[RECAP] SURL Captivate the Audience in LA

On April 12th, 2023 at the Lodge Room in Highland Park, CA, indie band SURL held their very first concert in LA “review of us”! This was their first solo North America tour with many back to back shows. Arriving a little before doors opening to find street parking, we saw many of the members roaming outside the venue to the surprise of some fans waiting outside to enter.

Venue – Lodge Room

This venue is housed in a “1922 Mosaic Lodge. The space is an iconic entertainment venue of Northeast Los Angeles hosting an eclectic mix of live music, performances and events complimented by fun, tasty food, draft beers and cocktails.” On one side of the venue, there is also a fancy looking restaurant where the food smells really good (and made the concert goers a little hungry).

There is a good amount of street parking in the general area so that’s always a plus! Concert parking can be pretty steep depending on the venue and type of parking in the surrounding area.

Opening Act: Kaz Moon

The night opened with singer songwriter Kaz Moon. He quietly came on stage to prepare while the audience just chatted among each other. When they noticed who was on the stage, a few giggled and called out to him which he shyly responded with a “hi!”.

Kaz sang quite a few of his songs during his set. Once song he advised was titled “Twice” which was written by him about the girl group Twice. Someone from the crowd asked him who his bias is which he just laughed at. We still don’t know who his bias is! He also performed his newest song “regressa” which was released the night before the show.

After he completed his set, Kaz decided to watch the main performers from the crowd. He chatted with the audience as everyone wanted for SURL.

Main Performance: SURL

SURL finally came onto the stage holding up banners with their names on it. After grabbing their instruments and a short intro to get ready, the band went straight into the track “Cilla” and then “Dead Man”. They then introduced themselves and mentioned that this was their first time in LA. Also, this is the 6th stop for the first US tour.

After a few more tracks, they then mentioned that their first full length album was released last year and they were going to perform songs from that album. They started off with the title track “Every Day” before singing “Hot Air Balloon”. They took a quick second to make sure the audience knew that the next song is their most popular track which the audience yelled out “Dry Flower”! This led lead singer Hoseung to nod and tells the crowd he hopes they sing along.

They then told everyone that they only had four songs left which caused a loud “awwwww” from the audience. SURL answered that they know they have more songs but that’s how it is which caused a louder uproar. This caused them to tell the audience to “calm down” which just caused the audience to laugh. Before they moved on to their ‘last’ set of songs, the group asked everyone to tag them on Twitter/Instagram. They want to see the videos for the night; especially when the tour is over. SURL announced that they are planning on working on new music right when they go back to South Korea!

Encore

SURL then went into the next set and sang tracks such as, “Rope”, “No Jam”, and “What Time is it Now”. They did walk off stage and waited for the audience to yell ENCORE before coming back out to perform “Don’t Say No”. The group took a group picture with the audience and hi-fived a few people on the way out. They definitely know how to please the crowd.