The punk kids are alright

The first time I saw The Linda Lindas, they were opening for Green Day.

My first thought was basically: Whoa, these are kids.

I remember looking at the stage and thinking that I couldn’t imagine being 14 and opening for a band like Green Day, let alone playing in front of a stadium full of people.

The Linda Lindas have since opened for the Rolling Stones, toured with Green Day and gone from being the kids who seemed impossibly young onstage to a headlining band of their own.

So watching another group of young musicians open for The Linda Lindas at the Beachland Ballroom on Oct. 14 felt a little surreal.

It was also a pretty good reminder of why giving young musicians a chance matters.

Cleveland’s SABON opened the show with its ska-punk sound, and closed it out with “Chicken Boy,” during which the band had the crowd yelling the song’s title back at them.

It also happened to be guitarist, singer and trombonist Sylvia Parke’s 19th birthday.

Not a bad way to start off being 19.

SABON’s Sophia Parke, 17, told me she and her sister started the band after seeing Less Than Jake perform. The band has gone through a few lineup changes since then, but Parke said finding a place in Cleveland’s ska-punk scene has been worth it, even if it can be difficult.

Cleveland doesn’t have quite the same ska infrastructure as places such as Michigan or Washington, D.C., she said. But venues such as the Grog Shop have given SABON opportunities to play bigger shows and connect with other musicians.

That’s important to Parke because she wants to see more young people involved in the scene.

“I want to see more of us out playing music, getting on stage, showing off our creations and our creativity,” she said. “Because in reality, we are the future of music.”

Parke knows firsthand how much it can mean when someone gives a young band a chance.

Three of SABON’s four members are young women, and Parke handles much of the band’s booking. She said trying to book shows at 17 can sometimes mean convincing people to take the band seriously.

But when someone does take that chance, it sticks with you.

“If I ever get to that point with SABON where we’re big enough to be drawing big crowds to other cities and all that stuff, the first thing I would do is help the local scene,” Parke said. “Because that’s what happened to me, and I want to be that for someone else.”

That was part of what made the Beachland show so fun to watch.

The Linda Lindas were once the young band getting those opportunities. Now they’re in a position to be that band for somebody else.

The Los Angeles group became widely known after a 2021 performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy” at the Los Angeles Public Library went viral. Since then, the members have released three albums, toured with Green Day and the Rolling Stones and grown into one of the more recognizable young bands in punk.

They’re currently touring behind GOTTA GET OUT, released in August. The album shows the band continuing to expand beyond its punk roots, and Wednesday’s set reflected that range.

They played newer songs including “Gotta Get Out,” “Oh!,” “Growing Up,” “Break,” “Burning Out” and “No Obligation,” along with “Nothing Left,” “Nino” and “Linda Linda,” the Blue Hearts song that inspired the band’s name. They also played “Closer,” their new collaboration with Paramore’s Hayley Williams. 

But the thing I kept noticing wasn’t necessarily what song was playing.

It was who was watching.

Near the front of the Beachland, the crowd seemed to range from about 5 years old to 60.

There were parents with young kids, longtime punk fans and teenagers who clearly knew exactly who they had come to see.

One group of high school girls near me were huge Linda Lindas fans. It was one girl’s first concert, and she kept talking about how strange it was to be standing so close to the band. Their enthusiasm was contagious. That feeling of seeing your favorite band 10 feet away from you never goes away. 

She had “never been this close to a famous person.”

That was probably my favorite moment of the night.

Because The Linda Lindas were once the kids people were looking at and thinking, Whoa, these are kids.

Now there were kids looking back at them.

Before the Linda Lindas took the stage, Chicago artist adan diaz brought a completely different energy to the room.

I’d never heard him before, but “supa cool” was the song that got me. It was chill in a way that’s difficult to describe without sounding like I’m reviewing music while lying on a couch. It made me want to relax and shimmy  rather than jump around.

He ended with “annie’s got a gun,” which brought a little more energy into the room. The song tells a silly, increasingly ridiculous story, and the people around me seemed to particularly enjoy following along with the lyrics.

It made for a fun progression: SABON’s ska-punk energy, adan diaz’s laid-back bedroom-pop and then The Linda Lindas taking over the room.

The Linda Lindas also made room for the kind of activism that’s been part of punk for generations.

During the show, fans could text to support the National Immigration Law Center for a chance to win a signed setlist. The band is also partnering with PLUS1 on its tour, with $1 from each ticket going toward organizations supporting equity, access and dignity.

And then there’s the other part of the story that makes the whole thing feel even more circular.

SABON is scheduled to play the Grog Shop with the Voodoo Glow Skulls in November.

Parke got into the band because of her dad, who saw the Voodoo Glow Skulls on Warped Tour in the 1990s.

Now she gets to play with them.

“It’s full circle stuff,” she said.

It really is.

Parke and her sister saw Less Than Jake and thought they wanted to start a ska-punk band.

Their band is now playing alongside The Linda Lindas.

The Linda Lindas, meanwhile, went from being teenagers opening stadium shows to having teenagers in Cleveland’s crowd watching them as an example of what they could become.

And Parke is already thinking about what comes next.

“If I ever get to that point with SABON where we’re big enough to be drawing big crowds to other cities and all that stuff, the first thing I would do is help the local scene,” she said.

That’s probably the best thing about a music scene.

A kid sees a band.

The kid starts a band.

Someone gives that band a chance.

Eventually, that band gets big enough to give somebody else a chance.

At the Beachland on Wednesday, SABON was somewhere in the middle of that cycle.

And judging by the kids, teenagers and longtime fans packed together at the front of the room, there were plenty of people watching who might be next.