Marlie Langer | Student Life Editor
May 2, 2025
Concerts have had a rise in popularity among Southern California high school students. Some have only begun to attend these shows while others have made it to the double digits! Going to concerts doesn’t just mean seeing big artists like Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams. There are plenty of smaller artists and bands that students love to support and see live. In fact, in Southern California, it is very common for people to gravitate towards smaller bands and smaller shows. This is because there is an abundance of bands trying to make headway, starting in Southern California, so what better place to find cheap concerts and great music than where it all starts?
LA is the dream for lots of beginning musicians as a way to get their name and music out. Los Angeles has plenty of smaller venues at which these new bands can play. Some of which include the Hollywood Palladium, the Wiltern, and the Troubadour, which local bands like Sunroom have performed at multiple times. Bands with rising fame such as the Backseat Lovers were once performing at these smaller venues with minimal crowds while now they’re selling out across the country! Paige Thralls, a student at San Clemente High School, recalled the time she had once seen the Backseat Lovers at the Hollywood Palladium and how she “can’t believe how [she] saw them when they were so small and cheap” and how now their following just keeps growing and growing.
San Clemente High School Junior Hanalei Marshall described how seeing music “live is like no other feeling” out there. She said she enjoys the smaller concerts because “you feel so connected to the band,” as you’re closer to them and within a smaller crowd of people. She explained how when she attends bigger concerts she feels as if there is “a barrier between” her and the artist performing. Eleventh grade student at San Clemente High School Mikaela Benumof added that she enjoys smaller shows, just like Hanalei, due to the “connection” the artist can create to their audience.
Concerts are a great way for young adults and teenagers to make new friends and connections which can end up benefiting them later in life by developing these social skills earlier in life.
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