Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – Hotel Mira walked out onto the Zebulon stage with Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)” playing over the speakers. The band, fronted by Charlie Kerr, had reason to fight for their right to party. Hotel Mira is out on a 31 stop US-Canada tour in support of their 2025 album release “Pity Party” and a follow-up release, “The After Party” EP.
It was definitely no pity party at Zebulon, where the all-ages crowd formed a line well before doors opened and then rushed to the front of the stage to support the 3-band lineup.
Hotel Mira launched right into the “Pity Party” album by playing the opening track “America’s Favourite Pastime.” Lead singer Charlie Kerr leaned against his microphone stand as the crowd screamed wildly. Wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, Kerr got the crowd pumped with his arm gestures and beat clapping. The audience followed along with unbridled enthusiasm with many singing the lyrics.
The band’s origins start in Vancouver, Canada and after a series of name changes, the band members settled on Hotel Mira in 2018. Recently, they made the big and “intimidating” decision to move to Los Angeles. Their alt-rock music blends the sounds that were prominent in both cities while they were in the formative years such as Peach Pit from Vancouver and Grouplove from Los Angeles.
Hotel Mira kept the crowd participation going throughout the set. For “Vampire,” there was a “no excuses” policy as the crowd sang along to the hook “(Hey, Vampire).” The set was nearly derailed during the song “Jungle” as Kerr suffered a coughing fit, but he resolved that problem by jumping out into the audience. That move got the floor shaking. Sad emotions were shared with the audience via the song “Re: Valentine’s Day.” The song is from “The After Party” EP and is about the fact that he “got dumped about six years ago and is still writing songs about it.” With the final encore “Southern Comforting,” the band elicited a final explosion of pogo dancing from the crowd when they were reminded by Kerr that they were “not here to look cool and cross your arms.”
Opening up the night was fellow Vancouver ensemble Passion Mango (the stage name for Connor Wilkinson). The music is as sweet as a mix of passion fruit and mango. It was evident from the start that the crowd was there to support both Canadian bands. To start off the set, Wilkinson gave as many people up front a high five. It was an indication of the camaraderie that formed during the set between crowd and band and within the band itself. Passion Mango ended the set with their hit “Boy,” which provided the crowd with a wall of guitar sounds.
Nat Lefkoff was, as he mentioned, the lone American on the bill who came to Los Angeles from Sacramento. In some ways, the night was a family reunion. His guitarist gave out flowers to his girlfriend’s mother who set the band up in a hotel room. Lefkoff’s parents were in the audience. Their song “Damn” was dedicated to a young lady at the front of the stage. That song got the crowd screaming as it swung into a thunderous country beat.
It was an Americana set that appropriately blended in storytelling. The length of the storytelling resulted in the cutting of a song, but it sounded like the crowd enjoyed both the music and storytelling so there were no complaints. Let’s just say there was a funny story that revolved around poison oak, private parts, and an attractive female nurse / doctor (get your mind out of the gutter, an actual hospital visit).
Hotel Mira setlist: America’s Favourite Pastime, King Of The World, This Could Be It For Me, Runner, Vampire, Jungle, Eventually, Silver Lake, Son-In-Law, Made For This, Cowboy, Re: Valentine’s Day, Making Progress, Dancing With The Moonlight, Speaking Off the Record. Encores: Fever Pitch, Southern Comforting.
Nat Lefkoff setlist: Rot, Broken Down House, Night Vision, Sure Thing, Avalanche Lily, Damn, I’m Your Worm.
Passion Mango setlist: He, Skateboard, Do You Want The Truth / Kilby, Surf scum, Apology, Old friends, No Need, Pretend, Steal Train, Clean Slate, Boy.
