[ATTENDED: October 4, 2026] The Linda Lindas
Four years ago i got tickets to see The Linda Lindas with my daughter. The show was postponed for a week and she was unable to go the following week. So I went by myself and really enjoyed it. I figured I’d either see them before they broke huge or before the broke up. Well, I don’t know if they broke huge, but they have played some pretty big shows (they opened for Green Day after all).
The foursome are great musicians, they write rocking punk songs, and most important, they have a ton of fun. When I saw them last time, drummer Mila de la Garza, was possibly 12 (she is 16 now). The oldest member, Bela Salazar turned 21 last year. Guitarist Lucia de la Garza is now 18 and bassist Eloise Wong is now 19.
In four years, the band has grown more sophisticated in their song writing and in their musical chops. But they still have a lot of fun onstage. Eloisa and Lucia jump on their gear boxes to get close to the crowd.
Last time they tried their best to get the young kids in the audience as close to the front as possible. It wasn’t possible this time, I guess. I felt bad for the little kids who arrived early but weren’t allowed to get near the barricade. I couldn’t help but think they could have asked the parents to back off and let the kids up front.
When I saw them last time, they had just released their debut album, which is full of young punk songs. I didn’t like the album enough to get it, but it was fun–and Racist Sexist Boy is a great song for young girls to hear.
Here it was four years later and they’ve all grown up. They also had a fifth member on stage Adan Diaz, their friend, who played synth and percussion as needed (there’s some songs we can’t play by ourselves).
When the show first stared, their voices were too quiet, but that was fixed fairly quickly. I hadn’t listened to the new album yet, but I was so impressed by these new songs. They have added all kinds of sounds to their basket. They opened with the first song from the new album which has cool synths, percussion and a funky bass line.
They followed it up with Oh, from their debut. It was one of the few songs from that album that they played, and it sounded bigger. By the end of Growing Up all four members had sung lead.
By the end of the set they had played the entire new album and I’m glad they did because I really got into the new songs a lot.
I also had a chuckle that most of their songs are really short, including Break–a full on hardcore song sung by Eloise. Eloise’s voice has gotten deeper and more intense as she sings the more aggressive songs
Like Break
When I tape myself together, know I’ll pull Until I break
Until I break It just don’t go away
When will you give yourself a break?
Mila sings some songs in Spanish and I think her voice sounds better on the Spanish songs (no idea why) and Helado de Limón is a great example of her singing and a great example of the kinds of messaging they’re sending t their fans
I don’t seek your applause
Nor validation I write my own story
Without your opinion
They spoke out for trans rights and immigrant rights (and had a link to donate to immigration assistance).
It’s a little worrying that an 18 year old is singing a song about Burning Out, but it is certainly catchy. The riff and bounciness combined with the rapid fire bridge (hey hey) makes Lose Yourself a catchy song with some good surprises.
I love that every few songs in the show Eloise gets to take lead and me right in our faces like on Excuse Me
Profile, profile everything they see
You’re only what they decide you to be
It was cool that they could follow up a song like that with the spooky pop of High Horse (big chanted High Horse in the chorus).
Eloise introduced the next song, Blood On Your Hands by telling everyone that where you spend your money is important. And where you don’t spend it is even more important. Once again, I’m glad they are introducing topics like this to their young fans. They did a festival in July called School’s Out. Ice Out.
Give me a good reason, all the money we spend
Goes to mass murder, when does it end?
All the people here, we’ll let them go hungry
How does building camps and dropping bombs help our country?
Give me a good reason that they’re taking away
Healthcare and food that people need day to day
And I don’t care about your wealth,
I don’t care about your tax breaks
Nothing big or beautiful about a fascist state
The next few songs were all from the new album, and I loved how varies the sounds were. Great harmonies on Closer. Simple straightforward punk on Okay. Angular new wave on Nothing Left–with a great Na Na Na Na Na Na part.
I was delighted that Bella jumped back to the first album to sing the song about her cat Nino. They played a couple more songs from the No Obligation album, which was quite a step up from their debut. The rocking title song has great guitars and more of Eloise’s powerful lyrics and the catchy chanted outro I don’t owe you / You don’t own me / You don’t owe them / They don’t own you.
Lucia said she couldn’t believe they were almost done with the set. People booed, and she said, aren’t you excited to wake up on Monday tomorrow?
They slowed things down with the pretty ballad (sung by Lucia and Mila), the song was another great mix of pretty, slow verses and then a slightly faster, chanted midsection. Really exciting progression in the song. They ended with All in My Head a super catchy sing along that got everyone bouncing. For one reason or another they did not play the Go-Go’s cover that they often play. I didn’t miss it.
They came back from an encore break and Eloise said they had forgotten to play some songs.
They started with a ripping version of Racist, Sexist Boy–still really intense and even more powerful as they get older. I Could Be Wrong is another sophisticated rocker. A nice way to get the crowd moving one last time. More great basslines and fun backing vocals, too.
They ended with Mila thanking everyone and then making a joke that I missed about the last song being See You Next Time. It’s a surprisingly chill song to end the set with although the sentiment makes sense as a final song.
Four years ago they played for 45 minutes. This set was about 75 and it was great. They had a blast, running around the stage, throwing picks and making guitar hero poses. I worried that Bella seemed more concerned than having a good time. But maybe she was just concentrating a lot since at the very end of the show, she jumped down into the photographer’s pit and rain around while still playing.
I honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy their set as much. I was really looking forward to the openers and since I hadn’t listened to any of the new Lindas songs, I didn’t know how much better their newer stuff was. I came away from the show liking all three bands and being really impressed with how much growth the Lindas have achieved.
| 2026 TLA | 2022 Foundry |
| Gotta Get Out Ø | Linda Linda (The Blue Hearts cover) |
| Oh! ⇑ | Claudia Kishi [single] |
| Growing Up ⇑ | Monica Ψ |
| Break Ø | Talking to Myself ⇑ |
| Helado de Limón Ø | Why ⇑ |
| Burning Out Ø | Never Say Never Ψ |
| Lose Yourself ⊗ | No Clue Ψ |
| Excuse Me ⊗ | Nino ⇑ |
| High Horse Ø | Missing You Ψ |
| Blood on Our Hands Ø | Growing Up ⇑ |
| Closer Ø | Magic ⇑ |
| Okay Ø | Fine ⇑ |
| Nothing Left Ø | Remember ⇑ |
| Nino ⇑ | Cuántas Veces ⇑ |
| No Obligation ⊗ | Tonite (The Go‐Go’s cover) |
| Everybody Told Me Ø | Oh! ⇑ |
| All in My Head ⊗ | Racist Sexist Boy ⇑ |
| encore | Rebel Girl (Bikini Kill cover) (with Bacchae) |
| Racist Sexist Boy ⇑ | 2022 |
| I Could Be Wrong Ø | 2022 |
| See You Next Time Ø | 2022 |
Ø Gotta Get Out (2025)
⊗ No Obligation
⇑ Growing Up (2022)
Ψ The Linda Lindas EP (2020)
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