On Tuesday May 25th some friends and I made our way to the Echo in Echo Park to see The Airborne Toxic Event perform and to support the Neda Project. The benefit show that the band was having was in response to the murder of a young woman named Neda who was shot and killed in Iran when she was protesting the limitation of human rights. The band joined forces with Amnesty International to put together a show and a silent auction on Tuesday night.

The opening band was Red Cortez. I’m not sure how well-known this band is but they were amazing. The lead singer had an amazing energy and he jumped and danced around. In between the songs he would talk to the crowd and at one point he told us to always question authority. The crowd seemed to like it when he said that. Their set was no longer than thirty minutes but it was great.

If you’ve ever been to an Airborne Toxic Event concert then you know what to expect. Mikel has so much energy on stage it’s scary. You can’t help but simply close your eyes while he sings. That’s exactly what I did. I closed my eyes and just listened and it was amazing. At one point during the show Anna jumped into the crowd and started jumping around with fans. Mikel talks to the crowd a lot which is refreshing. They played a lot of songs from their debut album but also played new songs that would be released on their second album. One of the knew songs is called “The Kids are Ready to Die.” This song is about young kids who are taught that going to war is a manly thing to do and they only end up dying. The show was overall amazing and after the show they band hung around for a while taking pictures with fans and just talking. It’s impossible to not be able to talk to at least on of the members of this band after a show. They are really good about talking to their fans and just hanging out with them. They continually thank their fans for being there and supporting causes they think are important.

I guess you would think that that was the end of my night but it wasn’t. We hung around for a while and took pictures with a majority of the band. I was wearing my awesome UCLAradio shirt and Steven, the guitarist, looked at it and told me he went to Berkeley. It was awkward but slightly funny. We talked to Anna and asked her were she got her dress. She amazes me. She manages to wear heels and a dress at most of the shows she plays. After a while we realized we were too hungry to go home and sleep. We asked Daren, the drummer of the band, where we could go eat. He gave us the name of a restaurant but it was closed so we found a different one in LA. We headed there and when we were done eating we saw Jonah Hill walk into the restaurant. It was surreal. No one talked to him and he sat down in a booth, ordered his food, and ate.

It was an amazing night and I can’t wait to do it all again soon.

– Laura