Concert Photography & Review: idobi Radio Summer School Tour // 6.19.26 and 6.20.26

Photos & review by Lexy Bouras and Sara Rosenthal

If summer school classes were always this enjoyable, we wouldn’t want to leave! The

idobi Radio Summer School Tour’s third year kicked off in SoCal, and Us For Once caught the San Diego and LA dates. We’re happy to say… all the students excelled! The crowd at both shows was energetic, with crowd surfers and numerous circle pits, thanks to fan favorites like Winona Fighter, and headliners Honey Revenge.

Founded by industry veterans Eric Tobin (Hopeless Records), Michael Kaminsky (KMGMT), and Kevin Lyman (Vans Warped Tour), Summer School aims to uplift the next generation of artists and live music lovers by focusing on artist development, community, ticket affordability, and social impact. Something interesting we noticed about the first two dates of Summer School is that they were deliberately a little secretive with the set times. All the more incentive to get there early and catch all the bands… lest you miss your favorite! Unfortunately, running a little late to LA, we missed the first opener, Sour Tongue. Honestly a bummer, since we checked out tracks like “SOAP” and “Me-Mania” and were excited to hear them live! Their punky, lively sound is definitely worth a listen, even if you’re running late… metaphorically or literally. We’re sorry, Sour Tongue, we’ll make it up to you. You rock.

On that note, the opening period at Summer School featured local acts, varying from city to city. San Diego kicked it off with Earth to Cheska, whose pop-punk style energized the crowd, and by the end of her set, had the audience jumping along with her. While Cheska mentioned she was nervous because she hadn’t played a solo set in a while, her energy was incredible, and we wouldn’t have been able to tell! Summer School hasn’t seen the last of Cheska either, as she’s playing bass for Honey Revenge for the rest of the tour, bringing her big smile and talent along all summer!

Chase Petra followed, fresh off their 2025 album, Lullabies for Dogs. The Long

Beach-based band kept the energy high with supreme prowess. Lead singer Hunter Allen’s vocals are to die for, the perfect sonic vessel for Chase Petra’s existential mid-20’s crisis type of lyrics. 

Games We Play was next, a band fronted by Emmyn Calleiro, who loves a good acoustic guitar and talk-to-the-crowd moment. The band had been on a bit of an extended break, noting that this was their first full tour back in a year or so. Rockin’ out with fan favorites like “The End” and “I Hope You’re Happy”, showed that Games We Play has still got it, making for a fun middle-of-the-evening set.

Then, Winona Fighter. One of our personal favorites. Yes, we’re biased. And yes, you should be too. We’ve covered Winona Fighter a few times, and every single time, they put on a great live show. Lexy has gotten in the habit of enthusiastically saying, “Winona Fighter FUCKS!” whenever they’re mentioned, and she means this in the absolute most positive way. They’re awesome. Without fail, Coco gets the crowd fired up with her strong vocals and high kicks, and Dan and Austin are perfectly in sync with her. Winona Fighter is a well oiled machine. A perfectly made dish crafted by moshing chefs, if you will. Also, we got to hear “Swear To God That I’m (FINE)” for the first time in a while. Nothing like screaming the last few “FINE!”’s with everyone in the crowd. That shit is awesome.

Heading to the peak of the night, South Arcade. Whereas some of the previous bands felt like they were being discovered by the crowd for the first time, South Arcade definitely had a fanbase that showed up for them. As soon as the lights dimmed for the Brits, it was loud. And a few sets before, an excited girl washing her hands in the bathroom asked me if I knew when they were going on- South Arcade is a band that’s anticipated. Lead singer Harmony Cavelle gave off the image of ultimate cool girl, strutting out in jorts, a bikini top, and sunglasses. South Arcade commanded the stage with their equally cool music.

And then, finally, to close off the night: Honey Revenge. People love Honey Revenge. And for good reason. As someone who’s known Devin for years, she’s the type of performer where you just know, even after just watching her once- that she’s a star. It’s beautiful to see this band getting their flowers. Donny shreds on guitar, Cheska is an absolute natural filling in on bass, and Matt brings power and rhythm behind the drums. This set had crowdsurfing posing as a PE credit, lots of dancing, and some special fan surprises (Devin bringing a fan on stage to sing) that even made me a little teary-eyed. So much fun. If you weren’t a Honey Revenge fan before Summer School Tour (?!?!!), you will definitely become one after this. Get in on the action now! Their new album, Loving and Losing comes out in September, so better be prepared. 

In short, Summer School was sick. It’s still growing, and still has the charm of being a tight knit mini-festival where you see lots of your industry friends and get to be proud of the people you know on stage. Also, it was so cool to see no shortage of badass talented ladies on that stage! Education is a woman-dominated field, after all…