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Night two of the SXSW Music Festival featured a trio of big guitar bands with new lineups, playing new — in some cases not even completed — albums. The pressure was on to strike a balance between satiating fans with classics and testing new material without trying their patience.

More SXSW day two guitar rock: full report on Stone Temple Pilots’ set.

The Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers — now without its third singer-songwriter, Jason Isbell — proved the worth of their new album, The Big To-Do, right from the get-go at Stubb’s. Remaining singer-songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley went back and forth with hardened new songs about old themes, principally boozing (”The Fourth Night of My Drinking”), whoring (”Birthday Boy”), and employment with “fast food wages” (”This Fucking Job”).

Muscle Shoals legend Spooner Oldham joined the band on keyboard for their final song, “Let There Be Rock.” Hood said it was in homage to record stores, where boys and girls learn about music new and old, and about Big Star’s Alex Chilton, who died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday.

Band of Horses followed with their bar-raising stadium rock. Under a crescent moon emblazoned on a blue backdrop projected onto the underside of the stage’s half-shell, frontman Ben Bridwell led his revamped lineup through a stout set including “The Funeral,” one of the great singles of the passing decade. The middle of the set featured two songs — “Factory” and “Compliments” — from the new album Infinite Arms, out May 18th. They may have been working titles but the mechanics therein were anything but in flux. “Factory” was a casual rocker with a punchy refrain and an undercurrent of keys, over which Bridwell sang something to the effect of, “I got to get my shit together and try to find something to sing.”

Headliner Broken Social Scene arrived with as much manpower as the two prior bands combined. Twelve microphones awaited the ever-fluctuating Canadian collective well past midnight. Jason Collett, a former core member participating in SXSW as his own concern, joined the band’s brain trust — Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, and a freshly shaven Brendan Canning — for the intro track, a new one called “World Sick” (hear it here). The song took advantage of the band’s five-guitar assault, its ascending and descending melodies hopscotching gracefully along Drew’s lyrics about the homesickness inherent to incessant touring.

The band played a handful of old songs, among them a “7/4 (Shoreline)” embellished with a seven-person horn section, but mostly they rocked out new songs from the forthcoming Forgiveness Rock Record, out May 4th. “We’re gonna play our guts out,” Drew said, referring to dance- and keyboard-inflected songs like “Forced to Love,” “Texico Bitches,” and “All to All.” “But we’re human beings,” Drew continued, “still trying to figure things out.”

Stone Temple Pilots are not a band many could have expected to survive two full decades. Even acts without the internal wounds of serious addiction and ongoing conflict rarely make it this long, but when STP emerged onstage at the Austin Music Hall for a special performance at South By Southwest on Thursday, they delivered like journeyman rock stars with their shit together — tight and focused, and unburdened with the bitterness or bad memories from the recent past.

Singer Scott Weiland shimmied stylishly across the stage in a snug vest, tie and wraparound shades, rasping to an explosive “Vaseline,” as guitarist Dean DeLeo ignited bursts of noise and melody. Bassist Robert DeLeo strutted in a black suit and white patent-leather shoes, and drummer Eric Kretz pounded anxious beats from a gleaming white drum-riser. The 4,400-capacity Austin Music Hall was packed, and during 75 minutes of hits and new songs, the SoCal quartet managed to make the big shed feel as intimate and overheated as a club show.

They dove into STP’s earliest records, with the brooding, sludgy “Wicked Garden” and the aching resignation of “Creep” still tapping into some early-’90s disaffection and gloom, while the slower “Big Empty” floated to Dean DeLeo’s dreamy slide guitar, with sudden thunderous riffs as repeated exclamation points. Stone Temple Pilots were real grunge-era hit-makers for several years, with songs that remain a staple of rock radio, but the band’s renewed drive onstage after reappearing from a half-decade in limbo saved them from becoming mere oldies.

