The long-awaited return of Awolnation was cause enough for celebration during their SXSW showcase at Austin’s ACL Live @ Moody Theatre on Thursday, but it was the strength of their new material which made for an unforgettable night.
Playing their first show since the release of their sophomore album Run earlier in the week, mastermind Aaron Bruno led the quintet through a 14-song, high-octane set against wild backlighting and plumes of smoke. While the set relied heavily on new material, the crowd was nonetheless enraptured, with a surprisingly robust singalong showing for most tracks.
“I remember when I came up with that song,” Bruno told us last week about the title track to Run. “It was like ‘This is what’s gonna start the record, this is what I want to play first for the rest of my life, this is what I want to get tattooed all over myself.’ That was the feeling and the mood and the bar that was set for me as far as intensity.”
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The sentiment came across clearly in live execution, as the ominously throbbing track set the tone for the rest of the performance. While the first-album familiarity of “It’s Not Your Fault” and “Burn It Down” brought wild throwdowns of dance-party goodness, the new material provided the most promising energy escalations of the night. The thundering sprint of “KOOKSEVERYWHERE!!” was a riotous celebration, while the gorgeously delicate melody of “Windows” gives way to a hilariously awesome chant-along “Aww man! I can’t believe this is happening!”
At Bruno’s urging, the crowd-surfing was virtually nonstop as well:
Bruno and crew have finely-tuned Run into a honed sonic beast, and the evolution will be thrilling to see as we check in with Awol at the upcoming Bonnaroo festival in June. But for all of Run’s grand accomplishment, there’s no arguing the untouchable gravity of finale “Sail,” the band’s cornerstone hit. Blinding lights, maniacal dancing and wall-to-wall singalongs sent us off into the night on an erotically-charged tide of pure adrenalized rock.
And somehow, this was only the beginning of a night that already ranks among the best in SXSW history. More on that soon…
Photos: Johnny Firecloud
