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Review & Photos by Yising Kao
April issue!: www.galaxy-mag.com/issues
In March, I attended a couple of dates of Set It Off’s Midnight Tour: Pomona, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles, California, and Mesa, Arizona, with my friend Kelsey. It was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had and I loved seeing the openers as well, With Confidence and Super Whatevr.
I discovered Super Whatevr’s music when they were announced as an opener for Waterparks’ Entertainment Tour. Genuine lyrics are the most important thing for me in music, and Skyler truly writes from the heart and cares a lot about others. Their performance had a combination of slower songs and more upbeat songs, and it was a memorable experience of dancing and crying. “Someone Somewhere Somehow” always makes me emotional, and that’s what I love about music. At the LA show, Skyler let us come up on stage during “Good Luck,” so it was a special moment to just dance with my friends and not care about anything else! I’m so happy that my friend Nico got to sing part of the song because she got to live out her dream of performing on stage that night. Super Whatevr is spreading such an important message of raising mental health awareness and I’m thankful for what they’re doing, and they create such a fun and safe environment at their shows. Skyler is one of the most friendly people I’ve met; he takes the time to meet fans and have an actual conversation with them, and it’s always lovely getting to see him!
Next, With Confidence performed, and Kelsey and I have seen them at least over 8 times, yet we were still hyped to see them again (Surprising? Not really). Kelsey and I have been trying to get them to play one of our favorite songs from Love and Loathing, “Spinning,” and everyone was down to play it except Jayden, who said they didn’t rehearse it enough. He did say they’d play it next time, so we’ll see! With Confidence’s performance was so energetic and people crowd surfed, including myself. The Santa Cruz show was on my birthday, so going to this show was the best way to celebrate, and I got to see my friend from the area, Delfi! I’ve crowd surfed before, but this was my first time crowd surfing to With Confidence during their most “screamo” song, “Icarus,” and it was awesome. I’m just glad I didn’t get dropped. Also, Kelsey held up a sign that says “PLAY LONDON LIGHTS” last tour, and of course she had to bring it again. They listened and played it in Santa Cruz, so that made our night!
Lastly, Set It Off came on stage. Right before they did, the huge screen flashed a countdown to midnight and it was really cool. I didn’t know what to expect because I've never seen them live, but they did not disappoint. Everyone was jumping and singing along, and I loved how Cody interacted with all the fans, whether it was by making eye contact or grabbing their hands. They had platforms they stood on, and the visuals were so beautiful. Maxx’s drum solo included songs like “7 Things” by Ariana Grande, and “Baby Shark,” which was really funny, and he killed it. They performed my favorite song of theirs, “For You Forever,” and I enjoyed singing my heart out. At some points, Cody would stage dive and he even stood up with the crowd holding him up! And It was creative how they made a mashup of some of their older songs. I admire Set It Off’s energy and definitely want to go see them again. Overall, I had a wonderful experience shooting photos of my favorite bands on the dates I attended, and it was definitely worth the long road trips and junk food-all you need are good friends and music!
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