idobi Radio Summer School Holds Class At Concord Music Hall

We're all best friends here, right? I can bare my soul to you all without judgement?

I'm a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to festivals.

For all the raving I do about Riot Fest (all of it deserved), I've only been going since 2019. My wife and I went to one Lollapalooza day one time in 2014 or so (it was fun, but poured rain on and off the whole time). That was the first festival experience of my entire life. That's right. I've never been to an Ozzfest. Never been to a Nintendo Fusion or Taste of Chaos.

Highest on that list is that I've never got the chance to go to a Vans Warped Tour stop. I never knew it would be the perfect place for me until it was already gone. I blame not having regular internet access and going to high school/college in very rural areas.

But the spirit of the summer emo fest lives on! Chicago's Salt Shed just got done hosting the Sad Summer Festival and hot on its emo heels is the idobi Radio Summer School, fostering the next level of headliners in the genre while doing what they can to keep the traveling fest as affordable as possible. From founders Eric Tobin (Hopeless Records), Michael Kaminsky (KMGMT), and Kevin Lyman (Warped Tour):

“The festival is specifically championing independent artists, labels and promoters, with 100% of the sponsorship money going to subsidize lower ticket prices,” shared the founders. “All sponsors were chosen based on their ability to support the artists or fans on the tour. idobi is using their vast media reach to boost the profiles of every artist. OneRPM is subsidizing ticket prices, lowering costs for the fans. Hot Topic will not only amplify the festival with its massive marketing reach, but also support the artists involved throughout its vast network of retail stores. It’s important that our sponsors uphold the values of our scene, and we are excited for them to contribute to the community in a meaningful way alongside us.”

Rolling into Chicago's Concord Music Hall, the roll call for Summer School this year is topped by four headliners that rotate each night, including The Home Team, Magnolia Park, Scene Queen, and Stand Atlantic, whith direct support from Honey Revenge and Letdown. Now that's a pretty big class to get to know all at once, so I've done the courtesy of fitting each band into their high school stereotype.

The New Kid In Class: Letdown.

It's a tall order to be the first band to play on a card packed with six total acts. Letdown. hit the stage at 5:00, when a lot of working stiffs are just getting off of work. The chances of playing to a half-empty venue as fans make their way through rush hour traffic are high. But if this Summer School tour is promising to bring us the headliners of tomorrow, it's a pretty good sign that the venue was absolutely packed to kick off Letdown.'s set. With a similar vibe, musical style, and long-haired look as fellow pop-punk breakout Games We Play, singer/mastermind Blake Coddington succeeded in establishing himself as one of the up-and-coming acts in the genre.

The Underclassman Who Gets Beers From Their Older Sibling: Honey Revenge

Honey Revenge are kind of stuck in the Sophomore spot on this tour. Not quite one of the upperclassmen of rotating headliners, but definitely trying to separate themselves from the Freshman running around getting into everyone's business. But just like the 15 year olds you knew in high school that were somehow cooler than everyone older than them and used their college-aged brother to hook them up with Coors Light and ditch weed, Honey Revenge didn't let their place in the pecking order dictate the level of their performance.

Continuing to absolutely blow away rooms that they are gradually outgrowing, this is Honey Revenge's second stop in Chicago this year, after providing direct support to MM@TA back in February. Is it possible they've gotten even better in those short 6 months? It sure sounded like it, as singer Devin Papadol and the rest of the band ripped through a set that covered 75% of their 2024 debut album Retrovision. On top of delivering a performance that had Concord Music Hall eating out of their palms, Papadol and guitarist Donovan Lloyd continued their very on-brand Summer School tradition of having matching outfits onstage, both sporting school dress code approved black on top/purple pants combo.

The Straight-A Class Clowns: The Home Team

I'd never seen The Home Team perform before, but I instantly loved them for multiple reasons. First off, they weren't going to be outdone by Honey Revenge's coordinating duo and took the stage ALL wearing matching shirts. On top of that, and taking a blowtorch to one of the dumbest 'rules' to exist of not wearing the shirt of a band that's playing to their own concert, they were all wearing matching The Home Team shirts. That's the kind of quiet rebellion that the cool kid in class always got away with in school, being able to push buttons around school only because they always got their assignments done on time.

The Home Team wasted no time getting into mischief with two inflatable mascots taking the stage to hype up the crowd before kicking into 'Brag', the hit song off The Crucible of Life, the band's third album released just a few weeks ago. Focusing mostly on their new material (with a few choice tracks off 2021's Slow Bloom for good measure), singer Brian Butcher and the rest of the band delivered a set that focused less on moshing to power chords and more on dancing and laying down absolutely groovy bass and guitar lines. Songs like 'Turn You Off' and 'Loud' have that same funky feel that early Maroon 5 used to pull off so well. It's music you can't help move to when you hear it, whether it's tapping your foot and nodding along to throwing every limb you have in different directions. Everything that falls between is also acceptable, including having the capacity crowd at Concord jumping in unison for entire choruses with no breaks.

