Nobunny, led by the bunny masked-Justin Champlin, took to the Burger Records outdoor stage Saturday night, a stage only a few hours earlier where Roky Erickson captivated audiences, and destroyed it.
Burger Records held their SXSW showcase in a compound manor of Hotel Vegas, Volstead Lounge and outdoor stages, creating an east side Austin mecca. Nobunny closed the Saturday night showcase, capping a staggeringly talented line up.
Nobunny’s live show is notably frenetic, balancing garage rock noise with pop laden hooks. A steady outpouring of crowd surfing and shaking of the stage tent threw much of the show into madness. Nobunny didn’t disappoint, tearing through crowd favorites at full clip.
The mask looks well traveled these days, browned by sweat and held in place by a bandana. It shows an experienced performer, one who has been perfecting this energy since 2001. It didn’t take long before the frontman de-clothed, revealing a set of equally well-worn underwear.
It’s easy to fawn over a SXSW show that has the right balance of artistic talent and crowd participation, but to find it is often elusive. As Champlin finished the set, the enigmatic frontman reminded the crowd in similar fashion, “Remember, Nobunny loves you.”
