Photos by Caitlyn Williams
KSDT’s 2024-2025 school year has been a literal dream. I did not think it could get better, but my concluding review for Beach Bunny’s San Diego show has officially put me on “Cloud 9” (if you know you know). Like many, “Prom Queen” was a staple in my Spotify playlists in 2018, and overall, Beach Bunny was a pioneering name to the rise of “indie.” Over time, the band, led by its lead singer Lili Trifilio, continued to put out banger after banger, and as a fan of Mars Argo and weird girl pop punk music, Beach Bunny itched my brain in all the right ways.
The show began with its opener, Scarlet Demore. Scarlet Demore is a Chicago-based band that blends alternative, punk, and rock into a style that they call “tits-out-cry-core.” The lead singer, Cat Ayala, has one of the best stage presences I have ever seen – there was not a moment she wasn’t dancing, interacting with her bandmates, or running around. She just had an amazing and magnetic energy, not just in her style or movements, but also in her voice. She was so fun to watch, but hearing her vocal flips and cry breaks?! Pure emotion and passion, and I literally ascended. Now, in regards to the crowd, y’all deserve your flowers because the pit WAS PITTING. As someone who’s had her fair share of concerts in Los Angeles… the crowds are boringgggg or dangerous, but San Diego y’all were just right and I will forever remember how this crowd was actually jumping, not frat-flicking. The band moved across sounds from alternative rock with “Funky Kid,” shoegaze with “Ticket to Heaven,” and riot grrrl with “Dead Man.” Specifically, before performing “Dead Man,” Ayala said: “All my women, where are y’all? We as women are taught to not take as much space as anyone else,” and proceeded to encourage all the women to take up space and dance to the song. The set continued with its high energy and officially concluded with “Lost Dawg,” which Ayala dedicated to all the “weird kids.”
Once Scarlet Demore left the stage, intermission gave me the perfect opportunity to observe the different types of people, and to say this crowd was different would be an understatement. I saw men in their 40s in athleisure, punk emo vibes, lots of soft pastels (of course), and even children under 13. However, despite these opposite aesthetics, as the pre-show playlist played, the number of people singing to “Misery Business” by Paramore… something in me healed. Eventually, the playlist played “Heart of Glass” by Blondie, and piece by piece, the backstage workers began revealing Beach Bunny’s set, which was filled with playful, feminine, and nostalgic pieces. Once the playlist faded out, the band emerged onto the stage, and I thought it was so cute how Trifilio was in her baby blue sweater vest and pastel pink skirt, as the rest of the band was in black. Anyways, Beach Bunny began their set with ”Cloud 9,” and I was so happy to see that. Even though this is a really popular song of theirs, there were fewer than 10 phones out, and if someone was recording, it was just a snippet. In terms of articulation and audio quality, the instruments were well played, and Trifilio had such a clear tone, which was crazy because she said she was sick, and yet sang better than so many artists I’ve seen. Both sets– Beach Bunny and Scarlet Demore – glazed the San Diego crowd so much, and honestly, well deserved. Ayala said this was her favorite crowd of the tour so far, and Trifilio said San Diego’s pit was much better than LA’s. From the people actually knowing the lyrics, moshing, and enjoying the music, San Diego impressed me so much. Now, for the people who are thinking, ‘Moshing? To Beach Bunny?’ I respond with, ‘Duhhhhh.’ Compared to many angsty male screamo bands, Beach Bunny is objectively more punk than them, and their songs like “Violence” are underrated pop punk anthems, so yes, I will headbang and mosh to them.
As the set continued, Beach Bunny finally came upon “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used),” which is one of my favorite songs from them. This song is like the code to awaken my inner manic pixie dream girl (not in a male gazey way), and Trifilio even had a fan sing the first verse of the song, which made the experience even better. The set “concluded” with “Just Around the Corner,” in which she asked the crowd to scream “she can’t,” and they did not disappoint. Shortly after leaving the stage, Trifilio returned alone to perform one of her earlier songs, “6 weeks,” where everyone brought up their flashlights and waved them side to side. During this song, Trifilio’s vocals really shone with her breathy flips between head and chest voice. The official last two songs were “Prom Queen,” her most viral song, and yet again, fewer than 20 phones in the entire theater were recording, and “Painkiller.” During her final song, she asked for the pit to split right in the middle to leave a lot of space for them to run in and mosh, and everyone complied. Once the song began, people ran in. There were friends dancing together, people holding hands, headbanging, and spinning around the space, and as beach balls, guitar picks, and bracelets were thrown into the crowd, it is safe to say this was the perfect way to end my projects for this year’s KSDT media.
