Emery
Emery brought the twentieth anniversary of The Question to a sold-out Glass House in Pomona, playing the record in full to a pit of elder emos that never stopped moving.
Artist: Emery, As Cities Burn, The Classic Crime
Venue: The Glass House, Pomona
Date: 3/3/26
Twenty years is a long time to carry a record, and Emery made it feel like no time at all. Playing to a completely packed Glass House on a Tuesday night in Pomona, the band moved through The Question (2005) front to back. A few tracks they stripped back to acoustic, the way they were originally written, which gave the room a moment to breathe a belt before the intensity came back around.
The crowd banter was half the show. Emery checked in on everyone's backs, asked who had work in the morning, expressed genuine disbelief at how packed a Tuesday night in Pomona could get. It felt less like a anniversary tour and more like a reunion with people who grew up on the same records.
Then came the new song. Midway through, the breakdown hit and the band dropped into Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" — the pit immediately lost it, bodies moving, the room understanding exactly what was happening. And then to close: "Alright y'all, we're closing with The Wall. Y'all don't get a choice." The crowd roared because it was exactly what everyone wanted anyway. The pit exploded one last time.
As Cities Burn
As Cities Burn brought twenty years of existential post-hardcore to a sold-out Echoplex, playing through Hell or High Water for a sold out room with The Classic Crime and Emery (headling).
Artist: Emery, As Cities Burn, The Classic Crime
Venue: Echoplex, LA
Date: 3/1/26
As Cities Burn played a sold-out at the Echoplex on March 1st. This one was special for me. As Cities Burn was one of my favorite bands growing up. Between them and mewithoutYou, they captured the existential angst many kids socialized in youth groups in the early-to-mid 2000s.
I had not seen them since Cornerstone in the early 2000s. Twenty years later, they played exclusively through their third record Hell or High Water (2009). For only a three-piece, they felt sounded unnaturally full. Cody's guitar work and voice carried enormous weight, raw with emotion, and the creative liberties they took with song transitions kept even the most familiar moments feeling alive. Between songs, Cody pulled the room into big existential questions: the human condition, why we're here, what these songs are about. For anyone who grew up with this band, it was nostalgic and healing in a way that's hard to articulate. The crowd felt it too.
The Classic Crime opened the night, with Seattle's Emery closing it out on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of their sophomore record The Question (2005), a seminal post-hardcore album that defined a generation. Three bands from different corners of the country — Louisiana, Seattle, and beyond — sharing a stage for a room full of people who grew up on exactly this music.
They play Glass House in Pomona on March 3rd.
June Youngblood
June Youngblood played a final show in LA to debut her first record We Never Talked at Healing Force of the Universe, a night of open-tuned guitar, aching lap steel, and lyrics that made the whole room feel beautifully, willingly sad. An artist worth watching closely.
Artist: June Youngblood, Levi Gillis, Barry Archie Johnson
Venue: Healing Force of the Universe (LA).
Date: 2/26/26
June Youngblood celebrated her debut LA record release of We Never Talked at Healing Force of the Universe, one of LA's beloved independent record shops, and the intimate setting felt exactly right for the occasion. Playing guitar with open tunings full of jazz-inspired inversions and chord colours that feel simultaneously earthy and sophisticated, her playing is a quiet revelation on its own. A lap steel player alongside her added an aching americana yearning to the sound that made everything hit harder. But it's the lyrics that stop you cold, heartbreaking and direct in equal measure, the kind of songwriting that makes you feel seen without asking permission. She sold cassettes too. The following week she packed up and moved cross country to New York, making this her last LA show for a while, a bittersweet send-off for a CalArts graduate and an artist worth keeping your eye on.
Levi Gillis played a three-piece set before her, and Barry Archie Johnson opened the night alone on acoustic guitar, both setting a warm tone for what Youngblood would deliver.
Sudan Archives
Sudan Archives closed out her BPM North American Tour at a sold-out Fonda with dueling violins, a voguing runway, and an exhilarating politically-charged futuristic performance.
