SXSW 2012 - Slideshow: Choir of Young Belivers, Eleanor Friedberger, Tom Morello (w/ surprise guest Wayne Kramer)

South by Southwest has developed a reputation of being full of surprises.  Bruce Springsteen joining Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely on stage at the Austin Music Awards will likely be the most covered surprise moment of SXSW Music in 2012.  Our SouthBy experience was just a toe-dip in the water, but we still got a few unexpected memories of our own.  One example from Thursday:  Walking down the Lady Bird Lake hike/bike path and hearing this music that sounded a lot like Fela, then climbing the river bank and finding Fela's son Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 playing a free set at Austin City Hall on a beautiful afternoon. That was very cool.

A second surprise happened on Saturday.  We were about to give up on trying to get into the Rolling Stone Rock Room Party at La Zona Rosa while munching on some sandwiches outside the Royal Blue Grocery across the street.  After all, the line to get in was pretty long and had barely moved.  But when we looked up one time, the line had shrunk to almost nothing, so we decided to give it a go and went in to see the last act, former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, playing as The Nightwatchman, both solo and with his three-piece backing band the "Freedom Fighters Orchestra."

I was never a big Rage Against the Machine fan, but sorta dig the small amount of Nightwatchman music I've heard.  As you might expect from a member of Rage and grad of Harvard, Morello was outspoken and engaging, and played his guitar with some serious energy and deftness.  He and the Orchestra ripped through some of the heavier songs, including a searing rendition of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen -- "The only Boss Man worth listening to," as Morello proclaimed. But The Nightwatchman isn't only about tearing shit up.  He also plays some more traditional American protest music, and while the lyrics are sometimes a bit forced, the meaning always comes across loud and clear.

Most of the crowd was probably there to see "the guy from Rage Against the Machine," as Morello even joked himself late in the gig.  So not surprisingly, after getting the crowd to hush up for the quieter "The Garden of Gethsemane," fans were ready to go for the remaining, as-bargained-for "nothing but heavy metal jams."  And speaking of jams, for the last 15-plus minutes, Tom brought out punk and protest forefather Wayne Kramer of The iconic Detroit group The MC5.  Of course, the band must have felt as if launching into "Kick Out the Jams" was practically mandated, but nobody in the crowd seemed to complain.  At the bitter end, The Nightwatchman invited those he watches over to join him on the stage for upbeat closer, "World Wide Rebel Songs."  Aside from the gent who passed out and fell flat on his face right next to us (he was fine), everyone left grinning.

We also quickly ran by the UT Urban Outfitters to catch Eleanor Friedberger's solo gig.  She was really fun to see, albeit not the most interesting act to photograph.  But the solo setting provided a good opportunity to catch her clever, poetic lyrics.  We also got to see a good chunk of the set by Choir of Young Believers, a shoegazey indie group that we enjoyed.