Honey revenge takes over the Belasco Theater for The Summer School Tour
Written by Annie Wu
LOS ANGELES - The Summer School Tour returned for its junior year at The Belasco Theater on June 20. Known for its affordable ticket prices and emphasis on artist discovery, this tour brings together a stacked lineup of five touring bands and a local band opener at each stop, giving audiences a showcase of pop-punk and alternative music’s next generation of stars. This year’s Los Angeles stop represented a full-circle moment for its headliners, Honey Revenge, where the Los Angeles duo was an opening act in the inaugural Summer School Tour two years ago and now returns at the top of the bill.
Opening the night is the Los Angeles local band Sour Tongue. They had an energetic set where their blend of emo and alternative rock drew in the crowd and set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Chase Petra followed with one of the night’s funniest performances. Known for their more emotional and sad songs but also a handful of tracks for “shaking ass”, the band noticed an audience member, Evie, who was dancing and having a blast, and jokingly declared she was required to continue “shaking ass” for the rest of their set. Frontperson Hunter Allen further added a rule that if the audience was not dancing enough, then Evie would be “executed”, which promptly turned the room into a full-on dance party.
With frontman Emmyn Calleiro’s charming stage presence leading the way, Games We Play kept the momentum rolling with some of their top hits like Get a Job and I Hope You’re Happy. They also brought on an audience member to play acoustic guitar with them, turning a simple crowd interaction into a core memory for the fan and adding another interactive moment to the Summer School Tour.
Winona Fighter championed the night’s chaos, with frontperson Coco Kinnon jumping and running around the second they hit the stage. They played a high-energy set with songs like Subaru, You Look Like a Drunk Phoebe Bridgers, and HAMMS IN A GLASS. Kinnon’s relentless stage presence and energy were infectious and kept the mosh pits going throughout their set.
South Arcade kept the high energy going with a nostalgic, Y2K-inspired alternative rock set, performing tracks like Supermodel, 2005, and stone cold summer. Frontperson Harmony Cavelle, sporting her jorts, stepped offstage a few times to join the crowd at the barricade and had the audience singing some of the ad-libs, turning the performance into an engaging, interactive exchange.
As Honey Revenge finally took the stage, the energy inside The Belasco had reached its peak with anticipation. They balanced their set with fan favorites as well as new material from their upcoming album titled Loving and Losing, including the recently released Butterfly Effect and an unreleased song, Sunday Scaries.
In keeping with the Summer School spirit, the duo had a playful “PE class” segment, bringing out a whiteboard and tallying up the number of crowdsurfers who could make their way to the front over the course of one song. Los Angeles ended up with 24 crowdsurfers, earning a passing grade. The energy carried throughout the performance as vocalist Devin Papadol jumped into the middle of the mosh pit, singing and dancing alongside fans within the crowd.
A standout moment of the set came when the band invited audience member Autumn on stage to sing alongside them for the last two verses of a song. Papadol recalled a memory from years prior about how being brought onstage by her favorite artist helped shape the trajectory of her own path in music. This moment reflected the spirit of a never-ending cycle, where today’s fans in the audience could be tomorrow’s artists onstage.
