OK, so you might be thinking to yourself, “What was with those prefatory remarks you made threatening to blow our minds with your picks, John? We’re with you so far.†Well, strap yourselves in, friends. From here on in, things get weird, and in the immortal words of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, “when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.â€
I arrived a little past 8:30 p.m. Thursday night at the I Heart Comix showcase at Beauty Bar, a venue with two stages (indoor and outdoor), thinking that the band I was there to see (Totally Michael), was playing inside. As the scheduled start time neared and the preceding band was still going strong, however, I wandered outside thinking maybe I had gotten the stages mixed up and, lo and behold, the outside band is just finishing their sound check. On the stage were two men, one looking like a rocker, the other looking like, well, like a guy carrying a serious torch for ‘80s hair metal. As far as the stage setup, the rocker was on a Rickenbacker guitar, there was a keyboard, and there were a bunch of Orange amps. That’s it. I’m intrigued. Looks to be outside of my usual comfort zone, but I’m at South-by to hear new sounds, right? Let’s see where this leads.
Where it led was to one of the most captivating live performances I saw all week and, in all honestly, I don’t know that I’m capable of even beginning to do it justice with my words. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate video from any of Jaguar Love’s South-by performances to back up my claims of what a singular live act this band is. If you seek charisma in your live rock ‘n’ roll, trust me, you need look no further. I’m about the furthest thing you could find from a metalhead, but the hair metal comparisons don’t stop with just the look of Jaguar Love’s singer, Johnny Whitney, extending to the histrionic (in a good way!) vocal performance.
Metal is hardly the only musical touchstone here though, as there’s certainly equivalent doses of both punk vigor and indie spirit in Jaguar Love’s thoroughly original and highly potent rock ‘n’ roll stew. When a band is this into their music and performance, and continuously break down perceived barriers between the audience and the performers, evidenced by both band members entering the crowd several times (while still singing and/or playing) to either start and/or join a frenetic mosh pit … well, I don’t know about you, but I was certainly incapable of resisting the charms of such a performance, prerecorded backing tracks and all. For pure rock spectacle delivered with enough energy to power a small city, pound for pound, Jaguar Love were simply unmatched at South-by this year.
Even though I was unsuccessful in my quest to locate video of Jaguar Love from South-by, the following video from a show last fall should serve to amply demonstrate the energy evident in one of their shows:
Want to read more highlights from this year’s South-by? Step right up for all of John’s SXSW ’09 highlights.
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.