Artist: Sudan Archives, Cydnee with a C
Venue: The Fonda Theatre, LA
Date: 2/20/26
Cydnee with a C opened the last night of Sudan Archives' BPM North American Tour with a set that felt like a transmission from somewhere in the future. Backed by her producer Aktion Jackson and a dancer wielding fire and lights, her futuristic K-pop and drum and bass fusion had the sold-out Fonda locked in before the headliner even took the stage.
Then Brittney Parks arrived. Sudan Archives' solo set was ethereal and visceral all at once, drawing from 80s influence, experimental jazz, and club beats while carrying something unmistakably her own, a computer-ish, tech-tinged sound that felt alive. Midway through, she brought out Cain Culto for dueling violins on "KFC Santería," and the moment I was waiting for: Fuck Trump, Fuck ICE, Free Palestine. I had first heard that line from DJ Phatrick, who produces with Bambu and the Beatrock crew (See our coverage here).
The crowd was euphoric. Kilig in the truest sense. Later, Brittney asked the crowd to give her a runway, came down off the stage, and vogued. The crowd followed. Someone waved a Palestinian flag. It was one of those nights that reminds you exactly why live music matters and how artists can use their art to raise political consciousness.
Nathan Evans and Saint PHNX
Nathan Evans and Saint PHNX brought their first ever US show to a sold-out Lodge Room, delivering sea shanties and a little of Scotland to Los Angeles.
Artist: Nathan Evans and Saint PHNX, Erin Durant
Venue: Lodge Room, LA
Date: 2/18/26
Nathan Evans, backed by Glasgow brothers Saint PHNX, played a sold-out Lodge Room for their first ever US show, and the room gave them a welcome worthy of the occasion. Evans blew up in 2021 posting sea shanties on TikTok and the crowd lost it when that viral moment arrived live. The night was full of families and kids, and Evans leaned into it completely, bringing a young fan up whose favorite song was "Arabella" and playing it for them on the spot.
Saint PHNX drummer Alan Jukes played the entire set standing up, which gave the performance an intensity and physicality that changed the energy of the room entirely.
Erin Durant opened the night alone at the piano, delivering ballads that settled the room into something warm before the Scottish contingent took over. A genuinely joyful night.
VENNA
Venna sold out Lodge Room a month in advance for Valentine's Day, setting the mood right delivering a live saxophone set full of R&B warmth and electric intimacy.
Artist: VENNA, NAMI
Venue: Lodge Room, LA
Date: 2/14/26
NAMI opened the night with a live band set that set the Valentine's Day mood immediately, at one point pulling his partner from the crowd, holding her hand and singing directly to her, the room collectively melting. Venna then took over, the London-based saxophonist and producer and Grammy-winning collaborator with Burna Boy, Wizkid, Snoh Aalegra and dozens more, playing live saxophone backed by a full band through the entire set.
Venna had sold out Lodge Room a month in advance and the room earned every bit of that anticipation. The crowd was full of lovers and the energy matched: electric, warm, and deeply felt. There is something about live saxophone on Valentine's Day in a sold-out room that just makes sense, and Venna understood the assignment completely.
Long Beach Dub Allstars
Long Beach Dub Allstars are what became of Sublime after the passing of Bradley Nowell, and at Lodge Room they proved three decades later the spirit is very much alive.
Artist: Long Beach Dub Allstars, Bedouin Soundclash
Venue: Lodge Room, LA
Date: 2/13/26
Long Beach Dub Allstars brought their full ensemble to Lodge Room on February 13th and the room felt every person on that stage. Born from the legacy of Sublime and the reggae-rock movement that defined Southern California, the band has spent nearly three decades blending reggae, dub, ska, punk, and hip-hop into something that belongs entirely to Long Beach. That spirit was fully alive on Thursday night.
The crowd danced from start to finish, the kind of loose, joyful movement that only happens when the music is working exactly as intended. Bedouin Soundclash delivered a tight three-piece set before them, warming up a room that was clearly already ready. A night that smelled exactly like Southern California, in every sense of the word.
Pete Rock
The legend Pete Rock brought a sold-out Lodge Room to a full celebration of hip hop history, preceded by Monalisa's moving J Dilla tribute set.
