Finally! I got to see Local Natives’ live show after over a year of enjoying their recorded music. When all I heard from readers and LA friends was that they put on a great live show, it really hurt that it seemed like I’d never get to catch them. It’s really my fault, though; they played a bunch at SXSW ’09 and I just missed ‘em. But not this year. This was the year I saw them almost every day I was in Austin — starting with their appearance at the Levi/Fader Fort.

MP3: Local Natives – Sun Hands

I think the best thing Local Natives have going for them besides the A+ debut record is that they’ve been doing this for a while. As opposed to a lot of young buzz bands who record a few good songs, get mild popularity and then have to figure out the rest of the whole “being a band” thing from touring on up, Local Natives have put in years of work already and it shows. And the funny thing about me commenting on that is that that used to be the only way things would happen! You put in the work, you got the success. But now it’s almost surprising to see a young buzz band who can completely bring it on stage. Surprising and extremely awesome.

Because it’s SXSW and because the Fader Fort had to cram as many acts in as possible, Local Natives played one of the shorter sets I caught while in Austin. Still, they knew how to keep it to the hits (and luckily had enough hits on their one record to keep it interesting). They started off with the album-opening “Wide Eyes,” whose recognizable opening riff seemed to immediately hook those in the audience who were already familiar with the band. From there we got “Camera Talk” and “Shape Shifter,” which have always been slow-burn favorites of mine. And to close they did their no-brainer two big hits back-to-back: “Airplanes” leading into “Sun Hands.” And let me tell you, there might be no better live song released this year than “Sun Hands.” When they kick into that closing riff, you remember all that a rock show could and should be.

More photos after the break.