Songs from the band’s upcoming new album were unveiled throughout the set, fitting easily between the hits. “They’re brand new,” Weiland declared, “but they’ll feel like you’ve been hearing them for 20 years.” The self-titled 11-song collection, due May 25th, will be their first since 2001, and includes the riff-raff of “Between the Lines,” which sounded in Austin like sped-up Rolling Stones, with a flamboyant accent of Ziggy Stardust, as Weiland reminisced on the early days of romance with his estranged wife, purring breathlessly: “I like it when we talk about love, even when we used to take drugs.”

The taunting “Huckleberry Crumble” and “Hickory Dichotomy” were ’70s guitar rock with deep blues in their veins, as Weiland vamped center stage. He tossed his sweat-soaked vest into the crowd and promised another fresh new tune, saying “I hope you dig it,” but instead dove into “Plush,” one of STP’s most recognizable hits. The band had barely begun when Weiland held his microphone out over the crowd, which shouted an entire verse back at the stage.

For the band’s two-song encore, STP was joined by Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, introduced by Weiland as “a man who was part of the greatest rock & roll group in history,” before diving into a fiery “Roadhouse Blues,” leaving enough room for DeLeo and Krieger to stretch out on dueling leads. The night ended with an intense reading of “Trippin’ On a Hole in a Paper Heart,” another drug tale from 1996.

Earlier in the set, Weiland graciously told fans, “It’s your party, not ours.” But after tumultuous times both together and apart, Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots have learned to make the most of surviving long enough to enjoy it themselves.

Set List:

“Vasoline”
“Crackerman”
“Wicked Garden”
“Hollywood Bitch”
“Between the Lines”
“Hickory Dichotomy”
“Big Empty”
“Sour Girl”
“Creep”
“Plush”
“Interstate Love Song”
“Bagman”
“Huckleberry Crumble”
“Sex Type Thing”
“Dead and Bloated”

Encore:
“Roadhouse Blues”
“Trippin’ On a Hole in a Paper Heart”

On day two of SXSW, you could see the mechanisms of the hype machine in full effect. The current crop of buzz bands (the xx, Surfer Blood, Bear In Heaven) packed their rooms wall-to-wall. However, bands who had their moment but still release excellent albums (Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Vivian Girls) had more modest crowds. Maybe it’s the economy of cool, maybe it’s that bands were expected to play 10 day shows in four days and thus spread audiences thin. But however you watched them, there was still plenty to watch.

Christopher R. Weingarten of @1000TimesYes continued his Twitter odyssey yesterday, tweeting about 26 bands in 14 hours for @RollingStone. Relive his epic quest in our TwitterCam (clips range from the woozy indie drone of the Besnard Lakes to the heavy riffage of Howl) and catch up on his 140-character reports here:

Catch up on our day one Twitter marathon.

• SXSW 2010 Day One Twitter Marathon: 27 Reports, From Andrew WK to Paul Wall
• Spoon, Broken Bells Grab the Spotlight as SXSW 2010 Launches

Once again, MTV News has packed up the stick mics and headed down to Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest, the gut-busting, eardrum-shattering celebration of bands, beer and BBQ (and gifting suites) that grabs the Longhorn State by the short hairs once a year and doesn't let go until it's good and ready.

Four days of near-continuous live music, peppered with brief, meat-filled interludes, the occasional open-bar, and parties that plow on into the early morning hours, SXSW is the music marathon to end all music marathons; it's part endurance test, part wild, unending bender ... the kind of thing you've got to experience at least once in your life, provided your ears (and liver) can handle it. Seriously, you have no idea how nuts things get down here.

Anyway, we arrived in town early Thursday morning, and when we got here, the folks at SXSW were nice enough to have two of Texas' favorite sons -- Paul Wall and Chamillionaire -- waiting on hand to welcome us. We'd like to think they do this for everybody, but we know better.

We spoke to the dynamic duo -- who had just reunited on stage the previous night at Austin's La Zona Rosa after spending much of the late '00s pursuing solo careers (with, it should be added, much success) -- about teaming up once again, memories of their earlier days spent hustling in Houston, and the status of their respective solo albums (after months of delay, we found out Cham's Venom will finally see the light of day on June 22, five days before another date that holds plenty of significance for any true fan of Houston's so-called "Screw Music" scene -- June 27 -- the title of an influential mixtape released by the late, great pioneer DJ Screw).