Artist: Pete Rock, Monalisa
Venue: Scribble (L.A.)
Date: 2/4/26
Monalisa opened the night with a J Dilla tribute set that set the tone immediately — a reminder of the lineage before the legend himself took the stage. By the time Pete Rock stepped up to the decks, Lodge Room was sold out and ready.
What followed was less a concert and more a full celebration of hip hop history. One of the greatest producers of all time, Pete Rock spent the better part of three decades merging jazz into the DNA of hip hop, working alongside Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G. and dozens more. At Lodge Room, you felt all of that history in the room. The crowd was a party from the first beat, moving and celebrating the kind of music that doesn't age because it was never chasing a moment to begin with.
Mother
MOTHER brought seven artists and Mary Steenburgen to Lodge Room for an intimate evening of songs and stories celebrating the fullness of motherhood shaping music today.
Artist: Caitlyn Smith, Lucie Silvas, Jillian Jacqueline, Cam, Ashley Monroe, Maggie Rose, Melissa Fuller
Venue: Lodge Room, LA
Date: 2/3/26
MOTHER, presented by Live Nation Women in partnership with FAM, brought an intimate evening to Lodge Room honoring the mothers shaping music today. Hosted by Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen, the night wove together songs and stories from Caitlyn Smith, Lucie Silvas, Jillian Jacqueline, Cam, Ashley Monroe, Maggie Rose, and Melissa Fuller — a room full of Nashville's finest celebrating what it actually looks like to chase a creative life while raising children. Industry people, family, and friends packed the room for an evening that moved fluidly between laughter and tenderness, stories of motherhood interspersed with performances that made clear why every artist on that stage deserved to be there.
Midwife
Midwife brought her "Heaven Metal" to a hushed Lodge Room, closing a night of handmade instruments, cascading pedal boards, and haunting sounds that had no business being as beautiful as they were.
Artist: Midwife, Amulets, Pedestrian Deposit
Venue: Lodge Room, LA
Date: 2/2/26
Midwife silenced Lodge Room on February 2nd in the best possible way. Madeline Johnston's "Heaven Metal" — emotional music about devastation, as she describes it — landed with full force, her voice filtered through a rotary phone handset that gave everything a hypnotic, nostalgic ache, like grief heard through a wall. Sparse, devastating, and completely absorbing.
The night built perfectly toward that moment. Pedestrian Deposit opened as a duo playing a handmade branch-like stringed instrument that felt pulled from a Tolkien forest. Amulets followed with over 100 pedals arranged across two levels, building immersive drone soundscapes from cassette loops and live guitar. The two briefly shared the stage, the room suspended between them, before Midwife took over and finished the job.
Jon Hatamiya Big Band
Jon Hatamiya Big Band played a transcendent two-set concert to a packed Scribble, with seventeen musicians somehow making a small room feel like a stadium.
Artist: Jon Hatamiya Big Band
Venue: Scribble (L.A.)
Date: 2/1/26
Jon Hatamiya Big Band packed Scribble front to back on February 1st, the room so full the trombone section had to spill onto the floor. Seventeen musicians on a stage that small should feel chaotic — instead it felt enormous, the sound filling every corner of the room with a fullness-but-tightness that was almost hard to believe you were experiencing live.
Across two sets, Jon was as engaging as he was vulnerable, drawing the crowd in with humor and warmth between compositions. The emotional center of the night was the full performance of "But Where Are You Really From?", the first movement of a forty-minute suite commissioned by the LA Jazz Society and premiered at the 2021 Angel City Jazz Festival. From the stage, Jon spoke openly about what COVID meant for musicians whose whole lives are built around presence and connection — the isolation, the silence, and what it meant to finally bring this music back to a room full of people. His parents and grandparents were in the crowd. So were his USC Thornton students. The room held all of it and then some.
Ground Control
Ground Control Touring's fourth annual Abortion Access Benefit Series brought eight acts and a packed Lodge Room together for a night of music in support of reproductive justice, with Mind's Eye closing it out as the undeniable highlight.
