Idolator At SXSW, Day One: Nine Bands, One Springsteen Cover, And Two Happy Hands

We’ve been sending along regular updates as the South By Southwest music conference drags along, but we also wanted to give you a big-picture view of each day, so we’ll be doing daily wrapups that sum up the best and worst moments. After the jump, we break down the first full day of parties, shows, and ill-advised marketing.

DEPARTURE FROM HOTEL ROOM: Wednesday, 10:58 a.m. CT. RETURN TO HOTEL ROOM: Thursday, 1:30 a.m. CT. WEATHER REPORT: Cool, breezy, and just moist enough to turn our hair into a frizz bomb. BANDS SEEN^*: Nine: Shivers, Kenna, Smoking Popes, Peel, Bat For Lashes, Imperial Teen, Meat Puppets, Gentle Good, Illinois. Running SXSW total: Nine. BLOGGER PARTIES ATTENDED: Two. Running SXSW total: Two. PANELS ATTENDED: Zero. Running SXSW total (music conference only): Zero. BEST AMENITIES, NON-OPEN BAR VARIETY: Beauty Bar, which had Salt Lick barbecue (!), free fizzy pear-and-vodka cocktails, and forearm massages. The last item in that list probably saved our updating schedule for the next four days. BEST SWAG: Face scrub from the aforementioned Beauty Bar party. Clear pores, here we come! NERDIEST MOMENT: Spending three songs, including “Yoo Hoo,” wondering if that was really former Faith No More bassist Billy Gould standing in front of us at the Imperial Teen show. WORST USE OF TECHNOLOGY: Verizon’s “send a text message and we’ll project it onto the stage” innovation, which resulted in such bon mots as “Hi mom,” “The Favorite look out for them!” and “Citylimits” getting their moment in the sun. BEST COVER: Bat For Lashes’ shivery, string-aided take on Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire.” BAND WHO WE WOULD HAVE STUCK AROUND FOR IF WE HADN’T REALIZED WE WERE IN THE WRONG PLACE: Sea Wolf. How are they not playing seven blogger showcases in the next three days?

Idolator’s complete SXSW coverage

^* Where “seen” = “caught two or more songs by.” We also got brief glimpses of Robyn Hitchcock, The Affair, and The Boxing Lesson, among others.