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Live at House of Blues, Anaheim
August 3rd, 2025 Review by Kevin Gomez
In April Streetlight Manifesto announced The Place Behind The Stars Tour in support of their upcoming album of the same name. Originally scheduled to drop in June, the album has been delayed, but they did give us three songs and stated the new tracks would be featured each night of the tour. We caught up with the band at their stop Thursday at the House of Blues Anaheim.
Put DFMK right at the top of my list for best discoveries of 2025. Hailing from Tijuana, Mexico, the band brings together elements of punk and hardcore reminiscent of Black Flag, Misfits, and Dead Kennedys, punk en español. The band kicked off their high-energy set with “Desquiciados” and “Agorafobia.”
Three songs in and lead singer, Jorge A. Zepeda, aka Mr. Cap, was straddling the monitor, leaning over like a Latino Henry Rollins. “R’nR’Days” featured impressive drum roll fills from Alex Diaz. “We’re coming from TJ,” Mr. Cap told the audience, “so don’t tell… well, you know who.”
For their next song, Mr. Cap said, “This is the title song of our new record getting released in October by Alternative Tentacles. It’s called ‘Playa Nuclear.’” The song featured a nasty guitar riff from Boti. It’s surprising it took so long, but the very next song a pit finally opened up that would last pretty much the rest of their set. They played another song from their upcoming album which Mr. Cap announced was, “recorded by our good friend from Argentina – Boom Boom Kid.”
Mr. Cap said they have been a band for 15 years, playing their very first show in July of 2010. Bassist Fern2ando Cruz Jr. explained the meaning behind “Tren de la Muerte” (Death Train). “This is a train that Haitian and Guatemalan immigrants take that goes from South American through Mexico and they endure perilous conditions as hard-workers trying to find a better opportunity.” Cruz Jr. continued, “Fuck ICE! The actions that you people are taking here in protest are being seen in San Diego, in Tijuana, and all throughout Mexico.”
Mr. Cap said “Negatividad” was about PMA – positive mental attitude – a concept popularized by Bad Brains in the early ‘80s. The band finished a wild set with “No Soy un Perdedor” featuring great backing vocals from Boti and Cruz Jr.
The lights turned down and the crowd started surging forward as Mötley Crüe’s “Kickstart My Heart” blared, leading to Streetlight Manifesto’s entrance. As they often do the band led with “Intro,” a quick jam session that showcases the incredible musicianship of each member of the band. The band then immediately jumped into “Watch it Crash.”
Lead singer-guitarist Tomas Kalnoky said, “We’ve got some new songs, and here’s one of them,” and the band jumped into “Enormous.”
Even though the first three songs were only released a few weeks ago, and only on YouTube (not streaming anywhere), this crowd of hardcore fans already knew every word, and even more impressive, sang along to the opening horns.
Singing along to the instrumental parts is something you really only see more in Europe and abroad, but that’s how much their fans love Streetlight as they continued to practice this throughout the entire set.
One of the highlights of the night was the band playing “Dear Sergio,” originally a Catch 22 song, of which Kalnoky and several founding members of Streetlight were previously a part of. The song truly showcases the band’s early ska-punk roots.
The entire crowd was jumping and skanking around so furiously, if we were not on the first floor, I feel confident that the dance floor would have collapsed.
Basically, the entire floor was one giant skank pit with fans moshing, skanking, dancing, and crowd surfing that would not conclude until the band’s final note.
They played two more new songs from the forthcoming album, “Everything to Everyone” and “Imagine This.” Fans have been waiting over a decade for new material as this will be the first release since 2013’s “The Hands That Thieve.” They played a fun interlude that they’ve been doing for a while now, combining their song “Point/Counterpoint” in itself a very popular song of theirs with one of their Catch 22 songs, “Keasbey Nights.” The band played “A Moment of Silence,” with fans singing along to the “whoas,” followed by its manic partner, “A Moment of Violence,” with fans moshing in tandem.
Drummer Chris Thatcher showed off his impressive drumming in back to back songs, “We Will Fall Together” and “A Better Place, A Better Time.” Showing control, fast-paced jazz, upbeat ska, his ability to control and dominate a track is second to none, keeping up with Kalnoky’s oft-frenetic pace.
The band closed their regular set with a pair of covers from Kalnoky’s side project, Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution. After loud cheers and an anxious, sweaty crowd, Streetlight Manifesto came back to play the title track off of “The Hands That Thieve.” As they usually do they closed their night with “Somewhere in the Between” bringing out smiles, tears, and lots of energetic skanking.
When the final note finished not a single member of that sold-out crowd was sitting down. Streetlight showed the power of music and positivity in bringing a crowd together.
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