Village Voice Media
La Zona Rosa, Friday, March 19
After last year’s double-digit performance effort by the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, it seemed like they were making a run at trying to eclipse Jon Langford’s performance record for South by Southwest in a decade. Problem was, it wore them down and they fell way short of the hype. This year? Better. Not spectacular but some increased level of onstage comfort made for a less synthetic Belle & Sebastian-lite performance. Still, the throngs who left after their set demonstrated their lack of taste and intelligence. Because Superchunk fucking rocked. Maybe there was a Frightened Rabbit show someplace. The vets put together a set that peaked at “Detroit Has a Skyline Too” before culminating in “Slack Motherfucker.” There are few things that equal being in a room of people (even if it’s only two-thirds full) shouting “I’m working, but I’m not working for you.” Yeah it’s kind of juvenile, but it was also transcendent, a reminder that there’s joy in rock music.
This article appears in March 19 • 2010.