God loves ugly.

I may have missed out on the Railroad Revival Tour featuring Edwarde Sharpe and Mumford and Sons, and I might be missing out on the Arcade Fire tonight at the Backyard in Bee Caves, but I was not going to miss out on Slug and Ant last night at Stubb's. The weather was picture perfect for a hip hop group hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota - a chilly 47 degrees with a hint of rain. Tough for Austin, but it set the mood. Atmosphere opened up with a collection of songs that were sure to get you moving and put a smile on your face, such as Sunshine from their 2007 EP Sad Clown Bad Summer Number 9. Soon thereafter, Atmosphere unleashed their 2002 classic God Loves Ugly, elicting massive crowd participation. However, before you knew it, Slug had strung together a quieter collection of songs whose lyrics told a story, and the crowd chilled down a bit and began to listen to the spoken words to songs such as Guarantees. Slug's intimacy and crowd interaction really made for a great experience. He kept insisting that we put our hands in the air for our own sake, to forgot about the usual crap we have to deal with day in and day out. In Slug's mind, Atmosphere's show is a celebration of the everyday man, but of course, any casual observer can notice the power Slug has over his audience. Soon enough, Atmosphere began to amp up the volume again, and the show ended with a bang and a whisper.  And all before 10:30 PM.  After seeing Slug and Ant perform twice previously at Emo's, I was worried about seeing them perform in a larger, outdoor venue.  Luckily, they killed it in pretty much every respect, and I left with a smile on my face.  Of course, that might have been due partially to the large amount of gin I ingested last night.  But seriously, fun times were had by all.