SXSW Music Day 4:

I would have loved to hang out and mingle with the Berlins at Prague, but I might’ve missed one of my most anticipated acts, Hot Leg, which is essentially The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins‘ reincarnation of his latter glam-guitar-driven band. With their long hair wrapped in colorful headbands, frilly shirts and leather aplenty (Hawkins donned one of his usual chest-exposing, full-body suits), Hot Leg could’ve been easily mistaken for a Spinal Tap imitation at their Emo’s Annex show. But with their extremely technical, screaming riffs and an unrivaled stage presence that included pelvic thrusts aplenty, Hot Leg was no laughing matter (well, not completely).

davidhall

beatcrave.com

With an assortment of tracks from their debut album, “Red Light Fever,” Hot Leg created one of the most intimate, fist-pumping atmospheres of the evening. Hawkins even went so far as to pull out an old Darkness trick and ride around the audience on one (lucky?) fan’s shoulders while shredding on his pitch-black Les Paul.

With my ears still ringing from Hawkins furious falsetto, I started the long trek home. With only a couple of small shows left on Sunday, my week was essentially complete. Lesson learned from today: True rock n’ roll still lives, and it breeds at SXSW!