it’s SXSW time again and in celebration of Indie Rock Spring Break i will reshare with you guys my absolute favorite SXSW moment ever back in the year 2002 when The Icarus Line fucked with the ghost of Stevie Ray Vaughn.
i was at the Hard Rock Cafe (the LEAST rock n’ roll venue possible) to catch The Dead Low Tide (a band made up of former members of The Murder City Devils), Sparta (a terrible emo band made up of the dudes from At The Drive-In that didn’t have afros) and the headliner of the night…The Icarus Line. after being underwhelmed by the Dead Low Tide and bored outta my fucking mind by Sparta i was really ready for some loud noisey punk rock, and if there was one thing The Icarus Line knew how the provide in those days it was loud noisey punk rock. their shows were always chaotic and a little bit antagonistic which had the effect of turning off a lot of kids. by about 4 songs into their set most of the crowd had ditched out and there were maybe 15 or 20 people watching the show, me being one of those. guitarist Aaron North and singer Joe Cardamone seemed extremely agitated at the lame crowd and the even lamer venue and before long Joe was climbing behind the drummer and tearing down a huge SXSW sponsor banner. the bouncers were obviously pissed about this and you could tell they were ready to pull the plug on the Icarus Line’s set, but before that could happen Aaron North grabbed a microphone stand and walked over to a glass case on the side of the stage that held an autographed guitar by Texas legend Stevie Ray Vaughn. before anyone knew what the fuck was happening Aaron smashed the case open and grabbed the guitar. i thought he was gonna smash the thing. before anything could happen the bouncers rushed the stage and the show was over. someone snatched SRV’s guitar from North and then he ran out of the club before anyone called the cops. i had been taking pictures the entire set and was lucky enough to snap a photo of the exact moment that the microphone stand shattered the glass case. of all the crazy shit i have seen happen at a show, that was the fucking craziest.
some video evidence too:
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