Belasco Bop

By DANIEL GATTO | Junior Reporter

It was 5:00 on Saturday and my Dad, Brother and I were all going to a punk show called CY Fest (Corrupted Youth) at the Belasco Theater Downtown LA which is a 1500 person capacity theater built in 1926. This was very cool as it was my first CY Fest and it was completely sold out. The lineup consisted of bands such as Self Sabotage, Dr Know, the Virus and even a band from Japan called the Elections.

Upon entering the show we were stopped by security and they patted us down to make sure we were not taking anything dangerous into the show. I saw that they had already confiscated alcohol, lighters and decorative accessories like handcuffs. For some reason they took my dad’s pocket sharpie that he always carries around. Why he carries a sharpie in his pocket could be a whole article by itself.

The venue was set up with a main stage on the ground level with a balcony overlooking it. There was also a secondary stage in the basement called the “Underground Stage” with just 250 people. When we walked into the main stage area, there were maybe 50 people already milling around. Many had leather jackets, spikes and most had mohawks. I was a little upset about this as I had shaved off my summer mohawk a month earlier but it was still there in spirit.

It looked like all the misfits in LA had all come here to be part of their punk tribe, and everyone was expressing themselves individually through makeup, hairstyle and clothes. The audience was composed of people of every ethnicity, race, gender and age. Today, they were all united over their love of punk music.

The Runts were the first band we watched and the crowd erupted into a mosh pit 3 seconds into their first song. Halfway through one of their last songs, a man was accidentally hit very hard in the groin while in the pit. Thankfully everyone at these types of events are very kind and immediately came to his aid. He was carried off to safety by fellow concert goers to catch his breath. After this the mosh pit got even more crazy. Even though for some reason at times it looked a lot like girls skipping around in a circle on the elementary school playground.

As we descended down into the basement there were spooky lights, smoke and the music was much heavier and in your face on the underground stage. A local band named Dead City Punks played their most popular song and the punk fans burst into spasms of joy and euphoria.

After the set, I ventured back upstairs with my Dad and my Brother and checked out a band called Monster Squad. Everything was going great until a fight broke out right in front of us. The singer immediately stopped the show and said “Everyone out there is against us, you don’t need to be against each other. We are all family here, take care of one another and if you can’t, then leave!” As the crowd cheered, I thought this was very empowering and he was right. We were all family at this show and the trouble maker was asked to leave.

After that, multiple people jumped off the stage into the crowd. This is called a stage dive, yes they still do that. Some people were even crowd surfing from end to end of the venue.

When they were about to wrap up their final song the guitarist threw some shirts into the crowd, one directly to me. My brother was jealous that I caught one and he had not. Maybe if he is nice I will share it with him or maybe not. In the outdoor patio areas some vendors were selling punk merch like leather jackets, fishnet stockings, shirts with the band logos and studded bracelets. Most of it was hand made by the vendors.

All in all, it was a very enriching experience that I was enthralled by. Punk music in Los Angeles is alive and well. Thank you Los Angeles Punk Crowd for opening my mind and giving all of us an opportunity to release some energy.