Dan Auerbach played a 2am house party during SXSW, and I probably shouldn’t have been there but was

Friday afternoon, Jessica & I heard Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys was playing a house party in the middle of the woods at 2am. Both of us were sure we weren’t VIP enough to be there, and we also weren’t confident we’d last that late after 3 full days of day-drinking in the sun.



Whatever, though. Priorities. We drank strong coffee, apologized for being irritable bitches to each other approx 15-25 times, and got ourselves to this packed patio in the woods. Some wasted randoms had a bonfire going in the back. Jess & I grabbed beers from a keg & staked out a spot right up against the tiny, barely-elevated stage.

Eventually, a glazed-eyed Dan Auerbach took the stage, along with the band he’s currently touring with, the Haciendas. “We’re all way too drunk to be doing this,” was how he began. Bottles of tequila were passed around on stage & then into the crowd. Behind me, a big fat dude danced up on me in ways I haven’t been danced up on in some time, and it took me a little while to really mind it.





Dan vowed they’d keep playing until all their instruments were totally out of tune. We left after an hour & a half— at which point the set showed no signs of ending anytime soon.

The whole thing was totally surreal, and my hands-down highest highlight of SXSW. Finding this video from it on YouTube this weekend blew my mind all over again, really. (Spot my lil bobbing head around 2:29, just in front of the big dude.)