A mosh pit exploded in the middle of Alameda Street on Saturday night at 8:11 p.m. as hundreds of punks shouted, “FUCK ICE,” while singing along to L.A.’s craziest street punk band, Dead City.
The surprise show was announced less than 24 hours before, during their wild performance at Superchief Gallery warehouse on Friday night. The band posted a flier on its Instagram account—which has since been archived—at 7 p.m. the night before, calling for a “peaceful protest” and listing the Metropolitan Detention Center at 535 North Alameda Street as the “general area” where the show would take place, notifying fans to stay tuned for the approximate pin to be dropped right before the show.
At 7 p.m, groups of punks started to slowly make their way down Alameda Street, joining the rest of the demonstrators who were in the area protesting the ICE raids happening in Los Angeles and the rest of the country. In total, about 500 people were present.
LAPD had blocked off both sides of Alameda, on Temple Street and on Commercial Street, to vehicles at dusk, but still allowed pedestrians to cross the police line.
Just before 8 p.m., word came in and started to spread that Dead City was en route and looking for a place to set up to play. They first announced they were going to play on Commercial Street with the 101 Freeway as a backdrop because they couldn’t get onto Alameda Street.
But at the last minute, they decided that wasn’t close enough and utilized shopping carts to haul their amps and drum kit to play across the street from the back of the Federal Building, where hundreds of protesters overwhelmed the Feds on Friday.
Within ten minutes, the band was set up on the sidewalk on the eastern side of Alameda Street and started to warm up. After disclosing to any cameras recording the show that this was a “peaceful protest,” the band immediately erupted into their song, “Fuck Peace,” with its chorus that repeats: “Fuck peace! Fuck peace! Peace is for pussies!”
The pit kept a steady momentum throughout their set. The frontman admitted that they forgot their cymbals for the drum kit and that the drummer was playing with a broken hand, but despite these setbacks, hundreds of punks still showed up to support and blow off some steam.
The band played an entire set of about 30 minutes long, undisturbed by police or the skirmish line of armed federal agents located just a few hundred feet away. Another band from New York, Cruciform, played a full set as well.
The show wrapped up at around 8:45 p.m. with many of the punks who showed up for the show leaving with the band. At around 9 p.m., someone threw a firework behind the line of Federal Agents, which made them return fire in the form of pepperballs, causing many protestors to scurry away. LAPD officers quickly called a dispersal order and shot tear gas canisters towards the crowd.
Multiple people were arrested and some injured, including a spectator who was not protesting but still received a less lethal projectile to his eye and sadly, may lose his vision.
Dead City started in 2020 during the peak of pandemic frustration, by a group of L.A. punks who asked their friend, MIKER, a respected graffiti artist from Maywood, to sing in their band.
They played a generator-powered show to thousands of punks along a riverbed in Frogtown in 2021 that turned into an uprising that made it to the evening news. Their fans have a reputation for being among the most chaotic bases in the underground L.A. punk scene.
These fanatics are famous for starting fires and spray-painting the walls wherever the group plays, causing the band to be banned from playing many venues. Despite the destructive history of their generator shows, the show was peaceful—with no reported fights.
As the U.S. government wages war on immigrants, with Los Angeles bearing the brunt of ICE's violent tactics, this DIY Dead City show felt historic—echoing Rage Against the Machine's legendary protest set outside the 2000 DNC.
