Big Star ‘Thank You Friends’ To Premiere At SXSW - Noise11.com
Big Star at SXSW

Members of Big Star pay tribute to Alex Chilton at SXSW 2010

Big Star ‘Thank You Friends’ To Premiere At SXSW

by Roger Wink, VVN Music on March 4, 2017

in News

The SXSW Film Festival will premiere ‘Thank You, Friends: Big Star’s Third Live …And More’.

The movie and live album will become available worldwide on 21 April but ahead of that SXSW delegates will have the first official viewing of the movie.

‘Thank You, Friends’ was directed by Benno Nelson of Yes Equals Yes, the film includes performances by a who’s who of indie rock, including Jeff Tweedy and Pat Sansone of Wilco, Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Robyn Hitchcock, Dan Wilson (Semisonic), Benmont Tench, Jessica Pratt, Brett Harris, Django Haskins, and Skylar Gudasz as well as a full chamber orchestra helmed by San Francisco’s acclaimed Kronos Quartet and conducted by Carl Marsh, who wrote the original orchestrations for Third/Sister Lovers.

Big Star’s ‘Third’ album is a musician’s fav.

The album was written and recorded when the band was primarily a studio project consisting of guitarist Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens.

‘Third’ (or Sister Lovers, as it was alternatively known) had never been performed in public with the original string and wind arrangements.

That changed in 2010, following Chilton’s untimely death just two days ahead of a much-anticipated Big Star performance at the South by Southwest Music Festival. That December, famous friends and fans assembled from far and wide to play a fully orchestrated Chapel Hill, N.C. gig in Chilton’s honour.

From there, the core players (including sole surviving Big Star member Jody Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Mitch Easter (Let’s Active), Chris Stamey [the dB’s], plus the Posies’ Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer) took the show on the road internationally, enlisting guest stars and orchestras in each city, and performing not only songs from Third, but also material from Big Star’s first two albums, #1 Record and Radio City. That core ensemble, along with a star-studded cast of guest artists, assembled in April 2016 at Glendale, Calif.’s Alex Theatre for the epic concert seen in Thank You, Friends.

Thank You, Friends: Big Star’s Third Live … And More will premiere at Austin, Texas’ Alamo Ritz 1 on Thursday, March 16 at 6:30 p.m.

A Q&A with Benno Nelson, Jody Stephens, Mike Mills, Chris Stamey, Ken Stringfellow, and Skylar Gudasz will follow the screening. An orchestrated live concert of this music by many of the core ensemble featured in Thank You, Friends will take place at the Central Presbyterian Church on Friday, March 17 at 10:30 p.m.

Noise11.com
The X Studio

Related Posts

The Doobie Brothers at Bluesfest Melbourne photo by Mary Boukouvalas
Tom Johnston Says He Nearly Died When He Left Doobie Brothers in 1977

When Tom Johnston left The Doobie Brothers in 1977, he says he nearly died.

7 hours ago
Foreigner Premiere Previously Unreleased ‘4’ Track ‘Fool If You Love Him Ahead of Box Set Release

Foreigner have premiered the previously unreleased ‘Fool If You Love Him’, a song recorded but not used on the ‘4’ album.

1 day ago
Supertramp Crime of the Century
Two Supertramp Classics Remastered for 50th Anniversary

Supertramp’s 1974 classic ‘Crime of the Century’ and 1975 classic ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’ have been remastered to mark the 50th anniversary of the released.

1 day ago
Cold Chisel The Big Five O Live
Cold Chisel To Release Live DVD/Blu-Ray From Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Cold Chisel’s ‘The Big Five-O Live’ show, recently broadcast of television, will be available on CD, vinyl, DVD and Blu-Ray in August.

3 days ago
Phil Manning of Chain
Phil Manning and Warren Morgan Team Up For Exclusive Melbourne Show

Phil Manning of Chain and Warren Morgan of The Aztecs and also Chain will get together in Melbourne this Saturday night for a one-off performance.

3 days ago
Foreigner debut album 1977
Lou Gramm Reclaims The Songs Of Foreigner With Live Show

With Foreigner not being or sounding like Foreigner for years, original lead singer Lou Gramm is reclaiming lost ground with his almost all-Foreigner setlist.

4 days ago
Billy Joel at the MCG 10 December 2022 photo by Bron Robinson 2
The Billy Joel Documentary ‘And So It Goes’ Release Date HBO Max July 25

Netflix has confirmed a July 25 premiere for the Billy Joel documentary ‘And So It Goes’.

4 days ago