Through a pastiche of memes and pop culture references, bbno$ embodies the popular internet spirit that runs rampant across Gen Z media like wildfire. Accompanied by Montreal local Mathieu Senechal and Jungle Bobby, bbno$ threw an extravagant party at the Place Bell on March 21—his biggest North American show yet—highlighting along the way an acute self-awareness of his image as a well seasoned artist shaped by the online world.
Text by Jamie Xie
Photos by Ashley Bellam
Alexander Gumuchian, known best by his stagename bbno$, is no stranger to the tumultuous highs and lows of the world wide web. With nine studio albums under his belt—including his latest, self-titled “bbno$,”(October 2025)—he has since become a principal character in the music industry, renowned for melding rap with electronic hip-hop influence. His 2019 breakout hit “Lalala” featuring Y2K has cemented him as a fixture of online music culture, producing tracks that double as trendy TikTok soundbites and internet inside jokes. By the time he took home the Fan Choice award at the 2025 Junos, bbno$ had already established himself as a distinctly digital pop figure. With an artistic identity so centred around his online persona, the title of his latest North American run—The Internet Explorer Tour—felt as ironically self-aware as it was precise, leaning into those viral moments that he continues to conjure up during each performance.
Step right up to the Place Bell in Laval on March 21st, 2026: they have it all, acrobats, gymnasts, contortionists, you name it! It was a concert that existed somewhere between a virtual rave and a surreal circus, the stage set to massive LED screens and rolling green hills reminiscent of the default Windows XP screensaver. bbno$ evoked the nostalgia of Y2K analogue technology only to quickly dissipate it with his distinctly modern sensibilities. He opened the concert with a compilation of facetious internet comments and post-ironic self-deprecation, taking on the accusations of “clout-chasing” head-on. He leaned into them and allowed the punchline of his persona to guide the performance. This tone carried into a high energy rendition of “Bag TF up,” where irony and spectacle collapsed into one electrifying performance.
To transition into “C’est La Vie,” bbno$ drew upon “Yezzir”’s closing line: “[…] feel like Johnny Depp and Charli XCX.” From there, he surprised audiences with a brief rendition of “I Love It” by Icona Pop and Charli XCX, transforming Place Bell momentarily into a throwback 2012 rave. While the internet theme referred to his digital persona, it also manifested throughout the night as a vehicle for nostalgia, recalling the earliest, chaotic eras of the web.
The most ambitious production of the night arrived with “ADD,” accompanied by an elaborate three-minute animated music video short that depicted bbno$ navigating a series of rapidly shifting fantastical scenarios rendered in constantly fluctuating art styles. The product of a collaboration with 20 fan artists, the sequence mirrored the fragmented, often overstimulating logic of online attention to an equally disorienting light display. A clip of Subway Surfers appeared onscreen ahead—a direct nod to a popular meme claiming Gen Z has shortening attention spans—while relentless synths propelled the sequence forward. A staged “technical error” followed midway through where the house lights abruptly on to the comedic dismay of bbno$. In many ways, the sequence encapsulated much of what bbno$ stands for as an artist: a colourful, chaotic and affectionate homage to the lessons learnt by living through an era of inescapable internet access.
Throughout the night, bbno$ fostered a sense of shared cultural fluency, drawing upon connections with the audience not just as fans but as active participants in a collective online experience. Through fan art, cosplay images, and inside jokes, bbno$ brought to life a performance that felt honest. Positioning himself as the “Gen Z Eminem” during “It Boy,” bbno$ leaned fully into self-parody while simultaneously embodying the spirit of a generation defined by its overexposure to connectivity. His show became an eclectic pastiche of internet culture, satirizing not only the concept of public image but also the broader nonsensical cultural landscape that raised it.
One of the most intimate moments of the night came during “Meant to Be,” a guitar-led ballad reflecting on a past relationship riddled with mixed signals. Unlike the studio version, bbno$ layered in an electric techno bass drop, channeling the song into a rave-infused meditation on heartbreak. Somewhere between frustration and vulnerability, bbno$ is found echoing the chaotic highs and lows that defined the rest of the show.
The night moved seamlessly between spectacle and participatory performance. A guided meditation invited the audience into a collective calm one moment and then references to Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For (Cat Cover)” would send the same audience into uproar. Preaching respect with playful nihilism through guest performer Jungle Bobby, all to the background visuals of PNGs, GIFs and a troupe of circus performers, bbno$ embraced the free spirited Gen Z nihilism and will to live life in the moment throughout the performance.
By the encore, the show had become a full celebration of Canadian pride as bbno$ reflected on how meaningful it was for him to be back in Canada. Senechal, bbno$’s tour bassist and local Montrealer, addressed the crowd in French. He led stadium chants, while bbno$ revealed the winner of his signed cookbook contest, reading off the cookbook in his best attempt at French. Notably, bbno$ proudly announced that this tour stop marked his biggest North American show to date, culminating in the reveal of a new fleur-de-lis tattoo across his lower back, a grand gesture that would represent his alignment with the Quebec spirit and love for a monumental night in his music career.
As bbno$ himself put it, “[This is] the biggest performance and the coolest stage I’ve ever got. I brought out the circus. It’s a movie.” From flying acrobats to meme-filled visuals and techno drops that shook Place Bell, this stop of The Internet Explorer Tour in many ways was a homecoming celebration of Canadian excellence, the lovechild of chaos and connection that only bbno$ could have executed so well.
