Little Dragon/ A-Trak with Big Boi

Ever since my month of amazing shows involving SXSW and being front row for Radiohead with a really cute blond, my concert luck hasn't been the greatest. It started with the whole R Kelly fiasco
 http://onlyfreshness.blogspot.com/2012/05/intimate-evening-with-ultimate-piss.html
 and then it continued  with the Dave Chapelle surprise show nightmare. That event alone made me hate Austin for a week and I have never said those words.  But now it continues on a much smaller scale with the random, invite only Fader event that took place this Tuesday night. I almost didn't rsvp for it because I figured it would probably just be Bob Schneider playing the one millionth time in Austin. Speaking of, how do you get lucky enough to not only date Sandra Bullock in her prime but to also have her pimp you out by getting you a spot on Jay Leno? And then you still don't blow up?!? How scrubby are you? At least Jesse James got a porn star and a few free tattoos out of the deal.

Anyway, as it it turned out, twitter started leaking news of who the acts were the day of the show. Names like Little Dragon and Andre 3000 were being thrown around. Freaking Andre 3000? Really??? And can I find a way to ask you more questions as I write this? So naturally I started to get pumped for this free show with free drinks. The key word is free. If that alone didn't set off an alarm,then the fact that I walked in and saw the same security guys working this event that were working the R Kelly "show" should have sent me running away screaming! But hey, there were free drinks and cute girls everywhere so I was game.

First if you don't know who Little Dragon is, give them a shot. This description doesn't really do them justice because they are hard to categorize but they are a Swedish electronic indie pop band. I was lucky enough to see their unannounced reunion show a few years back at SX. There were only like 30 people there and it was clear that they hadn't played together in a while so they didn't sound that great. But this time around they had their act together and put on a killer show. I'm not that impressed with their drummer but outside of him they were pretty tight and seemed to be enjoying themselves.Check out some of their cuts like Feathers, Little Man, or their latest cut Ritual Union. They have quite a few mellow tracks but some upbeat stuff too to help keep the party going.  Plus it doesn't hurt that she sounds like Erykah Badu on a few of their songs; such as the soulful No Love. I would rate them as kind of FRESH.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0_TwrsD5Cw

Next up was A-Trak. I guess growing up watching and living with real dj's who actually had to win battles has spoiled me. I know with technology comes major change in how one can make and reproduce music live but still. There should be some skill that you have to display when putting on a show. I am so not on board with some clown coming on stage and hiding behind this big box while he "tinkers" with stuff back there and calls it spinning. Seriously, just walk on stage, press play on your laptop and leave. It's really the same thing. Don't pull a Milli Vanilli and act like you're doing something. At one point he even came from behind the giant box to hype up the crowd but then the music dropped . He forgot that he was supposed to be spinning and immediately ran back to act like he had something to do with what was happening musically. The only bright spot of his set was that he played this 20 minute version of The Big Bad Wolf (at least I assume that was the name of the song) that was soo awful it actually made a 180 and sounded kind of fresh. He successfully beat me into submission with his awful grooves. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time with this guy who just plays other people's music and makes it sound worse. A-Trak is definitely WACK. And yes I know Kanye and a whole host of others are down with him, but maybe they should ease up on the lean in their cup from time to time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJMi0nahtOk

So now we come to Big Boi. He came out and performed his collaboration song with Little dragon which  I thought was weird. The headliner never comes out early because it steals their thunder for when their actual set begins. But I didn't think anything of it until about 6 beers later. Did he really just fly in for one song? I mean I know it's a free show and but man that's a long flight to collect a check and sit in the back and smoke weed. Just out of sheer boredom he'd want to play a short set right? Nope! He later came out to play Shutterbug and then peaced out. Oh well, Shutterbug was pretty hype and it was FREE. So I wont complain especially since there was no way Fader could have sold this event with just Little Dragon and A-Scrub.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ1j95MxOXs

One last side note. This event took place in a rec center. So the acoustics were awful and it felt like a junior high school dance party except at least those dj's could actually spin. Ooooooooh

Peace up A town down for life! Outkast!