Isis, the feminine half of Thunderheist is one the most charismatic, commanding performers I saw at SXSW. Sensing that the long set change was losing the sweaty energy of the evening, she took it upon herself to pump up the audience by leaving the stage to become more intimate amongst the crowd.
Though she may have started by apologizing ("I'd like to thank Mr. Jack Daniels for fucking up my set"), she mostly gave reassurances, "Its going to be crazy, I promise. Someone's gonna get pregnant.... and then, ignoring apparent delays with the sound setup, "Fuck it! Let's get this thing started!" And did she ever get it started. The whole crowd was shortly jumping about, shaking various body parts along to the likes of "Little Booty Girl" and other electro funky tracks.
Isis's strong (yet not obnoxious) attitude and smooth, fast flowing vocals even provoked one fan to remove her shirt and dirty dance onstage. Behind the hip-hop style vocals of Isis, Grahm Zilla had trouble hiding his sheepish smile while laying down a vast range of backing beats, including "Sweet Dreams" during "Suenos 2k8"- perhaps the only time I've hip-hop danced to the synthy electronic song. I also loved the genuine enthusiasm Isis and Grahm had for wanting to make sure we were all having a good time- the duo was all smiles through the entire, high energy set.
Towards the end Isis began to grab those of us in the front row and pull us up on stage, further increasing the party feel of the evening. Unfortunately the folks at Beauty Bar werent too keen on this and kicked us all back to the floor within a minute or so. Still, I imagine Thunderheist won over some new fans after such an engaging performance.
