Concert Review: Hail the Sun’s April 4th Performance

By: Juliana Maldonado

Photo by Rosario Gutierrez / Retrieved from Hail the Sun’s official Instagram page

As yellow-hued lighting filled the concert room, 2,300 fans had filled the sold out venue of the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, California on Saturday evening, April 4th. As the crowd waited restlessly, bickering amongst themselves for the post-hardcore band Hail the Sun to emerge on-stage, a QR code slowly drifted down over the curtain behind the stage. It beckoned the audience to participate, the text beside it reading, “CHOOSE A SONG FOR OUR SETLIST TONIGHT/SCAN THE CODE OR VISIT HAILTHESUN.LIVE.” Quickly, phones began to spring out from the crowd, pointing towards the stage, as the audience scurried to get their votes in, choosing between the tracks “Chunker” “Parasitic Cleanse” or “60-Minute Session Blocks.”

Four opening bands had performed before Hail the Sun’s set: Mella, Gold Necklace, Makari, and Foxy Shazam. Each opener was a part of lead vocalist and drummer of Hail The Sun, Donovan Melero’s record label, Kill Iconic Records, which he founded in 2021. In the five years since the label’s founding eleven bands have been added under the label.

Glam Rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, Foxy Shazam, appeared to have a particular connection to both the crowd and Melero as well, with Hail the Sun’s vocalist expressing his admiration for them following their set, alongside how inspired he had been by them. By the end of Foxy Shazam’s set, the crowd was in uproar, with fans in the upper seating leaving their seats to get as close as possible to seeing the band, and thrusting their palms into the air. Lupita Villaseñor, 26, of El Monte, California, was on the floor during the show, towards the right side of the stage, and was blown away by the band’s performance. 

“I loved Foxy Shazam’s presence.” She said, “I love their crowd engagement, like, the pianist played in the crowd, and stuff. I love it. I love when bands enjoy what they’re doing. You could tell the crowd really ate it up too.”

Villaseñor had been accompanied to the show by Jasmin Tarango, 24, who initially intended to see Hail the Sun at Chain Reaction, in Anaheim, California, during their two day festival with post-hardcore band Fall of Troy. Though, Tarango had accidentally bought duplicate tickets for Fall of Troy. 

“She was supposed to buy two tickets for day one and two, but [she] had two tickets for Fall of Troy, so I went by myself to see Hail the Sun,” Villaseñor reflected disappointedly. “That was our last show before Chain Reaction closed.” 

Luckily, the two had planned to reunite for Hail the Sun’s show at the Wiltern.

Doors had opened for the night at 5:45 PM, and each opener performed within 30 minute intervals of one another, until all went pitch black, as the headliner, Hail The Sun, emerged from the side of the stage at 9:40 PM. The crowd energy was through the roof after Foxy Shazam’s eruptive set, with ear-piercing screams ringing throughout the venue, as Melero shouted, “You ready?” Before opening with their track “The Drooling Class” off of their most recent 2025 album “cut. turn. fade. Back.” Neon blue light filled the room, pulsing from the lights arranged on-stage, before teal light shot from the sides of the platforms that drummer, Allen Casillas, and bassist, John Stirratt, had been playing atop of.

Their setlist was 16 tracks long, with Melero having a message for the audience right before the seventh track in their setlist, “Human Target Practice,” a track from Tarango’s favorite album. A distorted sound effect played in the background, as Melero began to speak, “Police brutality is still a very real issue in this country today, and we want to say, it’s never an excuse for cowardly ICE agents with masks on to kill our people, and kill American citizens! This song’s called ‘Human Target Practice.’ F*ck ICE.” Screams, claps, and middle fingers rose up from the audience in support of Melero's message.

Once the band had reached the end of their 15th track, “Maladapted” Melero ended with a short “thank you,” and he, alongside the rest of the band, exited the stage, as the stage lights shut off. The audience, however, had not been appeased, and began chanting in unison, “One more song! One more song!” Phone flashlights began to point towards, and illuminate the stage, as the crowd cheered. 

After three long minutes, the band walked back on-stage, as the crowd cheered. When Melero reached the mic, he shouted “You’re on some LA-type-sh*t aren’t you tonight? Let me see you. Let’s get those lights on real quick. What’s up? We thought we were done, we just went away, and you’re all still here. Thank you so much. This is such a monumental show for us. And I truly want to dedicate this to our families here tonight, to my parents, thank you for staying by my side through all the sh*t I put you through, and thank you for buying $20 tickets to our local shows where 40 people would show up, 15 years ago. This song goes out to our very, very handsome merchandise seller, he’s so hot, his name is Mike. . . make sure to go say, ‘Hi, Mike.” 

After the end of his heartwarming speech, Hail the Sun dove into their final track of the night, “Black Serotonin” before officially ending their show at 11 PM. The crowd was finally satisfied with the show’s ending. As attendees threw their hands in the air and cheered, the band turned their backs to the crowd and snapped a photo to forever document their first sold-out show at the Wiltern Theater. This was initially the band’s last show in Southern California for their Spring 2026 Tour, and lead vocalist Melero was excited to return to So-Cal in the future.

“L.A., it's been our absolute pleasure. We are Hail the Sun. We can't wait to come back. Let's do the Hollywood Palladium next time. We should do that. Then, let’s do Shrine. Let's do Crypto Arena! Thank you!” Melero shouted energetically to an equally energetic, cheering crowd.

The tour is set to continue until early October, with a recently added October 2nd performance at the Observatory in Santa Ana, California. Their current last stop will be on Sunday, October 4th at 11:00 AM for the Aftershock 2026 Festival in Sacramento, California. The band is currently venturing throughout the United States to perform, with their next stop being at the Ace Of Spades on Wednesday, May 6th in Sacramento, California, where bands Lady Radiator and Resilia will also make an appearance.