Austin – Don’t mind me if I get a little too real here for a sec, but a couple days into SXSW I developed a pretty nasty cold. I spent all day Friday in the hotel room trying to recuperate just so that I could go out that night to see The Boxer Rebellion. They were basically the main reason I wanted to come along for the ride, as they released one of my favorite albums of last year.
I found myself surrounded by a fairly unfavorable crowd at this show, as Sum 41 (?!?!?) were set to be playing later on.. by unfavorable, I mean teenage girls and drunk frat boys. I was able to ignore them once they went on, so that has to say something good.
The Boxer Rebellion come off as a very gracious and professional band. I can’t say enough about how enjoyable the show was; I completely forgot how crappy I was feeling while they played, and came away with enough energy to enjoy the rest of my evening. Singer Nathan Nicholson puts everything he has into performing and it’s very genuine. The same goes for the rest of the band, but he is really an excellent frontman. I especially enjoyed the addition of extra percussion on “Flashing Red Light Means Go”. If you’re like me and you enjoy good British rock with a touch of falsetto now and then and great, sometimes hauntingly beautiful guitar sounds, you will love this band.