Origami Angel And Friends Beat The Kansas Heat With Cool Alternative Rock
June 24th, 2025 - Lawrence, KS
There’s not many bands that I'll willingly suffer the June heat for, but I missed Origami Angel last time they were in town and I wasn’t going to let myself make that mistake again. On any given day they run neck & neck with The Callous Daoboys as my favorite band and for good reason. A lot of the lyrics from Somewhere City and Feeling Not Found specifically make me feel extremely nostalgic for something that I can’t ever quite put my finger on but is definitely there. Especially the song “Doctor Whomst.” I was also really excited to finally see Saturdays At Your Place, after really enjoying their 2023 EP always cloudy. “Tarot Cards” & Eat Me Alive” went triple platinum in my car and AirPods for a solid two months. As a frequent hardcore/ metalcore concert goer, this bill consisting of Emo, alternative, and indie was such a relaxing change of pace.
This show was my first time seeing Baltimore based Emo band Combat and I definitely left that night a fan of the group. Their set was mostly made up of songs off of their 2024 album Stay Golden with the exception of the new unreleased song that opened the set. I’m a big fan of bands who use their time on stage to talk about things that they believe in, and it made me so excited to hear this band, and the others on the bill express their feelings about current events.
Chase Petra is also an act I was largely unfamiliar with but really enjoyed their set! They had such energy on stage and the crowd seemed to really resonate with them and their music. They radiated such a cool vibe and I enjoyed photographing them so much. A lot of their set consisted of tracks off of there 2025 album, “Lullabies For Dogs,” and I wound up adding “Bread and Circus” and “Centrifugal Force” to my saved songs on Spotify directly after their set.
I’ve been dabbling a little more into the “Midwest Emo” / “Alternative Emo” genre lately and Saturdays At Your Place are always one of the top recommended bands by all of my Twitter mutuals. And with good reason, they’re incredibly good live. The crowd was infinitely more familiar with their material than any of the prior bands and the energy in the room was so fun, and reminded me why I love pop punk/ alternative as a genre. The sing along the whole room had to “Tarot Cards” was the most memorable part of the set, and it was just as good of a song live as it is in my Air Pods.
I am a MASSIVE Origami Angel fan. Their 2024 album Feeling Not Found was one of my top three albums of last year and I was SO excited to finally get to see them live. Only having two members didn’t mean they were anywhere less exciting to watch on stage, both of the guys made sure that their energy was conveyed to the crowd through the whole set. The crowd took their enthusiasm and RAN with it. The last four songs in the set had people crowdsurfing and starting push pits til the show was over, and I expected nothing less to be honest. A lot of bands skip our market but every show I go to in Lawrence proves to bands why they should come back. They played songs from all four albums and I personally got to hear a couple of my favorites like, “Self Destruct,” “Skeleton Key,” and “Wretched Trajectory.” If any of the four of these bands are ever in your area you absolutely should go see them because you won’t be disappointed.