3/10/24 -MOROCCAN LOUNGE - LOS ANGELES, CA
photo by juan antonio garcia
LA! A homecoming show of sorts. I’ve been out of LA for a while now but it always feels like a special show when I get the chance to play in LA—especially at Moroccan Lounge. It’s a special venue to me because I saw Alexander 23 play two sold out shows there back in 2020 and it’s been a special room ever since.
I left home at around 1pm and picked up my bass player, Elijah, on the way and then we made our trek to LA. We got there right around 4 and loaded in and wrapped up soundcheck nice and early. It wasn’t the perfect soundcheck because there was admittedly so much volume happening on stage between the drums and house amps. That all created a bit of a whirlwind of sound on stage so my anxiety was a little higher than other shows but nevertheless we persisted. Nate (drums), Nick (video), Elijah, and I then took a little walk to a pizza place called Purgatory Pizza. I didn’t have anything but the smell and vibes were on point so I’m going to venture to say that the food was slammin too. We made our way back to the venue and got everything set up and chilled at merch for a while before it was time to play (Shoutout Em for running merch for this show and showing me all the tricks of the trade).
We opened the set with our high-octane triple-threat of “Sleep Fine” into “Two Kids In A Trench Coat” into “Old Friends (Pinegrove)” and let me tell you something about all that. Three songs in a row with no stop is tiring. Add in the smoke machine they had on stage and I can honestly say I felt like I had 40 cartons of cigarettes lit on fire in my lungs. In other words, I ran out of breath. So I dipped off stage after that to grab water for a second (because I forgot to bring it on stage) but after that it was smooth sailing. We played a ripping version of “IDK Forever” and then transitioned into a new song “Never Could’ve Broke It.” That one felt really good and seemed to be pretty well received! We then mellowed out into the smooth hits “New Ways to Miss You” and “What If You Don’t” before ramping it up with a powerhouse finish of “If You’re Not Next To Me” and “(love) a reason to hate you.”
I had a super fun time hanging with all the friends that came out to the show and it was really validating to play a show in front of a solid crowd in LA after having some less than satisfactory turnouts over the last couple years. Moroccan Lounge also makes a ripping Shirley Temple so I indulged in one of those as I deserved.
The night wrapped with an exhausted drive home but I got introduced to one of my new favorite bands on the drive home. If you’re looking for a wicked new band, Mercury is so sick and I’m glad Elijah put me onto their stuff. I will definitely be listening to them on the road a lot more on this tour.
This tour really feels like it’s going to be special and lay the groundwork for us to be able to do this more in the future. I’m feeling energized as ever. Thanks to everyone who has been supporting so far!.