Inspir.es

His set was scheduled for 3am, so we arrived around midnight to make sure we could get in. A courtyard filled with college students, SXSW revelers and apparently, Bill Murray, greeted us as we approached. We played a game of hot & cold with the music as our guide, trekking up two balconies and past more party kids until we found the appointed room.

The Co-op (essentially a common area in student housing) had no regard for fire code. Instead, capacity was measured by how many could cram into the room. When floor space ran out, people took to the rafters and walls as Maps and Atlases and A Sunny Day in Glasgow performed.

Allison and Kate bowed out at 2am when it became obvious the show wouldn’t start on time. They were driving back to Iowa in the morning and wanted some sleep…

Caitlyn lasted another hour but dehydration took a toll. She stepped outside to cool off and found herself barred from re-entry under orders from the Fire Marshall. It was down to Matt and I.

Andrew WK took the stage at 4:05 and did a vigorously-paced 35 minute set. The sound was awful, most of it coming only from the stage monitors. Andrew played the hits (songs with “Party” in the title) as I clutched my glasses to protect them from the crowd surfers above. When it was over, deep throated chants of “Andrew! Andrew!” attempted to bring him back for one more song, but the gear was already being hauled off.

Yellow Cab was a lost cause on this weekend, so Matt and I walked the 1.5 miles back to our apartment. I occasionally sang “hey you, let’s party” followed by chugging noises to simulate the guitars. Matt performed the signature Andrew WK fist pump along to my renditions. We made it home in record time…

We took the stairs up to our apartment, quietly opened the door, tip-toed through the pretty girls and British guy sleeping on our floor and split off to our rooms.