After spending the Summer playing stadiums opening for Green Day and The Rolling Stones, The Linda Lindas are out on the road supporting their new album, No Obligation. For their first major headlining tour since releasing their sophomore album last Fall, the young punk quartet brought along Garage-Punk veterans, Be Your Own Pet for the western leg of the tour and recruited somewhat locals, Chicano Mosh for their show at The Glass House in Pomona, CA.
Chicano Mosh are a blend of upbeat Pop-Punk and Garage-Rock built on Mexican pride. Their own band of followers made sure to come out and show their support for the up-and-comers, brandishing the Mexican flag and singing along.
Be Your Own Pet were next. The troupe rambled around the stage while courting the crowd with tracks from their 2023 release, Mommy -- their first album after breaking up in 2008 -- while throwing in numbers from their first 2 albums. Frontwoman, Jermina Pearl never let up with her nonstop dancing and whipping her head back and forth enough to give ME a sore neck.
It was time for The Linda Lindas. The four heralds of young punk walked out to the sound of Jawbreaker's "Boxcar." They opened with the title track of their sophomore album, No Obligation. The mix of kids and adults screamed along with bass player and vocalist, Eloise Wong while bandmate Lucia De La Garza stomped and hopped around the stage. The band continued on with tracks from No Obligation, eventually rounding out the entire album while sneaking covers of The Talking Heads and Los Prisioneros' "Tren Al Sur" in between.
They finished the set with their viral "Racist, Sexist Boy" but not before Eloise used their platform to speak out, yelling to "Free Palestine," "Protect Trans Kids," and "Protect Immigrants." A declaration that seemed to deter at least one concertgoer. Someone who'd been filming most of the set decided to leave following the remarks. I can only hope The Linda Lindas continue to speak out and upset fascists.
The band came back for their encore that included a cover of Green Day's "When I Come Around" with an interlude of Jawbreaker's "Want" and their hit single "All In My Head." When it came time to close out the night, they invited Be Your Own Pet and Chicano Mosh back on stage for a dance party while they performed Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl."
The Linda Lindas are ushering in a new generation of Punk rockers and their live shows are their soap boxes. The band are great performers and this was one of the best shows I've seen so far this year. They'll be heading to the Midwest and East Coast with Pinkshift for the second leg of their headlining tour. Check out a gallery of photos from the show below.
