Kings of the New Age rock out Santa Cruz, CA

Albany, NY native band, State Champs brought a preview of Sad Summer Fest to The Catalyst Club in Santa Cruz, CA on July 6th, 2022. Opening bands consisted of Forever Came Calling and The Summer Set. The Summer Set will also be on Sad Summer Fest so make sure you catch the festival to a city near you!

Before State Champs took the stage, The Summer Set put on a very energetic, engaging performance with the crowd. The Catalyst Club was perfect for that one-on-one fan encounter. Throughout the set, lead singer, Brian Dales was on and off his piano. Eventually, he ditched his piano, took off his baby blue jean jacket and danced with the small, energetic crowd which the fans really took a liking to and became a lot more lively with him and his band mates. Ending their set with “Lightning In A Bottle” The Summer Set roweled up this small yet extremely energetic crowd for State Champs.

Seeing the “State Champs of What?!” banner roll down, the crowd instantly cheered for the band and everyone rushed to barricade anticipating the band to come on stage. As the venue goes dark, and feeling nothing but the ricochet of the roaring crowd, State Champs finally take the stage.

Opening up their set with “Here To Stay” off their new album “Kings of the New Age” the crowd lights up, immediately opens up the mosh pit and the night has finally started. Playing a wonderful variety of some of their iconic songs, I found myself lost in the photo pit because their energy and crowd just draws you back. The vibrant colors, fan engagement and their lead singer [Derek Discanio] is constantly bending down, pointing and waving to crowd members really bringing this Santa Cruz crowd energy level to an all-time high.

For once, I actually stepped into the pit singing along to some of my favorite songs: “Remedy”, “Simple Existence”, “Act Like That”- to name a few- it felt so good to have my camera down and be in the present watching one of my favorite bands play a city they haven’t before. Their crowd wasn’t massive but it wasn’t small either. It was the perfect crowd size to really pack a punch [small, yet mighty] and seeing their faces and reaction to the crowd felt nice to see that as long as the crowd is having a great time, so is the band.

Sad Summer Fest kicks off Friday, July 8th, 2022, in Sacramento, CA at Heart Health Park. If you haven’t seen State Champs perform, I highly recommend going to Sad Summer Fest and catch one of the best performances out there.