Artist: Mind’s Eye, Shannon Shaw, Harmony Tividad (of Girlpool), Diners, Starling, Kid Sistr, Emory, Urika's Bedroom
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.)
Date: 1/24/26
Ground Control Touring's fourth annual Abortion Access Benefit Series landed at Lodge Room on January 24th, raising funds for reproductive justice organizations including ACCESS Reproductive Justice and the Chicago Abortion Fund, with 100% of proceeds going to NOISE FOR NOW. The night was one of four simultaneous benefit shows across the country, with sister events in New York, Austin, and Chicago.
Hosted by Syd and Olivia, the night moved through eight acts — Diners, Emory, Harmony Tividad (of Girlpool), Kid Sistr, Starling, and Urika's Bedroom — spanning indie, folk, and beyond, with the crowd staying locked in from start to finish. Mind's Eye closed out the night as the undeniable highlight: self-described as "kinda like the Beatles if Yoko was a goth Latina," their live show delivers on every bit of that energy. Frontman Vince came off the stage and danced with the crowd, swapped heartbreak stories, and had the room laughing and dancing in equal measure.
City of the Sun
City of the Sun closed out their tour at a packed Lodge Room, delivering a masterclass in instrumental music anchored by John Pita's flamenco-tinged guitar work that was as technical as it was deeply groovy.
Artist: City of the Sun w/ Portair
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.)
Date: 1/18/26
Portair opened the night solo but sounded anything but small, his immersive layered sound and stunning falsetto drawing the crowd in immediately, reminiscent of Novo Amor at his most intimate.
City of the Sun closed out their tour on the Lodge Room stage, and if this was the last night, they saved something special for it. Frontman and lead guitarist John Pita anchored the set with playing that felt equal parts flamenco precision and funky groove, the kind of guitar work that makes you stop mid-conversation and just watch his hands. Alongside drummer Zach Para, bassist Matt Fasano, and guitarist Marco Bolfelli, the quartet moved through their catalog with the ease of a band that has spent years busking NYC's parks and streets before graduating to sold-out rooms across two continents. Impossible to categorize and impossible to look away from; Lodge Room was packed and present for every second of it.
Antibalas
Antibalas packed a sold-out Lodge Room with nearly three decades of afrobeat precision, political fire, and groove, calling out ICE between songs and moving the crowd the whole night through.
Brooklyn's Antibalas brought their eleven-piece afrobeat crew to a sold-out Lodge Room. Drawing from their latest Hourglass, a return to the instrumental roots that built their legend, Antibalas moved through groove after groove with the precision of a collective that's been refining this sound for nearly three decades. Between songs, the band lived up to their Fela Kuti roots, denouncing ICE and the machinery of deportation to a crowd that roared back in agreement. With over 2,000 performances across five continents, Antibalas carries that history in every note, and it was thrilling to experience it at Lodge Room.
Movements: Chain Reaction’s Last Show
For nearly 30 years, Chain Reaction, an all-ages venue gave misfits a home. Friday night, Anaheim's Movements headlined the legendary venue's final show. One last night of crowd surfing and mosh pits, celebrating a space that shaped Southern California's hardcore scene. CHAIN FOREVER.
Artist: Movements
Venue: Chain Reaction (Anaheim, CA)
Date: Dec. 19, 2025
Growing up in Florida's hardcore and post-hardcore scene during the early-to-mid-2000s, Chain Reaction wasn't just another venue—it was mythic. The place bands aspired to play. I remember all nighter band practices and staying up watching Chain Reaction live sets. For nearly 30 years, this all-ages Anaheim institution gave kids who didn't fit in anywhere else a place to find community, scream until their voices gave out, and feel like they belonged.
Since opening in 1996, Chain Reaction launched bands like Touché Amoré, Thrice, and Throwdown while hosting touring acts like Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, and My Chemical Romance. It was the room where local bands dreamed of headlining and where national acts proved themselves to Southern California's hardcore faithful.
Friday night marked the end. Movements, the Anaheim post-hardcore band who grew up in Chain Reaction's walls, headlined the venue's final show. Before their set, frontman Patrick Miranda pulled out typed pages and asked for silence. The packed room went still. He spoke for five minutes about growing up with strict parents, about Chain Reaction being the alternative space where he found friends and community, about how their goal was always to headline this room. "If we could do that," he said, "we'd know we made it."