The Dude That Makes Everyone Killer Mixtapes - Magnolia Park

There's always that kid at every school who has musical taste that just doesn't miss. As informed and cutting-edge as you think your musical chops are, they're always able to say "Well you like them, have you listened to this?" putting on a song you've never heard by a band you had no idea existed and absolutely blowing your mind. I don't know if mixtapes/burned CDs are too old of references to make (do young people make each other playlists these days or something?), but this dude was the best one to do it, pulling together multiple sounds from different genres into a whole that was better than its parts. Some of the music they would include might be pretty wild our outside your usual tastes, but that's the only way you find anything new, right?

Right off the bat, Magnolia Park made it clear they had no problem pulling in multiple influences and mashing them together kicking and screaming to make something loud and sometimes scary but you also can't stop head banging to. Unleashing their unique style of pop-punk with liberal dashes of electronic/hip-hop and hardcore screaming when the moment called for it, both the music and the bad itself demanded the crowd jump and crash and lurch as one hot sweaty mess, with a lucky few making their way above the humidity by way of crowd surfing. By the time their set was over, the entire venue was at least 7 degrees warmer (and it wasn't exactly cool to begin with after the acts that had just gone on) and everyone in the audience was at least 5 pounds lighter and 15% more deaf.

(Worth it.)

Last Seen Smoking Behind the Gym and Dating A Guy Twice Her Age: Scene Queen

Out of all the acts on the bill, I'd say I was most skeptical of Scene Queen coming in. Maybe skeptical is too strong of a word, but I'm always wary where the on-stage persona of an artist is something that the music also has to lean on to work. I didn't want to judge a book by its cover, but with the over-pink Barbie look mashed with metalcore riffs and screams, it seemed like an angle that could either be pulled off magnificently or crash and burn awkwardly.

I'm happy to report that in the case of this Summer School session, Scene Queen raised herself to the head of the class (sorry, but the puns are just right there over the plate). What makes Scene Queen such a success is that she knows exactly how far to push in any given direction before she finds exactly where 'the line' is and spends her time onstage right on that line, alternating tap-dancing and twerking.

The entire concept of "pop vocals about killing men set to metal riffs" might get tired in other hands, but the Queen (real name Hannah Rose Collins) knows just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek to mix in with her performance to keep the entire thing in that sweet spot of exaggeration without being tiring.

Unless you're talking about being physically tiring, in which case, yes this performance was exhausting. With a steady dose of verses that demand to be danced to combined with choruses you can't help but headband to, the entire set was one constant movement of one type or another. But lost amongst some of the brutal lyrics and the trademark "twerkle pit" are lyrics that touch on some really progressive topics, ranging all the way from sexual confidence and experimentation ('Pink Panther') to predatory musicians who target underage fans ('18+').

In lesser hands, the whole thing would fall apart like a jumbled mess. Collins is the perfect murderous Barbie vessel to deliver the #bimbocore sermon.

Basically Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club: Stand Atlantic

Wait, so I was worried that mixtapes would be a dated reference a few paragraphs back and now I'm referencing The Breakfast Club? I really need to plan my dated references better. And yes, part of the reason that this specific school-related reference popped in my head is that Stand Atlantic's singer Bonnie Frasier had a bit of an Ally Sheedy thing going on hairstyle-wise. But they're also a lot like her character in The Breakfast Club: a mysterious mix of contradictions with more going on under the surface than you might initially think.

Over their years as an active band, Stand Atlantic has changed their sound a bit, slowly distancing themselves from the poppier punk sound they initially broke onto the scene with and embracing a bit harder of an edge. Anyone in the audience wondering which sound would win out as the band took the stage was soon answered as the band tore into an absolutely teeth-rattling rendition of 'WARZ0NE', screaming choruses of "Bitch, I'm like a cyclone/Entering the war zone" leaving little doubt what kind of attitude this set was going to carry with it.

It was fortunate that Stand Atlantic was the last band to play on this particular Summer School stop because the audience seemed on the verge of collapse by the end of their set. Frasier and the band squeezed every last mosh and fist pump and crowd surf that Concord Music Hall had to offer. In addition to a setlist that was heavy on songs from their upcoming album WAS HERE (due out August 23), the quartet expanded their numbers to close out the evening, bringing musicians from all the other bands out for a venue-cracking rendition of Linkin Park's 'Faint' to close out their set.

If this is the future of music festivals, with more bands on the bill for a single evening and ticket prices kept low due to sponsorships, then sign me up 10 times out of 10. The show was accessible to all ages and types, and all ages and types certainly showed up. Remaining dates for the festival are below. If your city is still on the list, I cannot recommend grabbing a handful of friends and heading out.