SXSW '08 Zooey Deschanel a snoozer NERD have fun

SXSW '08: Zooey Deschanel a snoozer; N.E.R.D. have fun

The actress' stage presence was minimal during her SXSW show in Austin on Friday, and the songs she played could have used some melody.

As comfortable as it was to plant myself at Stubb's all day, there was one band worth trekking across town for, out of curiosity alone. When I saw the Vines on this year's SXSW schedule, I wondered if it was even the same Vines from the garage-rock explosion of the early 2000s. After singer Craig Nicholls basically went bat-sh-- crazy a few years back, I'd given up ever seeing the Vines again.

But they are back, and Nicholls is still as fascinating a frontman as they come. Entertaining a yuppy (bottle service all around!) crowd at Pangea, Nicholls took the stage with a cigarette dangling from his lips, his hair covering his eyes and his jean jacket three sizes too small and tore into a set that featured new material along with some Vines favorites.

On my way back to Stubb's (where else?) I snuck in the back door of the Parish to catch She & Him, the new duo of M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel. Call me a dork, but I loved her voice in "Elf" (the show scene gets me every time) and so I've been stoked about this project since first hearing about it last year.

And Deschanel certainly has the voice, but damn was this show boring. Her stage presence was minimal and the songs could have used some melody. Oh well, I hear Keanu Reeves has a band.

Finally, I wrapped up Friday back at Stubb's for N.E.R.D., who are always good for a fun show. They made me wait nearly 30 minutes (unheard of at SXSW) but delivered with their full-band version of hip-hop.

N.E.R.D. have a new record on the way, and I'm praying it's like their first (amazing) and not their last (dreadful). The new stuff seemed the former, so that's good news. But what I really wanted to hear was "Rockstar." "You can't be me/ I'm a rock star … It's almost over now/almost over know." So
fitting for SXSW.

-Adam Deroy

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Why go to Austin when you've got Buzznet? Keep checking back here for SXSW pics, videos, reports and more as we get our fill of bands on the brink.

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Comments (6)

	dedenay: 03/15/2008 4:05 PM so sad to hear!! i absolutely ADORE zooey. in all honesty, tho, i didn't expect her to be the next b.spears in the entertainment-on-stage department. my prediction was that i figured both her [zooey] and scarlett johanson [except i am eager to hear her collaboration with david bowie!!] are more of the "soothing" types of singers.
	dedenay: 03/15/2008 4:05 PM [and by entertainment-on-stage i was NOT including the vma performance in there...haha]
	rawrdinox3: 03/16/2008 7:29 AM omg. shes from ELF. haha. When i saw the pic, i was like, WTF!
	conquistador: 03/16/2008 8:39 AM I'm seeing N.E.R.D. on the Flashing Lights Tour.
	ashuhhwhee: 03/16/2008 6:02 PM I really like She and Him sucks that they didn't too well.
	jerrydazzlepants: 12/15/2008 9:38 PM Awwh I love Zooey, shame to hear she sucked. And that's quite a horrendous photo of her =P The comment about Craig Nicholls going batshit kinda irked me. I do agree that he was a bit mental, but he was actually diagnosed with a mental illness. =/ And I was just saying yesterday how I reckoned The Vines must have died, I hadnt heard from them in soo long.