The Wednesday night NPR showcase at Stubb's felt like a series of wagers and compromises. Would those who came for Duran Duran's late-night closing set last through preceding ones by James Blake and Smith Westerns? Would the Raphael Saadiq crowd hold onto their dancing shoes through 40 minutes of Yuck's gazey 90's guitar jams?
They all could and would and did, and Yuck started out the first official night of SXSW 2011 riding high on a wave of media attention (as witnessed by the massively crowded photo pit), and raring for an extended North American tour. Hard to say whether all the fuss was due more to singer-guitarist Daniel Blumberg's eerily Dylan-esque (good?) looks, or infectious tracks like "The Wall" from their recent self-titled debut, or to the fact that they're doing this all having barely crested their 20th year. In any case, the foursome put on a solid start to a packed bill that would stretch to Duran Duran jamming to near 3:00am.
