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Live at House of Blues Anaheim
March 26th, 2026 Review by Derek Tobias
The House of Blues Anaheim has always had a way of turning nostalgia into something visceral, but on March 21st, it felt less like a venue and more like a time machine. With Creeper, letlive., and Hawthorne Heights on the bill, the night was a collision of theatrical goth-punk, chaotic post-hardcore, and pure, unfiltered emo catharsis.
Creeper opened the evening with a set that felt equal parts rock show and dark theater production. Midway through their performance, the opening notes of “Headstones” washed over the crowd, and the room lit up, hundreds of phone lights flickering like candles in a gothic vigil.
It was one of those rare, organic moments where the audience becomes part of the show’s atmosphere rather than just observing it. Creeper leaned into that energy, building toward a dramatic close with “Cry to Heaven,” ending their set in a haze of melody and melancholy that lingered long after they left the stage.
If Creeper was cinematic and dark, letlive. was pure volatility. Frontman Jason Aalon Butler turned the stage into a playground of controlled chaos. Before Butler even set foot on the stage, guitarist Jeff Sahyoun dragged out a metal trashcan, using it as a makeshift percussion instrument before eventually Butler hurled it into the air, an act that felt perfectly in line with the band’s unpredictable ethos.
Before launching into “Banshee,” Butler paused to deliver a message that cut through the noise: “Respect each other, respect the venue, and respect yourself. This song goes out to Chain Reaction.” Giving a nod to the Orange County scene that helped shape bands like this, grounding the chaos in something deeply local and personal.
Butler didn’t shy away from bigger statements either, making a pointed call to get ICE out of OC, California, and the U.S., and an impassioned message around his absolute intolerance of domestic abuse. Both moments drew loud and undeniably passionate cheers from the crowd.
The set reached its breaking point with “27 Club.” As the song surged, Butler disappeared from the stage, only to reappear scaling the balcony. By the final moments, he was screaming the last lines from the back of the room, turning the entire venue into his stage. It was chaotic, confrontational, and unforgettable.
By the time Hawthorne Heights took the stage, the energy shifted from chaos to communion. From the first note, it was clear this wasn’t just a crowd, it was a choir. Every lyric, every chorus, every breakdown was sung back at the band with full voice.
At one point, the band acknowledged the obvious: this was the MySpace generation, all grown up but still holding onto the songs that shaped them. And for a night, everyone leaned fully into that nostalgia without irony.
They performed “If Only You Were Lonely” in its entirety which of course included album singles, “This Is Who We Are,” “Saying Sorry,” “Pens and Needles,” and “I Am on Your Side.”
The encore was a masterclass in emotional pacing. “Bring You Back” set the tone, followed by the one-two punch of “Dandelions” and “Niki FM,” each one met with deafening singalongs. “Like a Cardinal” added a more reflective moment before the inevitable closing anthem.
When the opening notes of “Ohio Is for Lovers” rang out, the room erupted. It wasn’t just nostalgia, it was release. Every voice in the building screamed the lyrics back like they still meant everything, because for many in that room, they still do.
Three bands, three completely different energies, but together, they created a night that felt like a full-spectrum experience of alternative music’s past and present. From candlelit goth ballads to anarchic stage dives to emo singalongs that refuse to fade, this wasn’t just a show, it was a reminder of why these scenes still matter.
SHOW PHOTO GALLERY
by Derek Tobias | @ShadowsandStrobes
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SID 260326 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