And while we'll get to all the news over the coming days, we figured we'd let these two Texas boys do what they do best: get on the mic, and welcome all of you to the party. After all, even the most gnarly of marathons must begin with a single step.

Check back throughout the week (and into the weekend) for more of MTV News' adventures at South by Southwest ... the biggest bands, the best interviews, the beefiest beef ribs ... it's all gonna be here.

Photograph by Krista De La Rosa
Broken Bells made a lot of noise the first day of the SXSW Music Festival with their “pop-up” show at a parking garage on Red River Street in downtown Austin. It took place at 1:00 pm and was packed to capacity. That trend continued at their Wednesday night NPR showcase at Stubb’s.

Catch up on 27 more reports — and see video — from SXSW’s Day One in our Twitter marathon roundup.

Despite what you’ve been told, Broken Bells are not a duo consisting of James Mercer, on hiatus from the Shins, and Danger Mouse, on hiatus from Gnarls Barkley. Last night they were a seven-piece band, with multiple guitars, horns, and keys that provided a platform for Mercer to kick out the jams. Broken Bells played their entire self-titled album, starting with the endearing, organ-infused first single “The High Road.” The ambient details Danger Mouse adds to Broken Bells’ songs are not as readily apparent in a live setting — his in-studio electronic curlicues were relegated to preprogrammed samples, as he mostly manned a drum kit — but still make the songs feel like more than just Shins tunes with new players.

While Broken Bells may still be in pursuit of their live voice — the show was one of the band’s handful of debut gigs — their onstage successor, Spoon, have had years to perfect a muscular, new-wave aesthetic. The Austin five-piece, augmented by a second percussionist, was introduced by the same disheveled fellow who introduced the Flaming Lips at a pre-SXSW gig in Austin last week attended by Spoon frontman Britt Daniel. (The guy said he was one of six people at the first ever Spoon show, where he reported that Daniel joked, “I wish I knew what it took to get people to like my music.”)

Spoon raced through songs from the albums Transference and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga clad in black, amid sparse white lights. Daniel made occasional detours to wield his guitar like a mobster spraying a Tommy Gun. On cue with the rip-roaring “Don’t Make Me a Target,” the lights illuminated the stage in an orange glow that left the band exposed to the crowd.

Daniel performed two songs without his guitar, including a slowed-down version of the Damned’s “Love Song,” during which he wielded a maraca like a panhandler shaking a cup of coins. Then he proclaimed, “OK, we’re gonna do it,” and revisited the summer of 2007 with the hit “The Underdog,” whose premise is no longer applicable.

Day one of SXSW 2010 didn’t have a big show for everyone to whisper about and try to sneak into — although Lemmy’s name was bandied around quite a bit. Instead, fans of niche genres celebrated their own victories big and small. Andrew WK returned with his new band after a long hiatus, rappers Paul Wall and Chamillionaire patched things up on stage, electronic wonder Flying Lotus kicked off what is probably going to be a year of amazing hype, and indie rock buzz bands (Real Estate, Surfer Blood, Neon Indian, etc.) did their victory laps. Whatever scene you repped, there was something special to get excited about.

Chris Weingarten of @1000TimesYes began his Twitter odyssey yesterday, tweeting about 27 bands in 14 hours for @RollingStone. Get a look at the mayhem for yourself in our TwitterCam (clips range from the psych scuzz of Tobacco to the stoner metal of Priestess) and catch up on his 140-character reports here:

1) KILL THE CLIENT: Only @ sxsw can you see a grindcore band at noon on a Wednesday. Dude is currently stalking/scaring the early birds

2) YELLOW FEVER: Charming and adorable indie-poppers with hard-working drummer rocking Mario Clouds-looking sweater in 64 degree heat

3) LISSIE Country-folk outsider finds extra 10 minutes in her set; does tender, howling version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”

4) TV GHOST: Trashgoth frontspazz Tim Gick lurching & freaking all over the icky floor of the appropriately batcave-like Beer Garden.

5) TOBACCO: Black Moth dude bringing the scuzziest, wooziest, weirdest, noisiest dance party to a tent. Lots of bearded head nodding!

