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 —12/18/25
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.
Louis Cole Big Band —12/17/25
Minaret's third annual Winter Jazz Festival packed Lodge Room tighter than any show this year. Kalia Vandever, Salami Rose Joe Louis, and Louis Cole Big Band brought progressive jazz that had old heads and young dancing together.
Artist: Louis Cole Big Band
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.).
Date: Dec. 17, 2025
Minaret Records brought its third annual Winter Jazz Festival to Lodge Room, and night one packed the venue tighter than any show this year. The two-night celebration of progressive jazz opened with Grammy-winning trombonist Kalia Vandever's quartet delivering patient, lyrical compositions inspired by Carmen Maria Machado's memoir In the Dream House. Vandever spoke between songs about working toward something only to discover its darker reality, her trombone carrying that weight alongside guitar, upright bass, and drums. The band was tight, extremely talented.
Salami Rose Joe Louis (aka Lindsay Olsen) brought the energy shift. Her three-piece featuring Luke Titus on drums and Tone Whitfield on bass turned Lodge Room into a sweat-drenched dance floor. Olsen's voice soared over electronic production that felt like Bjork meeting Brainfeeder, tasteful and wild at once. The crowd locked in.
Louis Cole Big Band closed with 12+ members on stage, Cole conducting from behind the kit while jumping between drums and synth. The syncopation hit like marching band funk at its finest, the kind of groove that makes you move without thinking. Multi-generational crowd, old heads and young, all dancing. Minaret's Winter Jazz Festival turned Lodge Room into a party.
Daffo — Lodge Room 12-15-25
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 — LODGE ROOM 12/10/25
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 — LODGE ROOM 12/5
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 — HARRIET TUBMAN CENTER 11/1/25
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.
JANELLE MONÁE’S WONDAWEEN — VAMPIRE BEACH — SANTA MONICA 10/30/25
Janelle Monáe DJs an exclusive 1,000-person Halloween celebration at a secret Santa Monica location. Costumes, Bacardi, and pier rides under the full moon made for an unforgettable Wondaween debut.
Artist: Janelle Monáe
Venue: Vampire Beach (Santa Monica).
Date: Oct. 30, 2025
Only 1,000 people knew where they were going. Janelle Monáe's inaugural Wondaween festival kept its location secret until days before, revealing itself as a private takeover of the Santa Monica Pier. The "select 1000" arrived in full vampire beach regalia—fangs and swimsuits, capes and sunglasses, glitter and fake blood—ready for what Wondaland promised would be "a next level costumed celebration."
They delivered.
The entire pier belonged to the Wondaweenies for the night. Free Bacardi drink tickets, carnival rides, and Janelle herself behind the decks, DJ-ing from a booth designed like a lifeguard post, pink and blue lights washing over the crowd as the Pacific Ocean stretched out behind her. Above it all, a full moon.
For over an hour, she curated pure joy. When "We Are Young" dropped, a thousand voices sang back. When "Float" came on, the crowd lost it—hands up, bodies moving, that specific ecstasy that comes from hearing the right song at exactly the right moment.
Between sets, people rode the ferris wheel in costume, the view of the ocean and moon at night feeling like something out of childhood—like watching Rocket Power and imagining what California nights could be. Strangers became friends on the roller coaster. Everyone's inner child got to play.
It felt communal in a way most concerts don't. Intimate. Curated. Like Janelle had invited 1,000 friends to celebrate Halloween the way it's supposed to be celebrated: with costumes, music, and permission to be free.
Vampire Beach wasn't just a theme. It was an invitation to remember what it feels like to dress up and play. If you get a chance, do not miss Wondaween.
Renata Flores — UC RIVERSIDE 10/22/25
Renata Flores, the ‘Queen of Quechua Rap’ performed an intimate stripped down set at UC Riverside just days before performing a sold out show at the Hollywood Bowl.
Artist: Renata Flores
Venue: UC Riverside
Date: Oct. 22, 2025
Renata Flores, the Queen of Quechua Rap, brought her stripped-down set to UC Riverside just days after playing the Hollywood Bowl with Shawn Mendes. The Peruvian artist opened on grand piano, sharing stories about her grandma and learning Quechua. She mentioned how her songs are first written on piano, though she rarely gets to perform them that way. This night was different, intimate.
Renata went viral in 2015 with a Quechua cover of Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel," learning the language at 13 with help from her grandmother. Now she fuses trap and hip-hop with Andean instruments, revitalizing a language spoken by millions but long stigmatized in mainstream culture. Her lyrics tackle indigenous rights, female empowerment, and state violence. Between songs, she played Quechua versions of trap, her voice moving effortlessly between genres. She taught us a few Quechua words, the crowd of all ages repeating them back.
Language as resistance. Music as preservation. Ranata Flores doing both with stunning clarity.
BAMBU — THE PARAMOUNT 10/10/25
Filipino-American hip-hop veteran Bambu debuts "Their Burning the Boats" at The Paramount in Boyle Heights, joined by Faith Santilla, Klassy, and DJ Phattrick. A night of unapologetically militant Filipino hip-hop and culture in East LA.
Artist: Bambu; Klassy; DJ WenLuv; DJ Phattrick
Venue: The Paramount (L.A.).
Date: Oct. 10, 2025
Bambu sold out The Paramount in Boyle Heights for his last US show of 2025. The Filipino-American hip-hop veteran had dropped his new EP the night before, "Their Burning the Boats." The EP's title comes from Spanish conquistadors burning their ships upon arrival in Mexico, forcing conquest through blood. That web of colonialism connects Mexico, the Philippines, and Los Angeles. Bambu traces those lines, the Black and Brown solidarity and resistance against empire, in every bar.
Keffiyehs in the crowd. DJ WenLuv opened with a set that had the room bumping early, then DJ Phattrick took over the 1s and 2s for Klassy. Halfway through Bambu's set, Faith Santilla stepped up. She spoke about the Community Self-Defense Coalition, the work being done to resist ICE, blessed us with sharp prose, gave a lesson in anti-imperialist solidarity that drew the line from Palestine to East LA. When Bambu came back out, the energy was different: sharper, heavier, the crowd locked in.
Shooting this night was special. Watching mga kasama, fellow Filipino artists and cultural workers creating for the culture, here in Boyle Heights, reminded me why Kilig exists. Music for the culture, serving the people. Unapologetically militant, alive, and loud.
