SXSW Bday pt 2

While reviewing the photos I was going to use for the previous post, I realized that there was yet a SIXTH band we had seen and listened to who wasn't included in my last post. So I will give you a rundown of this performance here.

Now although this performance was during the music portion of SXSW, this band actually performed for the Heart of Texas Rockfest. This runs event runs concurrent to SXSW and is located between 6th St and 7th St on Neches. It is free to get in, but they do ask for donations at the gate so if you go next year, please donate! A $1 donation is stupid cheap for great music and an amazing line up of bands they always have here. The set up is for Rockfest is pretty sweet as well. There are 2 stages side x side, so while you are listening to some awesome music on one stage, the next band is getting ready on the other stage. I would honestly say there is a 5 minute delay between bands starting from stage to stage, pretty fucking cool and efficient!

There is an upcoming blog from my day 5 of SXSW that will be dedicated to Heart of Texas Rockfest (http://www.texasrockfest.com/). This is what happened somwhere in between Super Water Sympathy and Winslow (http://livemusicinaustin.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-very-sxsw-birthday.html) we wandered over to see what was happening at the Texas Rockfest complex.

To my surprise, LA Velvet (https://www.facebook.com/LAVelvetMusic) was on stage. Yes! and Oh My! was the instantaneous reaction. I remember this band from SXSW 2012, so you know they made an impression. Here is what blew me away this time...there was a huge difference in the sound and the stage presentation of the band. There is absolutely no question in my mind that not only a year, but also location, can make a huge difference in the sound, presentation, and lasting impression a band can make on a crowd. If I just went off of my last experience with this band in 2012 (http://livemusicinaustin.blogspot.com/2012/03/kickin-it-sxsw-style.html) I probably wouldn't have hung out too long, but I wanted to give them another look. Okay! Well maybe I wanted to give lead singer Laura V another look, but so did every other dude with a camera, cell phone, or mental Rolodex.



The music has a strikingly 80's metal sound. There is NOTHING wrong with this, and judging from the people in the crowd jamming out, you can tell that LA Velvet is well received and appreciated for what they do. With front woman Laura V belting out the vocals (and sounding a helluva lot like Doro Pesch - props to the metal god she is) and shredding impressively on the guitar, it is no wonder the crowd pretty much stays glued to their spot. With definitive crowd control, the band puts the audience through the paces. "Put your hands together!" "Let me hear you out there!" "How are you feeling tonite Austin, Texas?" is the constant banter from the stage keeping the audience lively and part of the show. It seems this is a good thing, to have your crowd as the 'other' member of the band. LA Velvet did break out my least favorite song of theirs (the one with the harmonica) again for one of their last songs of the performance. However, this time it was so totally different, the sound was much cleaner and made sense with the music.

Overall I am glad to say I got to see LA Velvet AGAIN! What kind of music blogger would I be without saying that I would love the opportunity to meet the band...wink wink - nudge nudge...when they come down Texas way again!

Laters