6) PRIESTESS: Punishingly loud instore at @waterloorecords w/ foggy stoner riffs, snarky fan jokes & a tutorial on changing a string

7) MATÍAS AGUAYO: Minimal techno producer plays multitasking rock star with maracas and funky slidewhistle.

8 ) THOSE DARLINS: Riotous, giddy cowpunk about DUIs and crank calls completely packs the Red 7 porch.

9) TORO Y MOI: Rising chillwaver taken aback by “the biggest crowd I ever played.” Hard to see, but making some inhuman smear.

10) REAL ESTATE: NJ’s pastoral punks look a little bored, sound a little mushy… But that might be on purpose.

11) FUCKED UP: Frontman Pink Eye says Emo’s was first place he ever went shirtless. “Fat guys everywhere felt a little bit skinnier.”

12) TORCHE: Emo’s Jr. is way too tiny to handle their enormous sludge, enormous hooks, enormous energy, enormous crowd.

13) SHOUT OUT OUT OUT OUT: Six-man discopunk crew and a mountain of gear make a patio vibrate, then make it bounce. Brbrbrbrbrbrb.

14) BALMORHEA: Austin chamber-gloomsters cast a skeletal shadow over the reverent, still audience at the Presbyterian Church.

15) HESTA PRYNN: Former Northern State MC growing into a sultry, new wavey, electro, rapcentric art-diva persona, with mixed results.

16) THE YELLOW DOGS: Iranian post-punkers ride spidery bass lines, galloping hi-hats & garage-fucked guitar. Small crowd, great sound.

17) SOKO: Parisian quirkball is equal parts Kronos Quartet, Bjork & Slits. Everyone claps along to “People are mean, people are bad.” Brilliantly nuts; ranting about Austin’s creepy love of taxidermy; singing about fellatio; “I’m French so pardon my French”

18) NAAM: Virtuosic bass crunge, ripped jeans, long hair, extended krautrock blissouts as shaggy stoner metal spectacle. Yes!

19) HERE WE GO MAGIC: Lush, complex, moody indie rockers gently woo a crowd that’s lively, chatty and reeking of weed.

20) J-ROCC: Stones Throw turntable savant spins all 45s. Packed but still room for breakdancing. Kids go bonkers for William Bell.

21) JAHDAN BLAKKAMOORE: The evocative toaster/MC/vocalist and beat polygot Shadatek are transfixing as ever, but could use a louder PA

22) HAUSCHKA: Satie feather-drops, gorgeous string plucks, transfixing rattles. Stillness is the move.

23) BRIAN POSEHN: “I’ve been to this festival a bunch of times and I can tell if your band sucks from 50 feet away.”

24) ANDREW WK: There’s pushing & shoving in parts of this club that logically shouldn’t have pushing & shoving. Andrew interviews and hugs an enthusiastic fan on stage. Thanks for coming, Chris!

25) SPOON: No shrugs or indie-cool, Britt Daniel is leather-clad, guitar-stabbing rocker in his own backyard.

26) ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE: Cosmic comedown, endless solos, “whataburger” as stage banter, actual tarot card readings by the merch booth.

27) PAUL WALL AND CHAMILLIONAIRE: One of the hotter, more electric shows of the day. And they even publicly apologized for beefing!

By Matt Harper

The 2010 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival began Friday (March 12) with the premiere of the heavily-anticipated comic book flick "Kick-Ass," but anyone familiar with Austin's famed annual festival knows that music takes center stage during this week-and-a-half. And in keeping with that spirit, Ustream held their own kick-off party and invited Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz to start the week off right.

Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy took to the stage in good spirits and kept the crowd dancing to the band's own unique brand of rock-infused hip-hop (or is it the other way around?). Friend and label mate Pete Wentz stood on a couch to get a better view of the band with a coy half-smile. Wentz wasn't the only celeb in the house though, as actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler watched enthusiastically from the VIP section and legendary rapper Bun B hung out with the crowd on the floor.

