Gayngs/Local Natives In Review

It was a packed house at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater last night. There were only two bands on the bill but with Gayngs taking the stage at 8pm there were people as far as the eye could see from 7:45pm on. Elevn people took to the stage for Gayngs, lots of them wearing matching black hoodies with the emblem from the cover of Relayted. You can definitely hear that Minneapolis sound in Gayngs synthesizer sexin' jams. There was a lot of harmonizing and the lead vocals were carried by several members of the group depending on the song. The crowd was bobbing and swaying along to the tunes and seemed generally interested and engaged, which isn't always the case for the non-headliner. I'm sure bands hate it when someone's favorite song of theirs is a cover song, HOWEVER I must say that when Har Mar Superstar took the lead vocal to sing Gayngs' cover of One More Try it was magical.


George Michael - One More Try video via YouTube

Local Natives took to the stage by 10pm and immediately had the crowd singing along to World News. Before the band began, I heard several people in the crowd reminiscing about the various, smaller venues where they had seen Local Natives perform during SXSW 2010. It felt like the band belonged to us and we were all so proud of them for making it to the big show. Personally, the last time I saw Local Natives was last April at Antone's. That show was also sold-out with an adoring crowd but until you've sang/screamed along to Sun Hands with THOUSANDS of other people at Stubb's you haven't really lived. This crowd knew all of the words to all of the songs and we were willing to prove it last night.


Local Natives - World News video via YouTube

The Natives' set was as long as could be expected given that the band is still touring behind their one and only LP, Gorilla Manor but they promised us that next time they come to Austin they'll have new material. I feel like even if they only played the same song cycle for a week's worth of shows in Austin they would have a sold-out crowd singing along.


Local Natives - Wide Eyes video via YouTube

All in all, the show was a rousing success, a good time was had by all, and Har Mar retweeted my tweet, which is always nice. Even though SXSW music doesn't start until Wednesday I feel like my south by started last night and it was a great way to kick off the festivities. Also, as someone who prefers to avoid gluten it's really nice that Stubb's carries Strongbow Dry Cider. Just throwing that out there.