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"Austin&amp;#x2019;s own Gary Clark Jr. opened Rolling Stone&amp;#x2019;s second showcase around noon on March 17th with a potent electric-blues set at La Zona Rosa. The charismatic 27-year-old guitarist, whose instrumental skills earned him a spot at Eric Clapton&amp;#x2019;s Crossroads festival last year, tore through hot licks and eloquent solos with a three-piece backing band to help fill out his sound. He was a strong vocalist, too, breaking out a yearning Smokey Robinson-style falsetto for a love ballad called &amp;#x201C;Please Come Home.&amp;#x201D;Raphael Saadiq held the club in thrall with the day&amp;#x2019;s second set. He was a consummate showman, energetically leading seven backing players in a spirited rock&amp;#x2019;n&amp;#x2019;soul revue. Saadiq has always been interested in vintage R&amp;amp;B sounds, and this performance was largely true to form. But he also took his set in a louder, more rocking direction for several selections from his upcoming album Stone Rollin&amp;#x2019;. New song &amp;#x201C;Heart Attack&amp;#x201D; was as hard-hitting as its title suggested. All eyes turned next to Tracy Bonham, who took the stage at 2 p.m., pulling keening notes from an electric violin while she sang in smoky tones. A backing band including accordion, bass, guitar and drums added Americana accents and spy-film atmosphere to the set that followed, though Bonham was an assured enough performer to easily hold the spotlight by herself on a few solo numbers. Highlights included a stormy take on her 1996 breakout single &amp;#x201C;Mother Mother&amp;#x201D; and a spare Southern Gothic version of folk standard &amp;#x201C;In the Pines&amp;#x201D; (a.k.a. &amp;#x201C;Where Did You Sleep Last Night&amp;#x201D;) featuring cellist Ben Sollee.One concertgoer was overheard describing Mona&amp;#x2019;s lead singer Nick Brown as &amp;#x201C;Bruce Springsteen&amp;#x2019;s nephew.&amp;#x201D; While he&amp;#x2019;s not actually related to the Boss, it was an apt comparison. The Tennessee band, who are supporting Kings of Leon on a U.K. tour soon, got some of the afternoon&amp;#x2019;s strongest crowd reactions with their meat-and-potatoes rock set at 3 p.m. After the set, Brown said he&amp;#x2019;d gotten an encouraging note from the Kings&amp;#x2019; Jared Followill, who was watching rollingstone.com&amp;#x2019;s live stream. (Keep an eye on our complete SXSW coverage for video of the stream.)Meat Puppets closed the afternoon festivities in excellent fashion at 4 p.m. Their set was classic Puppets -- a strange but mesmerizing mix of psychedelia and bluegrass. The Puppets played one new tune, &amp;#x201C;Vile,&amp;#x201D; from their forthcoming album Lollipop, but the set&amp;#x2019;s focus was on jammy versions of gloriously weird oldies like &amp;#x201C;Plateau,&amp;#x201D; &amp;#x201C;Lake of Fire,&amp;#x201D; and &amp;#x201C;Oh Me.&amp;#x201D; It was clear that brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood &amp;#xA0;(joined here by newer drummer Shandon Sahm) were having a blast running through their back catalog, and so was the audience."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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