Everything changes.  That’s why when we got the TXT message at 1pm “Get down to the Red River parking garage across from Stubb’s RIGHT NOW”  we just grabbed our iced coffees to go and ran down the street.   We’ve wisely learned not to make solid plans.

We arrived at this abandoned parking garage a few minutes later to find a throng of bearded hipsters encircling a makeshift stage.   They were everywhere…. even crawling up the chainlink fence surrounding the structure.    The immediacy of the moment was perfect.    A random happenstance in the heart of Texas.  The camera crews were ready to go.

Broken Bells suddenly appear on the stage and break into a set containing The Ghost Inside, The High Road and Vaporize.    There’s no question that the buzz on this group is well deserved.   They nailed the pop-up show.   Expect them all over the radio this summer.

Daniel Berkal leads the trendspotting team at The Palmerston Group, and will be mailing reports from Austin, Texas exclusively to andPOP throughout SXSW 2010.