SXSW: Day Three

Thursday started off ambitious enough: a cross-town walk in the noontime heat, followed by an impromptu dip in Sonos‘s 3rd Street oasis. This year, the Santa Barbra speaker company has paired with KCRW for a series of daytime events, interactive experiences, and swanky lounging that looks and feels like a hip California house party. Amongst the goods: a sneak peek at Sonos’s new entertainment unit, a build-your-own-speaker project, and a stone fountain filled with all the drinks you can swig.

Around the corner, we caught New Orleans quartet Generationals debut a few charmingly good new songs, as well as dip into their back catalog for poppy goodies like “Say You Will” and “Trust.” Despite the afternoon sun, the band had the audience in the palm of their hand in minutes, making for one of the more genuinely great shows of the day.

Come nightfall, Myspace hoisted the curtain on its second “secret show” this week to reveal Hit Boys,, Kid Cudi, and Diplo. The event brought its fair share of crowded chaos, but the open bar and refreshingly high-powered AC worked wonders to keep people loose. And, oh, they got loose.

Down the block, sister labels Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguar, and Dead Oceans took over Red 7 for their label party, which brought strong sets from Small Black, Suuns, Bleached, Besnard Lakes, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Akron/Family. As for show stealers, though, that award went to Foxygen, the youngest of the labelmates, who peppered their theatric set with a mini-meltdown of jaw-dropping proportions. About two songs into the set, frontman Sam France started riffing on the state of his vocals, explaining how exhausted and “empty” he felt after playing so many shows. But one audience member wasn’t hearing it; he wanted another song. Now. This sent France into an expletive-driven tizzy that basically amounted to “Get the fuck up here and say it to my face.”

France eventually pushed through another song, then left, then returned to the stage, and apologized so the band could finish its set. Whether the crowd bought it or not? TBD. Either way, we’re hoping Foxygen take a breather today.