The crowd held that silence, holding space for his vulnerability.
Then everyone tore the place apart.
An elder in a patterned sweater crowd surfed—arms raised, grinning, carried by hundreds of hands. The irony wasn't lost: a sign on the wall read "No Crowd Surfing, Crowd Moshing, Or You Will Be Kicked Out." On the final night, no one cared. “What are they going to do, ban me?” I overheard someone laugh. Bodies launched from the stage. The pit erupted. Kilig in its most ecstatic form: collective joy and sorrow moving through the room at once.
Cheri Domingo opened with melodic intensity, Militarie Gun brought their driving hardcore energy, and Movements closed nearly three decades of history. Between songs, people hugged. Strangers became friends in the pit, sharing collective stories of memories in these walls. The sticker-covered walls, decades of band names layered over each other, looked on as witnesses.
At the end of their set, Movements added their shirt to those walls—right next to Throwdown, another band that got their start in these four walls. One generation passing the torch to the next, even as the lights went dark for the last time.
Chain Reaction gave a generation of misfits a home. Friday night, we gave that home a proper sendoff.
Aja Monet
Minaret's Winter Jazz Festival closed with poetry and soul. Georgia Anne Muldrow and Aja Monet earned standing ovations in a seated Lodge Room, bringing the festival home with warmth, power, and love.
Artist: Aja Monet
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.).
Date: Dec. 18, 2025
Minaret Records closed its third annual Winter Jazz Festival with a sold-out night of poetry and soul. Lodge Room transformed for the occasion, rows of seats filling the room where bodies usually stand and dance. Night two traded night one's party energy for something quieter, deeper.
Grammy-nominated LA soul visionary Georgia Anne Muldrow opened solo, working her laptop and Traktor with a voice that shook the room. Daughter of jazz guitarist Ronald Muldrow and singer Rickie Byars, Muldrow has built a two-decade career as one of LA's most daring artists. Mos Def once compared her to Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, and Ella Fitzgerald. Her gratitude filled the space between songs, warm and contagious. Standing ovation.
Detroit Princess (Camille Langston) held it down on the ones and twos between sets.
Grammy-nominated poet Aja Monet headlined with a four-piece: Brian Hargrove moving between Nord and Fender Rhodes, Ben Williams on upright bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums. Monet stood with stacks of notebooks, flipping between poems, some brand new. For her closing piece, she asked the audience to choose between two poems. One was more upbeat, about solidarity between Africa and Palestine. The crowd erupted before she could name the second option. Monet gave prompts to her musicians. To Hargrove: "Play the sound of the first time a baby enters the world." To Kweku: "Play the sound of an angry auntie, upset with her hand on her hip." Then: "Play the sound of an African train heading to the Middle East." The band followed, improvising from her words.
Monet had been sick all week, battling flu, cup of tea at her side for her throat. You wouldn't have known. Her voice carried, her presence steady. Standing ovation. Minaret's Winter Jazz Festival ended the way it began: completely packed, completely alive.
Daffo — Lodge Room
Daffo, with Horsepower: DIY indie rock that turns the messy interior monologue into something sharp, tender, and loud.
Artist: Daffo; Horsepower
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.).
Date: Dec. 15, 2025
Daffo, with Horsepower. Indie rock that makes the messy interior monologue feel sharp, tender, and loud. On the last night of their tour, Daffo fought through the flu to deliver a set that hit—tight, full, electrifying. Halfway through, frontperson Gabi Gamberg admitted they'd nearly canceled, voice still raw but presence unshaken.
Horsepower, Charlotte Weinman's NYC sibling duo, opened with stripped-down intimacy. Mid-set, they stopped to check on someone in the crowd struggling, waited for security to bring water. Between songs: "We have merch, including a shirt that says 'I love Horsepower and Hate Cops!!!'" The crowd cheered. Of course, I grabbed one. Both bands ran their own merch tables after, keeping close to their DIY roots.
