A fan's life is not easy or easily sustainable. Although overall, this week has been a diehard fan's dream--seeing Butch Walker three times within five days--to actually accomplish it, well, at some points, Bibi thought: really? I have to endure this (traffic, getting lost due to seemingly willfully incomprehensible directions, some poor food choice decisions, not eating for long periods of time, w-a-i-t-i-n-g in lines, sunburned left arm, sitting next to flaky people) bullshit because I want to see Butch? The two trips (Dallas and Austin) weren't that expensive, so positive in their favor, the two hotels were fine (the Dallas hotel had a Hotel California air to it, though, yes, I was allowed to check out without incident) and the SXSW hotel was in Round Rock, about 15 minutes (30 agonizing minutes in bad traffic conditions) from Austin, again, not such bad aspects of the trips. And who doesn't like to anticipate those little soaps?
But sometimes, the waiting was not only the hardest part, it was the worst part of what Bibi had to do to see Butch. Few of the gory details are needed since they are irrelvant now that Bibi did see Butch and did enjoy his kick ass shows tremendously. And, of course, none of them were caused by Butch; only by those incapable of understanding the importance of seeing Butch perform live, in person, up close. At SXSW, if you don't buy the all-showcase access badge, around $800, and you don't live in the Austin area (you have a few chances to buy wristbands for less than $200), you have to hope that the shows you want to see will NOT be a major draw for the badges and wristbands--they get in first--since they could fill up the venue and make day-of tickets difficult to get. For Bibi, this not knowing was just so stressful.
From Day 1, everybody kept consoling me: even if you don't get in to see him, there are so many other acts to see! They did not get it. Why would I go through making travel arrangements, making sure I could be away from my national-importance level job for a week, aka, work for weeks before so that nothing was left undone for this week, decide the money spent was just money well-spent and damn it, worth it to spend, if just any act would be okay to attend? Really, who goes to SXSW with that plan?
To quote C-3P-0, thank the Maker, Bibi got into both of Butch's showcases relatively easily and for a total of $10! Didn't spend money on drinks since the first show was in a church and Bibi couldn't get through the crowd in Vice Bar to get a drink.
One of the beauties of this Texas mini-tour was the unexpected opportunities to be in such close proximity to Butch while he performed--Bibi would have never even dreamed it would be possible to be three feet in front of him, much less have him pass right next to me on his way through the audience in Dallas. On Friday night at the Vice Bar, Bibi was on the front row! I know the readers are going to roll their eyes when I reveal that at a certain point in Butch's set, Bibi could swear he noticed her being in the front AGAIN and he smiled right at her!!!! REALLY, REALLY!
It was deleriously FABULOUS and I deleriously clung to that feeling for the 6 1/2 hours that I stood there. (a sort of lol here) My cowboy boots are really comfy, but, whoa, all that standing with no drink in hand was a Texas-sized challenge. Fan note: maybe laundry has to be done each night while Butch is on tour? He wore the same ensemble on Friday that he wore on Thursday, at least the tee shirt and vest. Butch is probably a way better traveler/packer than Bibi; I took three pairs of boots, a pair of sandals, and the Doc Martins for a two day trip, along with enough clothes for four changes.
Bibi digresses. The first three acts were country singers, okay. The first two were appealing and seemed viable, but kind of laid back, overall. This made it easy for Butch to come on and ROCK THE JOINT DOWN!! The crowd was more than ready to jump up and down, stomp their hearts out, join in with Butch's songs full out: complete Butch fan overload! The time frame was shorter than the night before, so the set list was, too.
Closer to the Truth and Further from the Sky
Pretty Melody
new song, Let it Go the Way It's Supposed To (maybe that's the title)
The Closest Thing to You
new song
Synthesizers
3 Kids in Brooklyn
Vice Bar Finale (sigh) I'm in this video, stage left at the front!
Butch is a superbly talented musician and an experienced performer; regrettably, the stage was tiny, allowing less expressive movement from Butch than usual, the mike in front of him flopped over three times (his tech finally had to tape it together while Butch sang), the strap on Butch's mandolin fell off, requiring Butch to sing, play and reattach the strap, and Bibi could swear she heard feedback at least once during one of the all too few songs. That Butch kept it together and pulled off a hell of a rock star performance was incredible. And at the same time, something Bibi knew Butch could and would do. I did think that within his performer ethos, Butch was royally pissed off and he used that to give the show even more oomph. But, Bibi did sense a pissed off-edness. Maybe just besotted fan imagination. Whatever, once again he rocked us black n blue, baby!
By now, the crowd was sort of pressing on Bibi and the other front of the stage fans, both from excitement and the people coming in for Matt Nathanson (Bibi liked him, his sound, although she didn't know any of his songs.) I knew he must be good: Butch follows him on Twitter! He especially endeared himself to Bibi when he did a shout out to his friend, Butch Walker.
The final act was Fall Out Boy. I had seen them sing the song Butch wrote for them on Jimmy Kimmel, so I at least knew that one song and they did do it later in their set--with acknowledgement to Butch. Their music was more melodic than the previous band and their infectious, effusive energy was echoed by the enthusiastic crowd.
The crowd was major-ly pushing from behind, but luckily, the photographer who stood behind Bibi for the entire 6+ hours was a big guy and very kindly held off a lot of the shoving, plus, it was a short set and before complete body compression took place we were released into the teeming 6th Street action about 2 am. Whew!
Have to say, though, Butch set the feverish (in a really good way) tone for the show and he set the energy, rock action bar high. Hope Butch, Matt Nathanson and Fall Out Boy all had a great meet up after the show.
Speaking of the fan life, just before the Thursday night performance, as we were settling in our seats/pews, an exotic-looking young woman sat down to Bibi's left. She told all around her a vaguely interesting, possibly true story about how she got her wristband. It caused Bibi to ponder on that dichotomy between a celebrity's stage persona and real person life, whether the story was true or not. Fans and wannabes!
SXSW was a cool life experience for Bibi--not only did she get to see Butch twice in two days, she experienced some great new music (new to Bibi) and had an excellent time meeting new fans.
Thanks, Butch, for coming to Texas, being part of SXSW, and especially for your kick-ass, leave 'em wanting more, more, more shows! Eagerly awaiting the summer tour dates and locations.
Love ya, guy!