During Gym Class Heroes' set, Travis took a moment to talk about his upcoming solo album and assured the crowd that the band was about half way through a new Gym Class record. His solo project is just a chance for him to explore a new sound, he told the enthusiastic crowd. Travis told the room that we can expect The Papercut Chronicles 2 some time in the first quarter of next year.

After Gym Class Heroes wrapped up their set, Pete Wentz took to the club's turntables for a quick DJ session. All in all, it was a great way to kick off SXSW in Austin, and we're hoping more great things in the next 10 days.

A trio of festivals bolstered their lineups today: the nomadic Lilith Fest added Kelly Clarkson, the Bangles, the Go-Go’s and many more to its already stocked lineup. The Disco Biscuits’ 9th annual Camp Bisco, taking place July 15-17 in Mariaville, New York, recruited LCD Soundsystem, Thievery Corporation and Ween for this year’s fest. Speaking of Ween, the Chocolate & Cheese duo were added to this year’s Bonnaroo roster, joining Umphrey’s McGee, Galactic and more. For all the additions, check out the details below.

Lilith Fair
Kelly Clarkson
The Bangles
The Go-Go’s
Courtyard Hounds (Emily Robison and Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks) Martina McBride
Suzanne Vega
Anjulie
Anya Marina
Jesca Hoop
Kate Miller-Heidke
Lucy Schwartz
Miranda Lee Richards
Nikki Jean and The Rescues

Camp Bisco
The Disco Biscuits – All 3 Nights
LCD Soundsystem
Ween
Thievery Corporation
Girl Talk
Bassnectar
Pretty Lights
Major Lazer
The New Deal
Diplo
Aeroplane
Rusko
Sunrise Silent Disco
The Album Leaf
Brothers Past
Dieselboy
Gift of Gab (of Blackalicious)
Future Rock
SOJA
Telepath
Felix Cartal
Two Fresh
Kill the Noise
Eskmo
Orchard Lounge
Rubblebucket Orchestra
Emancipator
Spiritual Rez
Sub Swara
Derek Plaslaiko
Big Gigantic
Earl Greyhound
The Black Seeds
Grimace Federation
C-mon & Kypski
Nobody Beats the Drum
King Britt
Dubskin
Woodhands
Justin Paul
Lee Maytals
DJ Everyday

Bonnaroo
Ween
Galactic
Umphrey’s McGee
John Butler Trio
The Gossip
Circa Survive

The march towards the 2010 festival season continues (we're only about a month away from the South by Southwest Festival to launch it in earnest, and then a month later Coachella will properly kick things off). On Monday night (February 15), the latest lineup was unleashed, this time for Sasquatch, the annual Memorial Day Weekend festival in George, Washington. The annual three-day event has drawn on a number of different sources for bands, and the lineup reflects it: There are plenty of indie favorites (the reunited Pavement, Vampire Weekend), post-modern jam bands (My Morning Jacket, Broken Social Scene), hip-hop (Kid Cudi, Wale), stand-up comedy (Rob Riggle, Craig Robinson), dance (LCD Soundsystem, Massive Attack) and everything in between.

Just as we did with Bonnaroo and Coachella, it's time to take a look at what bands get us excited about heading out to rural Washington and what groups we just don't get.

The Best

My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket are a positively stellar live act, and if they're given one of the final night slots, they could turn in a truly epic, career-defining performance.

Pavement
The more shows, the merrier. The big secret about Pavement was that they were never that stellar a live band, and there are concerns about their ability to hold down a headlining slot at a giant festival. The more practice they get with just such a scenario, the better off they'll be (and the better chance that they'll create new music and not just break up once the shows are all over).

The Hold Steady
This will probably be the first high-profile show the breakout Brooklyn band plays with their new keyboardist (Franz Nicolay left the group last month). Considering they'll also have new songs in tow, it should be an interesting set for them.

Drive-By Truckers
They're secretly one of the best live bands working, and they've got a tremendously deep catalog upon which to draw their live act. Their new album The Big To-Do is one of the strongest of their career, which means they'll have a new batch of songs to unleash on a festival crowd.

The "Huh?"

Ween
They're extremely popular with the jam crowd, and they're incredibly charismatic live, but this will be the time when we hit the food tents. We just don't get it.

