"The band, the venue's team and the audience share an undesirable connective tissue. All have been affected in different ways by the Eaton and Palisades fires. Some watched their homes burn to the ground. Others live as expatriates from their own community because their houses in the burn zones are still uninhabitable. And some simply bear witness to the grief that, almost a year later, still bubbles up."
""This is a big deal," says Lula Seifert, 16, the guitarist, watching the line of people snake through the door. "This is an awesome venue." When Cymone, wearing a dress fashioned out of a trash bag, and Seifert take the stage later with drummer Zoey Su, and bassist Lucy Fraser, the sold-out room crackles with energy. Teenagers crowd around the stage. A mosh pit breaks out. Bodies collide in a whirl of elbows and flying sneakers."
Backyard Party operates as an all-ages music venue on the Pasadena–Altadena border that hosts local teenage performers and draws community members. A 16-year-old all-female band celebrated an EP release with a sold-out, energetic show where teens formed a mosh pit and parents watched from the back. Many attendees, performers and venue staff share direct experiences of the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, including lost homes and displaced residency. The venue functions as a safe space for teens to experience live music and as a gathering place for community members to exchange hugs and process lingering grief nearly a year later.
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