See young Minnesota rockers Hippo Campus' performance on 'Conan'

The local-kids-done-well played "Suicide Saturday" for their TV debut just a couple days after getting noticed at SXSW.

March 25, 2015 at 3:01PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Hippo Campus tweeted this photo goofing around on the set of "Conan" on Tuesday. / Photo by Geoff Harrison, Thirty Tigers
Hippo Campus tweeted this photo goofing around on the set of "Conan" on Tuesday. / Photo by Geoff Harrison, Thirty Tigers (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

They came. They saw. They smiled. A lot. And so did most of us back home who knew just how quickly but how readily Hippo Campus made it to national TV last night. The Twin Cities-bred quartet performed its EP track "Suicide Saturday" on "Conan" Tuesday on only a couple days' notice after impressing the show's music booker during last week's South by Southwest Music Conference.

"What a ride it's been for this band, who just a few days ago were making the rounds at the South by Southwest music festival," Conan O'Brien said in his introduction. The host did not mention that the members are only 19-20 years old and were about to start their very first tour Wednesday. The show's TeamCoco team joked on their site before the appearance, "We like Hippo Campus so much, we're starting a tribute band, Rhino University. We're terrible, so you should probably just stick to Hippo Campus."

Here's the clip of their performance below, along with some of the clearly enthusiastic social-media postings they sent out from the show. The kids will be back in town April 3 to play the Varsity Theater on their tour with the Mowgli's. They were also just announced as part of Lollapalooza's lineup on Aug. 1, after playing Lolla promoter C3's SXSW party last week.

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about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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