High Noon | Paste Magazine Austin Showcase
Ilegal Mezcal returned to Austin during SXSW 2023, alongside our partners Paste Magazine, for three days full of music, mezcal, and tattoos.
This year's Paste showcase went down at the fabulous High Noon. Highlight performances included those from Eshu Tune (aka Hannibal Buress), Fruit Bats, Brian Sella of Front Bottoms, SUSU, CM Talkington (ft. Oscar-winner Reneé Zellweger!), Overcoats, Dream Wife, Kate Davis, Death Valley Girls, and William Prince.
The Paste Magazine Showcase hosted 42 bands from around the world, with a guest list over 8k RSVPs. The Ilegal Mezcal team executed three separate activations, Ilegal sampling, Ilegal tattoo flash, and a vinyl DJ. All three came together very nicely and created one of the best atmospheres any of the musicians had ever encountered at a SXSW showcase. Their enjoyment became apparent as so many artists hanging in our activation nearly missed their second set of the day.
Performances included those from Fruit Bats, Brian Sella of Front Bottoms, SUSU, Eshu Tune (aka Hannibal Buress' rap alter ego), CM Talkington (ft. Oscar-winner Reneé Zellweger!), Overcoats, Dream Wife, Kate Davis, Death Valley Girls, and William Prince. Ilegal gave out 43 flash tattoos over 3 days. The Paste showcase was heavily attended by music industry and brand professionals, and the very popular Ilegal activation became a great way to connect with so many of them, including Universal Music Group, HBO, Hulu, Google, Ad Ventures, C3, The Orchard, Spin Magazine, Levitation, Liquid Death, and Yeti.
This was also the first activation at which we introduced our soon-to-be-released Lime + Prickly Pear N/A seltzer, 'Sin Ilegal,' and the responses were extremely positive. Photos in the gallery below by Renato Rimach.