2026 Idobi summer school
Honey Revenge x Games We Play x South Arcade x Winona Fighter x Chase Petra x Capture This
07.19.26
Summer School 2026
2026 Summer School was my (Morgan’s) third year in a row having the opportunity to cover the shows, and while every year was phenomenal, this year had to take the top. All four of your core team for XPSR (Cody, Lex, Moose, Morgan) got to attend this show, so we have a little bit of all of our work on this one; and most importantly, this year hit extra hard BECAUSE we got to all attend together. There’s something really special about going to concerts with your best friends, and music always feels better listened to in a community. We saw so many of our friends at this show, and even though Summit Music Hall was PACKED in, the show felt intimate and lovely and like the some one thousand people in there were all friends, too.
Capture This
LET’S JUMP INTO THIS WITH THE OPENER, which this year we got to see local Denver band Capture This open! I thought it was AMAZING that this tour run had local bands for every single opening date, giving everyone in attendance the chance to see that local music is alive and well, and worth attending. I feel as though a lot of people miss out on amazing bands simply because they’re not exposed to them in any capacity, so giving these bands a platform benefits bands AND fans. Capture This are some of the best people in the Denver music scene, so seeing them play to a packed house was just incredible. Friendship aside, they knocked it out of the park. Their newest song “Headspin” was incredible to see live. They were just a spot-on addition to the show, and they set up the energy for the rest of the night.
Chase Petra
First up for the night was Chase Petra, who absolutely blew me away. Chase Petra had the most minimal crew of the night, but they didn’t need anything more. With just a duo onstage, they smashed through songs off of their newest EP like “Soda Pop” and “Your Life Is Worse”. The vocals were incredible, stage presence immaculate, and the whole set felt intimate, raw, and was just amazing.
Winona Fighter
Winona Fighter’s set is going to go down as a core memory for the rest of my life because I got to crowd surf for the first time! Not only did I get to get up there, but I got to bring my camera as well. Honestly, didn’t get any decent shots from it because I was terrified, but IT WAS STILL SO WORTH IT. As soon as I came down, I immediately wanted to jump back in there and go again. Overall though, Winona Fighter had some of the most incredible energy I have ever seen a band give at a show. I feel like Winona Fighter should give a masterclass on how to jump around while performing flawlessly, because holy moly that’s exactly what they did. Their set was like a live version of downing an energy drink, and having them rotated into the middle of the night was such a great way to propel the evening on.
South Arcade
I didn’t know too many South Arcade songs going into the night (I do love “Riptide” though), but they were so insane live that I wanted to toss them into my daily playlist immediately after they got off the stage. By this point I was starting to realize that every band of the night had next-level skill and energy. Their performance was incredible, and they did a phenomenal job interacting with the crowd and making the night feel interesting and unique.
Games We Play
I’ve gotten a chance to see Games We Play a couple of times before, and he smashed it once again. After taking a bit of a hiatus to have a family, singer Emmyn came back and made it feel like he never left. He never missed a beat, running around onstage, killing his songs, interacting with the crowd and telling stories; overall, his set just made us all feel like we were part of the family too.
Honey Revenge
Honey Revenge was a band all four of us were STOKED to see live. They’re one of my personal favorite bands (currently obsessed with their song “Poison Apple Baby”, and they always kill it live. Their interactions with eachother on stage is always a delight, you can FEEL that they all enjoy playing together and that they love what they do. Their music being incredible is just a fantastic bonus. At this point, Lex also hopped up and crowd surfed with HER camera, and then I ended up going up for round two. I put my gear down and ran into the middle of the pit at one point, we were all together at the end of the night just singing along and bouncing around. Them signing the night off was the cherry on top of the most delicious show I’ve had a chance to go to this year. Overall, Summer School Junior Class smashed it, and I cannot wait to see how they top it next year.
