Welcome to night two of the Summer School Tour!! I attended the Los Angeles date at the Belasco Theater in Downtown Los Angeles and I didn’t really know what to expect, as I had never been to this venue or seen most of the bands live, but I was pumped! I checked in and got my media pass, scanned my ticket and headed straight for the stage. Right before walking into the main room I was stopped by a lovely girl asking people to sign up with PETA to get vegan cheese back on the menu at taco bell. Who am I to not support the animals, so I texted in the number and went in.
The first band of the night was a local opener, the band SOUR TONGUE. SOUR TONGUE is an up and coming riot grrrl/punk band who was formally known as BEEFUS. The band consists of 5 members, Satori Marill on vocals, John Murphy on bass, Stamati Arakas on Drums, Van Ham on guitar and Mars Horner (my friend!) also on guitar. They started releasing music in 2022 and they play local shows throughout LA fairly often. Their performance was absolutely sick! Satori’s vocals are incredible and the bands energy was great! Not a ton of people knew who they were but they played the show like everyone was there to see them and it was a blast! If you want to see them live their next show is July 10th at The Dustbowl.
The second band of the night was Chase Petra. Hunter Allen on vocals and guitar accompanied by an incredible dummer. I cannot find their name anywhere online but they were amazing! Chase Petra is known for their “quarter-life-crisis pop” sound blending 2000s pop-punk and midwest emo. Hunter has incredible vocals and was shredding on guitar the entire time. I had never seen them live but she really was incredible! Also Hunter’s outfit was so sick – a skirt made from two flannel shirts and she had a necklace of a tooth. How cool!
Up next was Games We Play, back on tour for the first time in over a year! I saw them play live last summer at Warped Tour and they’re just as incredible. Emmyn was wearing a shirt of himself which made us laugh but just shows he will always stay true to himself. This was their hometown show, though only some of the band actually lives in Los Angeles. In the middle of the set he asked the audience if anyone knew how to play the acoustic guitar. Many people said yes and he brought up a fan named James from the audience to play a song with the band. I love when artists interact with their fans and this was honestly so cool. The entire crowd shouted for James and cheered his name as he was walking off stage. They played a few new songs which sounded sick, and they closed the set with the iconic song ‘I Hope You’re Happy’.
Winona Fighter was on fourth, and I had never actually listened to them before. Coco was so cool, doing insane high kicks, running and jumping around the stage all while singing and sounding incredible. At one point they all had pink instruments; a pink bass and a pink guitar, she was screaming and it was everything the audience needed. They did a cover of ‘Sabotage’ by the Beastie Boys and everyone went insane! During their last song she climbed over the barricade and into the crowd singing “I’m a little stressed out, just a little stressed out. Is anybody else stressed out?” It was incredible and a set to remember for sure.
South Arcade took the stage and I hadn’t seen them live before but I was so happy I had the opportunity to. South Arcade is from the UK and started performing together in 2021. They had amazing stage presence and energy. The crowd was jumping and so excited to see them. One of their fans gave them a drawing of the band and Harmony (the singer) loved it so much. Also I’m not sure where it came from but there was a Superman cape that she put on the guitarist during the song “Superman”. So cute! The entire band was so locked in and Harmony’s vocals were unreal. She was interacting with fans, taking their phones and taking videos of the band on stage which was so sweet. This was their first night on tour and they did incredible! She also went down to interact and sing with the audience multiple times during the set. One of my favorite sets of the evening!
Headlining the night was Honey Revenge. Devin and Donny looked and sounded absolutely incredible! The energy was high. They were jumping around the stage and Donny did a high kick when the beat dropped that was so sick! The entire crowd was so engaged, their stage presence was insane and we lived for every minute of it. They had two “PE instructors” come out and tally up how many crowd surfers they had during one song.Iconic! Throughout the song they had a total of 24 crowd surfers! Devin’s vocals were amazing and she even got into the crowd with us. It was so great to see them live again. Incredible headliners!
The Summer School tour is the can’t miss tour of the summer! I’ve always felt like the fans/audience can make or break a show and the crowd was so awesome. Everyone was so kind. I even got a friendship bracelet with AIRHEAD (one of Honey Revenge’s songs) on it from a girl in the front row. How sweet! All of the artists brought incredible energy and made it such an awesome night be sure to check out the tour before it’s too late!
See when the tour is coming to your city, and here’s a playlist someone compiled of all the bands’ setlists from the tour!
The Indy Review 