By Brian deVallance
1. Guided By Voices played a live concert
2. on March 15, 1996
3. at Liberty Lunch
4. in Austin, Texas
5. as part of the l0th Annual South By Southwest music festival.
6. Concern: Would America's best band suck live?
7. They began at approximately 12:40 p.m. (C.S.T.).
8. Their early start--the only early start during the entire festival--caused many to miss
the first few minutes.9. I don't recognize it, but this is a good song.
10. Showing little emotion.
11. This is a good song, too.
12. The guitars and drums hit harder than on their albums.
13. Here's the single, "My Valuable Hunting Knife", much more like the
"Tiger Bomb"/"120 Minutes" version than from Alien Lanes.14. Robert Pollard's cigarette and can of beer in hand: Nervous prop or Midwest inspiration?
15. This is a good song, too.
16. Their recorded efforts notwithstanding, the sound is tight and clear.
17. This is a good song, too.
18. Here's a new one: "Acorns and Orioles".
19. The contrast is compelling: Edgy but heartfelt, GBV paints with simple, elegant pop melodies.
20. This is a good song, too.
21. "I'm Just A Scientist"--hardly.
22. Song after song, GBV pounds out clear-eyed delusions for nearly an hour and a half.
23. One of the most important effects of art is to make a stone, seem stony again. After this show,
I see with a slightly different perspective, inspired by song and Guided By Voices.
Afterwards, as the last few sounds got lost somewhere into Texas, a Bunyonseque Nash, replete with three-foot platforms and vacant smile, lumbered outside. Urge Overkill, it seems, is dead.
[Brian deVallance 4/3/96]