Berkeley may not be on fire, but Chicago sure was when SWMRS hit Concord Music Hall with Destroy Boys and Beach Goons. The Berkley’s on Fire tour initially kicked off back in late February in Barcelona. The U.S. leg of the tour, however, started late March, following the release of their sophomore album, Berkley’s on Fire. As you can guess the album is highly political, the title of album and the title track is a reference to the UC Berkeley riots in 2017, when Milo Yiannopoulos, a known fascist writer, was scheduled to give a speech during the university’s “Free Speech Week,” then later cancelled by UC Berkeley. This is just one of many examples of SWMRS’ projecting their liberal views to their audience, so it only makes sense to have very political bands supporting them.
Starting we had Destroy Boys, whose members consist of Alexia Roditis, Violet Mayugba, Falyn Walsh, and Narsai Malik. The show was band’s second time playing in Chicago, their first being with Sons of an Illustrious Father back at Schubas’ Tavern. Since their last show in June, the group released their sophomore album, Make Room in September. A personal favorite of mine off the album, which was on the setlist, is “Nerve”. Though Destroy Boys has break-up songs and songs that call out old ‘relationships,’ Alexia makes sure to keep the topic of feminism in high regards on her social media, mainly Twitter, through tweets and retweets about issues that are occurring in our world.
Next was Beach Goons, whose songs are a bring a mix of English and Spanish lyrics and a surf-punk sound. Throughout the whole set, the crowd was well-receiving to their music. At one point during their game, a group attendees hailed a Mexican flag, as the band is from Logan Heights in San Diego, which a majority of the neighborhood’s population is Mexican American. Though they weren’t my favorite, I can appreciate the energy from the members and the style of music.
Finally, as Steve Got Robbed was blasting over the sound system, SWMRS took the stage. As the guys entered, I couldn’t help but take note of Cole Becker’s guitar, which donned messages like “This machine kills fascists, and destroys borders,” which is an ode to Woody Guthrie, and “Abolish ICE.” As the song ended the guys transitioned into “Trashbag Baby,” which hits close to home, personally. Throughout the night, the band spoke on vital issues such as; sexual violence in the concert scene and the political status of the United States. “We need to kill the NRA. We need to murder those fuckers, legally that is,” Cole Becker was quoted saying just before “Hellboy.” Towards the end of their set, members of the supporting bands made an appearance in stage diving during various songs, Alexia and Falyn of Destroy Boys during “Hellboy” and Pablo from Beach Goons during “April in Houston.” After the show I felt extremely motivated and empowered politically, I think it’s safe to say, overall, this show was probably the best show I’ve ever been too. The SWM TEAM, what SWMRS fans are called, is made up of caring and accepting people, if someone fell in pit someone was there to help pick them up, if someone wanted to crowd surf, it was sure to happen, and everyone generally treated each other and each of the bands with respect.
“You feel that energy is coursing through you right now. Take that energy home and make a new world cause fuck the old one. We need to create a world where black and brown lives matter. A world where families are not separated from their children at the border. A world where trans people are not burdens. A world where there are safe spaces for disabled and LGBT people.”- Cole Becker
