Photos by James Broscheid
The Linda Lindas hit Tucson like a wrecking ball with a pop hook. Nearly ten years after a library video made them famous, the kids are grown, and they play like they know exactly how hard they can swing. Nobody was easing anyone in. The crowd at La Rosa seemed to sense it from the first chord of “Gotta Get Out” (the title track from this year’s third LP on Reprise Records), and from there, nobody was easing anyone in.
That opener set the terms for the evening. Songs arrived in quick succession, barely separated by breath, and the pace stayed high enough that the communal dancing never ceased. “Oh!” and “Growing Up,” both drawn from the debut ‘Growing Up’ (Epitaph, 2022), came early and got treated as shared property. Voices in the audience swallowed whole verses. The title track in particular has aged strangely well, a song about being young written by people who are no longer quite as young, and it carries a new layer of affection now.
The band’s structure is its secret weapon. Lead vocals pass around the stage like a borrowed jacket, and each voice brings its own weather: one sharp and sneering (Eloise Wong, bass), another warm and slightly rough at the edges (Bela Salazar, guitar), another punchy and driving (Mila de la Garza, drums), another bright enough to cut through a wall of amplified guitar (Lucia de la Garza, guitar). On “Helado de Limón” that rotation paid off. Sunny on the surface, a little bittersweet underneath, and that drum shuffle had everyone moving whether they meant to or not. For this tour, fifth member Adan Diaz fills out the band’s live sound on guitar and keyboards.
Material from 2024’s ‘No Obligation’ (Epitaph), which is not a given for a band whose breakout moment is so famous. Mid-set, the title song arrived without a hint of apology. “Excuse Me” and “Lose Yourself” hit harder and faster, the guitars thicker than on record, the bass steady underneath like a hand on a shoulder. The covers deserve mention, because they revealed the band’s taste and its heart. Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever” was a delight, a pop smash run through a punk blender, all that rolling-r swagger converted into distorted chords and glee. Los Prisioneros’ “Tren al sur” mattered more. A Chilean new wave classic is not an obvious choice, yet the moment quietly honored a lineage of Latin American rock that rarely gets credit in American punk history. Then came “Linda Linda,” the Blue Hearts song that gave the group its name. They saved it for near the end, and it felt like a thank-you, short and loud and clearly heartfelt.
Not everything was bright. “Blood on Our Hands” slowed the room just enough to let its anger register, and the band played it with a seriousness that never turned preachy. “Racist, Sexist Boy” remains the group’s most famous, and its place late in the set felt earned rather than obligatory. Years after that library performance, it still gets the biggest roar of the night, and the crowd screamed it back with a joy that bordered on catharsis. A teenager’s furious note has become a chant, and hearing a few hundred strangers shout it in unison remains strangely moving.
Technically, the group has tightened considerably. Stops are crisp, harmonies are steady, and the dynamic shifts between clenched-teeth verses and open-throated choruses are handled with confidence. Though a few wobbles and grins between bandmates proved the looseness hasn’t disappeared entirely. Twenty-two songs at that velocity can leave the ears ringing and the heart a little winded.
“Everybody Told Me” and “All in My Head” kept the energy bubbling through the final stretch, “I Could Be Wrong” added a rare note of humility, and “See You Next Time” closed things with a wave rather than a fist. Punk shows often end with a sneer. This one ended with a smile, which seems about right for a band that has always made rebellion feel like an invitation. The Linda Lindas have always been about inclusion, the idea that loud, fast music can be a place to belong rather than a place to hide, and Tucson got a full dose of it this night.
2026 Tour Dates
December 10th: Chicago, IL – Q101 Twisted Xmas
December 12th: Inglewood, CA – KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas
December 13th: San Diego, CA – KBZT December To Remember
December 14th: Cathedral City, CA – ALT 101.5 Acoustic Christmas
2027 Tour Dates
February 5th: Ciudad de México, CDMX – Estadio GNP Seguros – w/ The Warning
Learn more links:
The Linda Lindas
Reprise Records
