The Last Semester of Idobi’s Summer School Tour Rolls Through Tempe
Photography By Jenica Lawson
As part of the last leg of the Freshman class run of the first-ever Summer School Tour, the pop-punk heavy line-up consisted of up and coming bands of Letdown., Honey Revenge, Scene Queen, Stand Atlantic, The Home Team and Magnolia Park. The tour itself came from the minds of Eric Tobin of Hopeless Records, Micheal Kaminsky of KMGMT and Kevin Lyman who is known for the power house tour that was Warped Tour. The tour was created to bring light to newer artists to the scene by touring around venues all over the country.
First period opened with Letdown., the solo artist, Blake Coddington, had started as an expression through music during the pandemic shut down which has turned into a rising career. Letdown. hyped the crowd up with ‘Crying in the Shower’ and ‘Go To Hell’ which, glancing around at the crowd, most onlookers were singing along to.
Letdown.: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | YouTube
Second period came along with the pink rays of light that is Honey Revenge, the duo hyped the crowd up with ‘Recipe for Disaster’, the duo of vocalist Devin Papadol and guitarist Donovan Lloyd met while in another project before forming what is now Honey Revenge. The electric songs kept the crowd hyped and moving with some crowd surfers popping up until the end of the last song ‘Airhead’.
Honey Revenge: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | Spotify | Discord
Third period felt more like a tea sesh in the back of class with your bestie. Scene Queen, Hannah Rose Collins, playing electric hits like ‘Whips and Chains’ and ‘Pink Rover’ Scene Queen told the crowd to start a ‘twerkle’ pit before giving us a heartfelt speech about her blooming relationship with lead vocalist of In Her Own Words, Joey Fleming, before bringing him on stage with her hit ‘Barbie & Ken’.
Scene Queen: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | Spotify | YouTube
Fourth period was an act that came all the way from Australia, Stand Atlantic. Forming in 2012, the four piece has seen crowds from all around the world from their time on the road. Lead singer, Bonnie Fraser, told the crowd to go easy on them since their guitarist David Potter was feeling ill backstage and wasn't able to perform that night. To stand in for him, guitarist John Baran of The Home Team came on stage to help perform ‘WARZ0NE’ and ‘Jurassic Park’.
Stand Atlantic: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | YouTube
Fifth period was more like gym class when The Home Team started their set. The band has always had motifs of elephants and mice since their first album ‘Better off’ so it made sense for them to bring out people in giant elephant and mouse costumes to hype the crowd. The band has seen a sudden rise in popularity since their most recent album release of ‘The Crucible of Life’ back in early July. Starting off their set with their hit single ‘Brag’ crowd surfers started almost immediately and didn't let up until they played the last song and another hit single ‘LOUD’, the band hands down had the biggest crowd in the room.
The Home Team: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | YouTube
The last class before the metaphorical bell rang was Magnolia Park, they are the band I knew the least about when I walked in the Marquee Theatre that night but I definitely walked out a fan. Taking inspiration from classic horror movies, anime and all things spooky Magnolia Park is in the ranks with most nu-metal acts. From songs like ‘Misfits’ and ‘Addison Rae’ the last of the crowd was dancing in the pit and clapping along.
