STEPH DEROSA: BAD SXSW VENUES >>>

After catching an all-star cast of singing artists promoting the indie documentary Body of War last night at Stubbs (an amazing venue), the Weekly Volcano made its way down the craziness that was 6th Street.

Bar after bar, lined up next to each other and from across the streets you could hear bands busting out their stuff, hoping to lure you in and discover that they were your new favorite sound.  My ears rose left, right, up, and down, trying to pick up on a sound that would let me stop and dance a little.  And I did â€" I heard it.  But where was that coming from?  I backtracked passed a few bars and listened again.  We rounded the corner, listened again, passed a few more bars, and we could still hear it.  But where the hell was it coming from? 

Then down a dark street, around the back of a building, and in a parking lot next to a taco stand stood a three-piece wonder band playing for a line of porta-potties.  They were the Josh Tatum Band and their sound had traveled around a block to lure me in.  I was impressed both with their music and the fact that they said “fuck the system!” and made their own damn venue!

After we had enough of Josh and his band, we footed it over to the Austin Music Hall, which seemed to be located in Houston seeing as how it was so damn far away.  It was a beautiful venue, and My Morning Jacket was about to play. We sat inside, rested our weary dogs, and took it all in.

What we noticed about the interior of the building: it was entirely concrete, metal, and raw.  No padding on the floors, walls, or anywhere.  The ceiling was exposed metal ducts and pipes.  I could tell the look they were going for, and I dug it all right, but was it going to sound very good acoustically in there?  No, no it wasn’t.

Typically My Morning Jacket is a solid live band, but this was by far one of the most painful sound experiences I’ve ever heard.  The reverb killed the sound of what would be the lyrics, and today my ears are still ringing.  I told my friends who lived here about the experience and they agreed â€" Austin Music Hall was the second worst venue for music in Austin.  Why the hell would Austin spend so much money on such a beautiful music hall if it was there just for beauty and that was it?  Its sole purpose of being a music hall had been over- looked in the designing portion of the development.  Oh well, lessoned learned: no more shows at Austin Music Hall.

You wanna know what they said the No. 1 worst venue in Austin was? Emo’s.  That’s where we’re catching the Supersuckers tonight.  Wish us luck!

LINK: SXSW