on the right and left of the stage, he never reached out for the center. KANYE. COME ON. WE’RE CUTE. JUST TOUCH US.

in spite of not getting touched by kanye (even better than by an angel, yo), the show totally MELTED MY PANTS OFF.

not to mention the fact that it made me, henri and erica totally famous cos LOOK YOU GUYS WE WERE IN THE NY TIMES!!!!

ok, well, part of my face was. but still!!!

i love that henri’s “i need to pee… but it’s kanye!” face is preserved for all of eternity. also preserved? the guy next to erica who was a SUPERJERK and violently pushed his way to the front and then threatened to cut erica (he really said that) when she complained.

obviously, his behavior left me no choice, especially given the context of the party.

suck it, stupidface!

but even mr. jerky pants couldn’t dampen the amazingness of kanye’s surprise (ok, kinda surprise) show. when it was over, everyone was literally glowing.

well part of that glow is a beer that someone threw on us, but whatevs. we were filled with sxsw kanye magic!!!!

there’s only one place you can go after seeing tons of bands and standing for hours and holding yr pee and having kanye practically spit on you cos he’s so close…

TACO CABANA!!!!

and that, my dear pantsters, is how i ended my 2009 sxswpants: with good friends, new (awesome) memories and a bunch of queso.

so, yeah, BEST LAST NIGHT OF SXSW EVER.

i rest my case.

and my sxspants. cos they were tired.

© 2009 Poshdeluxe.