SXSW, Part 2

South by Southwest always includes some free concerts, and tonight, it was The Strokes, one of my all-time favorite bands! The last time I saw them was waaay back in 2006, and I saw them for free then, too! (See The Strokes: "First Impressions of Earth" Promo Tour.)

In the past, they've always played at medium-sized venues, but tonight's concert was at an outdoor auditorium, aptly named Auditorium Shores. There were thousands of people there, for sure. People had been gearing up for the last two weeks. In fact, last week, I had one of my Strokes t-shirts on, and a few random strangers asked me whether I was going to the concert. When I said yes, they'd say some nice (albeit improbable) thing, such as, "Cool! Maybe I'll see you there!"

Anyway, I got to the concert early with Holly, Angie, and Arturo:




The concert was wonderful, as expected. The Strokes didn't get famous for nothing. Their shows are always awesome. I actually forgot that -- and forgot just how much I love The Strokes and concerts in general -- so I ended up not getting thisclose to the stage, although I easily could have. By the time the music started, I was kicking myself for not getting in the inner circle with the rest of the die-hard Strokes fans. Hardly anybody was dancing where my friend Gretchen and I were . . . :/


Did I mention that I love The Strokes? The energy from their music really gets me going. In fact, they're my go-to band when I'm about to walk into a party and need to feel cool. :) Well, that kind of energy was there tonight. They played a good mix of old and new songs, fast and slow. In fact, I think they played a couple songs from each of their four albums. A lot of big bands don't do that anymore . . . For the last song, they played "Last Night," and as they did, fireworks shot up into the sky. It was great! Fireworks make everything better . . .


Auditorium Shores is right next to Lady Bird Lake, which was previously known as Town Lake and still called that by Austinites. It's really beautiful, actually, especially at night.


All in all, it was a fun St. Paddy's Day. I'd do it again. :)


Thing I'm thankful for: my sister, who reminds me how much better concerts are when you're front and center and dancing like crazy.