Spider House Ballroom reached capacity by 10pm, weather forcing the dual stage setup to shift inside and cram the front of the lineup onto the small bar-side stage.
The return of Patch highlighted the early sets. The folk-pop quartet draws a melancholy lull between Benton Allen’s reedy vocals and Taylor Tazewell’s mellow accordion. At times recalling Cotton Jones, the Austinites debuted promising new tunes for an upcoming release and mined previous EPs for “Splinters” and “Damascus.”
On the main stage, Major Major Major laid out a guitar/drum duo barrage. Cutting into last year’s debut full-length, PG-13 Movie, the jittery twosome shock-waved dance-punk attitude, prepping the crowd for Calliope Musicals’ psych-pop spectacle. The quintet, augmented by additional dancers and effects crew, closed out its tireless Free Week run with frontwoman Carrie Fussell commanding the stage both with powerful vocals and a dynamic presence as the outfit worked through last year’s debut Time Owes You Nothing in the midst of seizure strobes and confetti cannon punctuation.
Leopold & His Fiction closed out blasting a preview of long-awaited new album Darling Destroyer, due this month. Bare-chested and stretching painted-on jeans, Daniel Leopold strutted like Iggy Pop and rocked à la Jack White, stripped-down and aggressive as he straddled his flying-V guitar. New cut “Cowboy” ripped bluesy as the trio torqued raw energy and sweaty sex appeal.
This article appears in January 13 • 2017.
