Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – When the last notes were played by The Red Pears and the crowd was dispersing, one fan was heard saying, “To be honest, that’s the best energy I’ve seen at a concert.” The Red Pears and their friends had just concluded a five hour long concert that never lost the attention of the fans who could be seen in a circle pit or crowd surfing during even the most chill songs of the night.
It was a community event night around the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday. As joyous USC students were leaving their USC-Nebraska football frat parties, eager fans of The Red Pears were entering the Shrine Expo Hall – making for a traffic jam on the side streets around USC. The band was celebrating their 2024 album release “Better Late Than Never” with a line-up that included Floats, Mexican Slum Rats, Archer Oh, Late Night Drive Home, and special guest SadGirl.
SadGirl mentioned how they had reminisced backstage with The Red Pears about playing house parties together. One could make the argument that this night was a house party, just on a much larger scale. It was a night to not only celebrate an album release in front of the hometown crowd, but also to enjoy playing with bands who cut their teeth in the same music scene.
The band was introduced via red lights and entrance music worthy of a boxing match. The band took to the risers on the stage and started off the set by playing four straight songs from their recent release. Lead singer Henry Vargas roamed the front of the stage, singing in a conversational manner with the audience.
The band then transitioned to four songs from their debut 2015 album We Bring Anything to the Table . . . Except Tables We Can’t Bring Tables to the Table. Those garage rock songs must have brought a thrill to two young fans who were stationed at the front of the stage with faces painted like the character on the album cover.
For the song “Forever” the stage lights focused on the drummer Jose Corona as the lyrics “I just want you to be real. I don’t need your sex appeal” were sung. At times throughout the set, Corona hit the drum kit so hard that he propelled himself up into the air. Their song “Away” got the crowd singing the lyrics as someone in the audience held a bouquet of roses high.
Most of the fan base was pressed tight as can be, but that just left the rear of the venue and the balcony the place to be for those who just wanted to have fun dancing wildly. On the far sides, fathers could be seen with their children on their shoulders.
“Not In The Cards” had fans jumping, singing, and yelling throughout. The band ended their set with the closing track of Better Late Than Never, “Once Together” and then said their goodbyes and walked off stage. Of course, no one was buying it as the crowd demanded their encores. “Time Bomb” was as metal as it can get. Then the band closed it out with what everyone was waiting for: “Daylight/Moonlight.” The response shook the foundations of the Shrine.
Opening up the night was Floats that gave an orchestral filled rock set that included fist pumps, leaps, and sunglasses. SadGirl yelled out, “Let’s do the f*cking circle pit!!!” The band name might have the word sad in the title, but lead singer Misha Lindes had the biggest smile throughout the set. The band kept their music quiet and calm up until the point they decided to go all out punk. The circle pit that was demanded was like a tornado surrounded by a sea of calm. After the set, a shoe was held up high so that the owner could find it.
Mexican Slum Rats got some loud cheers as they were setting up their gear. Noticing this, guitarist Benjamin Schlesinger started to demand even louder cheers. He started to conduct the crowd that got totally into it. He divided the audience into halves to see who could cheer the loudest, “The time is now LA!” Their music was like thunder and lightning smashing through the roof of the venue. From the balcony, one could see a circle pit as well as a wave of side to side motion with both interacting and yet not disrupting each other.
Archer Oh had the fans chanting for lead singer Arturo “Archer” Medrano as he took to the stage. The band was not going to be squeezed into any one genre. For one song, they’d max out their instruments to volume ten. For the next, it would be like they were playing the rock melodies at a 50s high school prom night. One could even hear the hints of Spaghetti Western soundtracks.
Late Night Drive Home was the only non-California band, hailing from El Paso, Texas. Lead singer Andre Portillo came out on stage alone to start off the set and a bright white spotlight focused in on him. “Are you guys enjoying yourself, Los Angeles?” His vocals had an emotional connection with the lyrics. The band perhaps had the most interesting moment of the night. Portillo wanted the crowd to get down low for a leap into the air, but no one was following his directions. He asked again, but once again, no one was following his directions. One of the other band members stepped in and made an observation, “They don’t have any room to get down low.” Yes, the crowd was pressed that close together.
One does have to give a shout out to security who definitely earned their five plus hours of work. Between set breaks, security was handing out cups of water and pulling exhausted fans from the stage barrier as well as making sure that the crowd surfers safely ended their journey.
The Red Pears setlist: Didn’t Realize, The Way You Talk, It’s Alright, See What I Mean, What’s the Difference, Hello Sin Nation, Run N’ Hide, Forever, Away, House of Mirrors, Not In The Cards, Flowers, Tired, Once Together. Encores: Day Intro, Beach Song, Time Bomb, Daylight/Moonlight. – All photos by Notes From Vivace