DEAD PREZ
Dead Prez celebrated 25 years of Let’s Get Free with a stacked night of guests. Daru Jones and Opio (Souls of Mischief) joined the set, with appearances from Ras Kass, Aja Monet, and Imani Archer.
Artist: Dead Prez
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.).
Date: Dec. 10, 2025
Dead Prez celebrated 25 years of Let's Get Free at a sold-out Lodge Room. A night for real hip-hop. Legends in the crowd, legends on stage, organizers filling the room. Historic doesn't cover it.
Opio from Souls of Mischief opened with that '93 boom bap, pulling from the golden era that still sounds sharp decades later. Daru Jones, the two-time Grammy-winning drummer who's played with everyone from Jack White to Pete Rock, brought fire to his kit. Dead Prez took the stage and didn't let up. M-1 and stic.man shared stories from the early days, the formation of the group, the making of Let's Get Free. M-1 talked about his repatriation to Senegal, homeschooling his children, living off the land.
Then came the moment. "I see a lot of keffiyehs out in the crowd," M-1 said. "So let's hear it: FREE FREE..." The crowd roared: "PALESTINE." He did it again. Then: "But I like this one the most from my brother Bob Vylan. DEATH DEATH..." The crowd knew. "TO THE IDF." Legendary.
Ras Kass, the West Coast lyricist whose "Soul on Ice" set the standard for conscious rap in '96, came out for a surprise set. Later, Dead Prez brought Imani Archer to the stage, D'Angelo's daughter. They played a song in his honor. D'Angelo had passed just two months before. The room held it. Poet Aja Monet was in the crowd watching it all, soaking it in. She'll be back at Lodge Room in a week.
This wasn't just a show. This was the lineage on display: conscious hip-hop, boom bap, bigger than hip hop. For the culture.
AGRICULTURE
Los Angeles-based Agriculture plays their ecstatic black metal to a sold out show at the Lodge Room in Highland Park.
Artist: Agriculture
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.).
Date: Dec. 5, 2025
Los Angeles-based Agriculture brought their ecstatic black metal to a sold-out Lodge Room, turning Highland Park into a sweat-drenched congregation. Heaven's Club and World Peace set the tone, heavy and unrelenting, but Agriculture's set hit different. The crowd erupted, bodies colliding in the pit, arms raised like they were reaching for something just out of frame.
Agriculture doesn't do background music. Their sound demands your full attention: searing, devotional, built on the collapse and rebuild of ego and riff alike. Dan Meyer and Leah Levinson's dual songwriting anchors the chaos: Zen-inflected grief meets queer survival, both refusing to flatten into easy consumption. On this night, the band delivered what their new album The Spiritual Sound promises: presence, confrontation, the sublime through heaviness. No apologies, no vibe. Just the weight.
¡PRESENTE! A DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS FUNDRAISER
Figgy Baby, Indigenous Cats, and Frosty perform a moving Día de los Muertos benefit show for the Community Self Defense Coalition at the Harriet Tubman Center. Music, community, and resistance under the LA Night sky.
Artist: Figgy Baby; Indigenous Cats; Frosty; Lxs Cochinxs
Venue: Harriet Tubman Center
Date: November 1, 2025
Figgy Baby, Indigenous Cats, Frosty, and Lxs Cochinxs turned the Harriet Tubman Center parking lot into a sanctuary under the LA night sky. Día de los Muertos benefit show, raising money for the Community Self Defense Coalition and families affected by ICE raids while honoring the ancestors. The lineup felt intentional: Figgy Baby, the non-binary Mexican rapper reimagining masculinity through fluid, high-energy performance. Indigenous Cats, the underground duo blending Salvadoran and Filipino roots with boom bap beats and razor-sharp political lyrics about decolonization and Indigenous resistance. Frosty and Lxs Cochinxs rounding out the night.
Indigenous Cats stood out, their sound unique and their politics uncompromising. Between sets, a community cypher opened the floor, voices circling back on themselves, building on what came before. This wasn't just a show. This was mutual aid in action, community care and call-and-response. Culture and politics. Music as organizing. Resistance as ritual.
