Blake Lively hosted the best SNL of the season? Believe it. And yes, that’s Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt on guitar with Rihanna.

Despite the excellent lineups all over town, our daylight hours on Friday had been spoken for well before we made the trek to SouthBy (and particularly after spending Thursday systematically missing a bunch of the acts we’d hoped to see); Pitchfork assembled a stellar bill at the Emo’s complex — including RJD2 (with live band), who was gracious and didn’t cause a scene on stage about P4K’s smackdown of his recent release; Menomena, who straight killed it; and Peter Bjorn & John, minus John — and bands we were dying to see, like Favourite Worst Nightmare collaborators Simian Mobile Disco (who were quite clear about performing a DJ set, as distinct from a proper live show) and Deerhunter, whose demon-exorcising set is on our shorlist for best of Fest. From there, it was a pit stop at the FADER fort for free booze and another massive crowd to see Amy Winehouse (this time accompanied only by an acoustic guitar) before we spent a few hours with Arts & Crafts at Habana Calle 6 to see Amy Millan (covering “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark”) and Apostle Of Hustle (who opened with the outstanding “With My Sword Hand’s Anger”). We were also able to check in with the ’90s via a set from Buffalo Tom at The Parish (“Taillights Fade” and “Sodajerk” were in there); Robyn Hitchcock w/Peter Buck & Sean Nelson at Dirty Dog, and then to Bourbon Rocks to see Super Furry man Gruff Rhys (accompanied by Lisa Jen, offering a rousing rendition of “Candylion”). And of course, as pictured above, Thurston Moore at Mohawk. Still handsome after all these years.

For more shots of how bands chose to wear their threads in Austin, we have a set of pics from Jon Bahr, who spent his Friday with the toast of ’06, Annuals; David Cross during his stint hosting the Mess With Texas Party; Do Make Say Think, who were on slightly before we were able to get down to Emo’s; Earthless and Fucked Up, both at the Vice party; some great shots of Perry Farrell & Nuno Bettencourt at Stubb’s during their Satellite Party; Kings Of Leon, also at Stubb’s; and finally The Dears, who were the surprise, special guest headliner for the Arts & Crafts show. Love The Dears, but you can guess whom from the A&C roster we were hoping would turn out to close the show…

RJD2

MENOMENA

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