Pete Freedman
Spillover Fest Is The Best Thing About March in Dallas. Don't Forget It.
On Saturday, thousands upon thousands of absurdly drunken Dallasites will drop $15 or more to see Ludacris and a bunch of also-rans performing along Greenville Avenue, the sound of hundreds of barely-able-standers swallowing down vomit gags filling in the sonic gaps.
On Sunday, a couple hundred people — maybe — will spend $20 to see a far more interesting lineup of 20-plus acts performing sets across three stages in two Deep Ellum venues, and in a far more palatable setting.
This, folks, is a tale of two Dallases.
One of them borders on the unbearable. The other is among the top five single-day happenings to go down in the city on an annual basis.
Care to guess which is which?
Listen, we've waxed poetically on this subject before, and, early next week, we'll surely do so again. So just humor me as I reiterate the following point: Parade of Flesh's annual Sunday-after-SXSW offering in Deep Ellum is one of the things that makes this city's music scene so great.
By now, we're all long familiar with the fact that, when big shit like South by Southwest, Austin City Limits or Fun Fun Fun Fest goes down in the (supposedly) hipper climes of our state capital, Dallas reaps the benefits: Bands heading down that way are more than likely just going to play our area either on the way in or on the way out of their trips to Austin. Everyone knows it that it happens.
And it's great.
But it's just one of the reasons why Spillover, which finds Parade of Flesh's John Iskander culling his contacts and bringing around two dozen or so of said performers together for a single show, is such a great take.
Here are three more reasons.
It's a festival, sure, but it doesn't feel like a festival. By the time the bands playing Spillover hit Dallas, they're generally worn out from five or so days of playing as may showcases as possible. You an see it on their faces as they load their gear into whichever venue Parade of Flesh's annual offering is going down in on a given year. But then something glorious happens: These performers realize that their assigned venue isn't overrun with supposed industry movers and shakers or party kids simply trying to look awesome to their Instagram followers. They let their guard down. They relax. It's an incredible thing to see and, without fail, even as Spillover heads into its seventh year, it never gets old. And, once this weight has been lifted, they're wholly refreshed. Wanna see a performer perform for the right reasons — because they want to, and not just because their booking agent told them to do it? Well, here's your chance.
You're going to see some great bands, too. This year's lineup is especially stout, featuring such killer acts as Ty Segall, Dum Dum Girls, Astronautalis, Cerebral Ballzy, The Coathangers, Diarrhea Planet, Deafheaven, Har Mar Superstar, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Oberhofer, The Orwells and more. A positive repercussion from the fact that 35 Denton isn't happening this year? Maybe, maybe not. But, without a doubt, this is Spillover's strongest offering to date. And that's just when figuring in the names you should already know. Which brings us to the following…
You're going to see some bands that you're going to pay way more to see in bigger venues a few years down the line. On Parade of Flesh's site, Iskander's uploaded a list of every band that's played his annual event since its 2008 inception — dating back to before it was called Spillover and before it was called Bro Fest and all the way back when it was called South by South Flesh. It's worth your perusal, if only to realize that, by checking out Spillover, you could see the next Wavves, the next Frankie Rose, the next Small Black, the next Titus Andronicus or the next Parquet Courts before all the buzz blogs get ahold of them
Point is, Spillover really does need to be on your radar — even if you've gone to South by Southwest already and, come Sunday, you're feeling all worn out from a week's worth of festing and you think you've seen all the buzz bands you needed to. Because, truth is, you haven't.
Also? You'll just enjoy it. Promise.
