Badflower Brings Their "Swinging Hammer" to Los Angeles

Badflower almost didn’t play at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on March 7th. In fact, the tour was nearly cancelled a week earlier. On February 27th, after stopping mid-performance during a show in Salt Lake City, Badflower frontman Josh Katz cancelled the rest of the tour due to the vocal issues he has been experiencing.

Later, in videos posted to social media, Katz went into depth on what he’s been going through. He’s seen multiple doctors and so far, there isn’t a concrete answer on what’s wrong with his voice, which he says keeps cracking more and more during shows. While his vocal cords seem to be perfectly healthy, he is continuing to seek answers for what might be causing the issue. He says it’s hard for him to get through a performance without knowing what to expect from his voice on any given night, and the mental toll that this has been taking on him is affecting him much more than the physical aspect.

A few days after the show in SLC, Katz explained that he feels supported and has received so much love since sharing his experience, and the tour would go on. During the show at the Fonda, Katz told the audience that even though he’s dealing with this tough situation, he just wants to be in the room with everyone. After playing two more shows in Arizona and New Mexico, the band posted to Instagram that the rest of the tour was canceled. It goes to show how much of an emotional rollercoaster Katz has been going through, wanting to give his best for the fans but not feeling like he can, on top of being poked and prodded at endless doctor’s visits. With Badflower’s dedicated fanbase, everyone is only sending love and understanding, with hopes that Katz will take the time he needs and find the answers he is looking for. Especially now, everyone who got to see Badflower on this short-lived tour is feeling extraordinarily grateful they got to experience it.

To kick off the show in Los Angeles, Russian pop singer-songwriter AnDy Darling charmed the audience with her thick accent and matching Adidas tracksuits with her band. She wore an ushanka with an embroidered red star and her band, in red ski masks, inspected the crowd with deep stares. AnDy has competed on The Voice in multiple countries, written Russian hits, and is now working on conquering American pop stardom. Her song “Never Enough” was a standout of the set, and the intense red lighting set the mood.

Next up was Olive Vox, an alt-rock band from Dallas, Texas. With brothers Parker James and Caden Shea on vocals and guitar, Ben Reid on bass, and Dayton Phillips on the drums, these guys knew what they were doing. Openers have to be interesting and engage the audience because most of them are completely unknown to the crowd. I was unfamiliar with this band before, but now I would go see them headline a show in a heartbeat. Right off the bat, they had crazy energy, with Reid constantly jumping as high as possible off the risers and James passionately screaming into the mic. They’re young, but they gave the impression that they’re seasoned entertainers that understand how to give you a good time. You don’t have to know their music to get into it, and the crowd did just that. Everyone was a fan, and this band is definitely one to watch.

Los Angeles native rock band Point North took the stage. Singer Jon Lundin, guitarist and vocalist Andy Hershey, and drummer Josh Parra make up the three-piece. The heaviest band on the lineup, they were bathed in dark green and blue mood lighting to accentuate the atmosphere during their set. Lundin gave off calm and collected energy with his hat, sunglasses, and stunning vocals, while Hershey supplied the screams. Their latest release, “DEAD 2 ME,” got the mosh pit going, and it continued throughout the set. Another highlight was 2024 single “Bring Me Down,” with a catchy chorus that’s easy to get into. Point North has a more established fanbase than the other openers, and their fans in the audience sang along to one of their most popular songs, “Safe and Sound,” to finish off the set.

Once it was time for Badflower to come on stage, they launched into “Number 1,” from their latest album, There’s No Place Like Home. Six of the songs were from the new album, and everyone was excited to hear them, most likely for the first time. “Drop Dead” saw a deafening powerhouse performance, transitioning into melancholy “Heroin,” a fan favorite.

Towards the end of “Let The Band Play,” frontman Josh Katz took a break and literally let the band play, a genius way to incorporate and extend the song for live shows. Guitarist Joey Morrow and bassist Alex Espiritu showed off their skills with solos, and drummer Anthony Sonetti finished with a drum solo. Katz came back to finish the song, asking the crowd if he can trust them with his life, and crowd surfed from the stage and back while singing.

After this, he talked about his vocal issues and said how important it was to him to be with everyone at the show. Audience members cheered him on and shouted that they love him no matter what. From my perspective, I barely noticed any cracking in his voice and it didn’t detract from his incredible performance in any way.

Later on, when “Ghost” began to start, multiple people could be heard saying some form of “oh no” at the beginning, preparing themselves for the depressing and deeply vulnerable song contemplating self-harm. Afterwards, they left the stage, then came back for the encore (Katz said they invented this method). They played “No Place Like Home,” “London,” and finished with the rowdy and animated version of “Swinging Hammer,” with AnDy Darling joining them. Even though it was a shorter set than they might usually play, everyone was giving 100% and the crowd was screaming every word. Badflower fans are devoted, and the love Badflower has for them is evident. A show like this is not one to be missed.