The first California date of the So Much For (Tour)dust Tour landed in Chula Vista, California at the North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre on July 1st. The lineup for this date consisted of Daisy Grenade, Royal and the Serpent, Bring Me The Horizon, and Fall Out Boy.

Daisy Grenade brought the energy of a Red Bull can to their opening sets, a welcome reprieve from the antsy, pre-show angst we were stewing in. The duo, Keaton and Dani, play off each other’s personalities and utilize the stage space well. They make sure to focus on every angle of the crowd to make sure nobody is left out, and overall are a riot to see. Next time they are on the West Coast I would jump at the opportunity to cover them as the main act.

Royal And The Serpent is a more permanent fixture of the tour, and has appeared at every date I personally attended. Royal won me over with her performances on this tour, as she comes out with an “I Pledge Allegiance to the Gays of America” bit that primes the audience for the rest of her set. Royal has an eclectic song grouping including a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" cover and closing with "Overwhelmed", probably the most popular track among casual fans.

Bring Me The Horizon has always been a treat to watch. I was able to see them at When We Were Young Fest last year in 2022, and their stage presence is always phenomenal. The staging design for this tour is a lot more stripped down compared to their seat at WWWYF, swapping out the massive video screens to a lit up version of their logo in the back of the stage. This didn’t detract from their presence though, as Oli is a mesmerizing frontman. He’s able to wrap your attention around his finger and keep you focused on him and him alone. An example of this is when Oli disappeared from the stage during “Drown” to circle the amphitheater. Fans and casual attendees alike seemed to be falling over themselves to get a glimpse of him. BMTH is always a treat to see, and I’ll definitely jump on the next opportunity to see them.

Closing out the event was Fall Out Boy, obviously, and the consensus with this whole tour among fans is that this is the most exciting tour they’ve put on in a long time. They are always fun to watch, but this era of live performances has opened Pandora’s box in terms of surprises and historic moments. With multiple live debuts of songs from their vault to a handful of improvised piano covers, this tour keeps us all on our toes and clued into the tour every single night.

It’s nice to see the band follow My Chemical Romance and Taylor Swift’s example of changing the setlist every night. It invigorates the fandom to speculate and collectively celebrate when a fan-staple is played. The framing for surprise songs on this tour is the Magic 8 ball, which Pete Wentz asks a few questions surrounding which song they need to play before leading into the track.

This element is allegedly kept under deep secrecy, with only the band and 1 or 2 sound engineers with the actual answer. For this date, they played "Coffee’s For Closers", a fan favorite track from Folie A Deux. A good friend of mine that I came with was actually so excited that they were brought to tears at this song. This tour has been so special in the hearts of the fans, and it doesn’t cease to excite fans night after night.

Check out part 2 of our 'So Much For (Tour)Dust' coverage here.

Keep up with Daisy Grenade, Royal And The Serpent, Bring Me The Horizon, and Fall Out Boy.

PHOTOS BY ANASTASIA WHITE