Saturday afternoon began for me with a touch of deja vu, as I once again started my day at Cedar Street Courtyard for the kickoff of day three of the Filter throwdown there. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’d be bookending my day parties with Filter on this day. Kicking things off in a manner most righteous was Longwave, who I’ve got to say, are quietly becoming one of my favorite live bands out there. They’ve just finished their fourth album, and based on the new material they’ve been playing out, it promises to be an absolute monster of a rock record.
I party-hopped from Filter to the Utne Reader shindig at the Thirsty Nickel for a very fine set by Rogue Wave (featuring an unannounced and quite wonderful guest appearance by Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws on one song).
Party-hopping again, I caught a brief 3-song set by Nicole Atkins before heading back to the Thirsty Nickel for that party’s headliner, the great Billy Bragg, who was inspiring and electrifying in equal parts (as always). Bragg had a special treat for the crowd, bringing out current-U.K.-sensation, Kate Nash, to join him for a delightful cover of the Shangri-Las “Give Him a Great Big Kiss.” It was during this set that a friend texted to let me know he’d just gotten word that Bragg would be returning the favor, joining Nash for her headlining set at the Filter party immediately following this set.
Would I go for the double-dip? Is that a rhetorical question? Yes to both. Duh.
So it was back over to Cedar Street Courtyard where, after a surprisingly long wait, Nash took the stage (with Bragg crouching off to stage right cheering her on enthusiastically) for what would prove to be the highlight of my afternoon. Nash proved to be a thoroughly engaging performer, and I daresay every man in the audience (as well as, I suspect, a fair number of the women) was utterly smitten by the refreshingly guileless Nash and her equally charming songs. Nash began her set accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and later moved to keyboards. Nash brought Bragg out from the wings to join her for a thrilling 3-song set-closing finale, introducing him in an I-can’t-quite-believe-it’s-true-either manner by saying, “This is my friend Billy Bragg. Ha ha – we’re friends.” The two kicked off with another run-through of “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” (they nailed it this time, though I think I may have actually preferred the warts-and-all first run-through), followed by a thrillingly goosebump-inducing duet on Bragg’s “A New England,” and wrapping up with Nash’s hit, “Foundations.”
It’s not from their SXSW performance, but you can get a taste of how sweet it was with this (broadcast quality) video of the Kate and Billy show from the NME Awards, performing a mashup of “Foundations” into “A New England”:
Surprisingly enough, I was granted the opportunity to compliment Nash on her performance just four nights later when, back home in D.C., I noticed her by the bar at the Black Cat after the Cribs show (which was awesome, by the way, and “pinch me!“ even featured a storming cover of the Replacements’ “Bastards of Young”), where she proved to be every bit as personable and down-to-earth in person as she is onstage.
Be advised: While Bragg’s brief string of U.S. dates are now complete, Nash is touring the U.S. beginning next month, so check your local listings!
About the author: John Anderson is a SXSW addict, having attended "South-by" every year since 1999. His South-by geekery spilled over into the realm of blogging in 2006, and he is grateful to the Twangville audience for having indulged his South-by ravings since 2008.