Any One of the Dreamy, Droney Indie Pop Acts
A lot of the festival lineups have run into the same problem: They're still steeped in last year's predominant indie rock sound. So while bands like Band of Horses and Passion Pit are fantastic individually, the cumulative effect of too many of those groups makes the festival seem sleepier than it should be.

Vampire Weekend
Don't get us wrong: We really adore Contra. And while they're improving as a live act, we're not convinced they can make the jump to being a headlining festival draw just yet. It takes a lot to move 25,000 people at once, and Vampire Weekend still look a few rock moves short.

Public Enemy
The idea of Public Enemy is still great, and Chuck D remains a force on stage, but PE's version of politically-minded hardcore hip-hop will probably get lost among the good vibes of the rest of the show.

What do you think? Is the 2010 version of Sasquatch a can't-miss or a can't-be-bothered? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo: Schwartz/Getty
My Morning Jacket, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem and the previously announced Pavement will take the stage at this year’s Sasquatch! Music Festival, invading Washington State’s Gorge on Memorial Day weekend, May 29th to 31st. The National, Ween, Public Enemy, Massive Attack, She and Him and the Hold Steady will also perform at this year’s fest, which revealed its lineup last night at special concert featuring performances by recent Breaking act Surfer Blood and Atlas Sound.

Look back at 2009’s giant Sasquatch! in photos.

In fact, this year’s Sasquatch! festival lineup reads like a Who’s Who of past Rolling Stone Breaking artists: The xx, Dam-Funk, Mayer Hawthorne, Girls, Dirty Projectors, the Low Anthem and many more. As always, Sasquatch! will also feature a handful of Pacific Northwest artists like Band of Horses, Quasi, Minus the Bear and the New Pornographers. If that wasn’t enough, Sasquatch! organizers promise additional artist announcements in the coming weeks. Tickets for the Northwest’s hottest festival go on sale this Saturday, February 20th at the Sasquatch! official Website.

The 2009 Sasquatch! featured performances by Kings of Leon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nine Inch Nails, TV on the Radio and Jane’s Addiction. Check out RS’ recap of the 2009 fest, and view the entire 2010 lineup below:

Sasquatch! Festival
My Morning Jacket
Massive Attack
Pavement
Ween
Vampire Weekend
MGMT
Band of Horses
The National
LCD Soundsystem
Tegan & Sara
Broken Social Scene
Passion Pit
Deadmau5
She & Him
Public Enemy
Nada Surf
The New Pornographers
The Hold Steady
The xx
Dirty Projectors
OK Go
Drive By Truckers
Kid Cudi
The Long Winters
Minus the Bear
The Mountain Goats
Quasi
Camera Obscura
Fruit Bats
Brother Ali
Midlake
Dr. Dog
Caribou
Simian Mobile Disco
City & Colour
No Age
The Temper Trap
Vetiver
Miike Snow
Portugal. The Man
Telekinesis
Mayer Hawthorne
Why?
Girls
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Wale
The Lonely Forest
Japandroids
Boys Noize
Yacht
Freelance Whales
Laura Marling
Patrick Watson
Past Lives
Cymbals Eat Guitars
The Low Anthem
The Very Best
Phantogram
Neon Indian
Nurses
The Tallest Man on Earth
Fresh Espresso
Mumford & Sons
Jets Overhead
tUnE-YarDs
Shabazz Palaces
Fool’s Gold
Morning Teleportation
Z-Trip
Dam-Funk
Hudson Mohawke
The Middle East
Local Natives
Avi Buffalo
Booka Shade
A-Trak
Yes Giantess
Craig Robinson
Rob Riggle
Garfunkel & Oates
Luke Burbank

Photo: Hill/FilmMagic

This weekend Rothbury, Michigan celebrated July Fourth with the second annual Rothbury Festival, a multi-day event featuring Bob Dylan, the Dead, Nas, Girl Talk, the Cool Kids and many more. Check out all the live action in our photo gallery:

• Rothbury 2009: Bob Dylan, The Dead, Girl Talk and More Onstage in Michigan