Review: bbno$ at The Anthem on March 12

If you can count on any artist to hype up a crowd with something as simple as the spinning cat meme or spelling out his own name, it would be bbno$. His concert is the type of concert that doesn’t ask you to be cool–it doesn't ask you to stand still, look mysterious, or pretend you're not having the time of your life. Infused with references from every corner of the internet, bbno$ took the stage at The Anthem to the free and jubilant enthusiasm of his crowd. 

bbno$, the Canadian-born rapper who has been quietly dominating corners of the internet with catchy choruses started making music with a simple philosophy: “It's just fucking around. It's the purest form of fun and eventually we turned to making music, and then having fun in front of people that want to have fun, too.” bbno$ fully embraces this ethos of simple fun at his concerts, much to the enjoyment of his crowds. 

Before the icon himself took the stage, we were treated to opening numbers by bbno$ and Yung Gravy’s resident DJ, DJ Tiiiiiiiiiip, (yes, with 10 “i”s), and the concert’s psychedelic opener, Jungle Bobby. Both men hyped up the crowd in their own way, with DJ Tiiiiiiiiiip mixing a large variety of audios that tested just how chronically online the crowd was, and Jungle Bobby sharing his values of peace and love while leaping across the stage in an Elton John-esque coat. 

However, the crowd was never louder than when bbno$ finally took the stage, clad in a silver suit, aptly adorned with a belt buckle of the Internet Explorer logo. Diving straight into the music, there was never a song where the room was quiet. bbno$ took a tour through all of his major hits, including but not limited to “1-800,” “gigolo,” “check,” and “meant to be,” all to the wild enthusiasm of a crowd that couldn’t stop singing along. Behind the pop-culture reference infused rap and occasional interludes of dubstep, a visual display combining 2000s internet aesthetics and commissioned animatics of bbno$, reflecting his long standing appreciation and support for independent artists. 

If there is any takeaway from this concert, it’s that bbno$ is here to create an atmosphere of unrestrained fun and joy, intermixed with a healthy dose of childhood internet nostalgia. bbno$ has produced one catchy earworm after another, showing us the success of his ethos we’d often do well to remember: don’t take life too seriously, don’t be afraid to fuck around, and have fun with life!

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Sasha Jayne is the current Editor-in-Chief of the INDY. Their true loves and passions are metal and punk music, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and wearing excessive amounts of black clothing.