Emo Nite LA brought everything from the 2000s—including crunkcore MySpace stars—to recordBar
Emo Nite LA at recordBar on March 1, 2024. // Photo by Emily Jacobs
Since its inception, Emo Nite LA has brought genre rock fans of all ages together and inspired emo-themed events in cities around the country.
Founded by Morgan Freed and T.J. Petracca in an LA dive bar, Emo Nite LA celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
The event is hosted by dozens of Freed and Petracca’s friends, touring to more than 50 cities. Occasionally, there is the surprise live set, but for the most part, it’s essentially a DJ-led party where attendees are encouraged to show up in appropriate Hot Topic attire and dance onstage. It’s success has spawned numerous spin-offs and copycat events around the world.
They’ve also run festivals and hosted celebrity guests, including members of blink-182 and Dashboard Confessional.
Emo Nite LA at recordBar on March 1, 2024. // Photo by Emily Jacobs
I had the opportunity to experience Emo Nite LA for the first time last Friday at recordBar.
As the doors opened, partygoers filed into the venue sporting black clothes, skinny jeans, studded belts, and spiked hair. There were a few outliers, but most were in their twenties or thirties.
The crowd swarmed the stage fervently as the hosts kicked the night off with “Sugar We’re Going Down Swinging.” The hosts sang and danced with the crowd, imploring them to form moshpits and join them onstage.
By the end of the night, there were more people onstage than on the floor.
The last Emo Nite LA took place at Riot Room, so there were several shoutouts and toasts to Riot Room throughout the night—R.I.P.
Most notably, the evening featured special guest Melissa Marie Green of Millionaires, the “crunkcore” group that debuted on MySpace after posting their song, “I Like Money,” which was created using GarageBand. Millionaires was a “you had to be there” phenomenon to understand the hype.
The crowd went wild when Green came onstage for a few songs, even those who looked too young to have enjoyed the glory days of MySpace, and it was definitely the high point of the evening. In fact, many people made their exit once Green left the stage for the night.
The playlist was as drunk as the crowd itself, with hits ranging from My Chemical Romance to Avril Lavigne to Knocked Loose to The Killers to closing out the night with… Rihanna? This ensured that there was something for everyone in attendance—unless you are a genre snob like myself, then you will be sorely disappointed by the lack of Title Fight on the playlist. But Emo Nite is much more about the emo scene and its culture, even more so than the music itself.
Emo Nite LA at recordBar on March 1, 2024. // Photo by Emily Jacobs
For a drunken night out with friends, Emo Nite is sure to be a great time. Personally, I prefer live music and emo nights that feature our local emo cover band, KCeMO. At the same time, the very emo nights that KCeMO hosts were popularized in part because of Emo Nite LA, bringing about a resurgence of the genre in recent years.
I appreciate Emo Nite LA for what it is—a safe space to bring people together, from all walks of life, over music that they love, to just have a great fucking time.
However, if you enjoyed Emo Nite LA, or any other emo night in Kansas City, I implore you to get out there and see your favorite bands when they come through. Not only that, but check out the local music scene, too—you might find your new favorite band. Buy their merch and their records. Regularly, emo and emo-adjacent musicians are struggling to make ends meet and find the means to tour.
It only seems right to make an effort toward supporting the creators whose work could pack a venue, even when they aren’t in the room.
Emo Nite LA at recordBar on March 1, 2024. // Photo by Emily Jacobs
