With 2023 coming to a close and their festival reunion sparking major interest, Something Corporate ended the year with a pair of reunion shows in their home state of California. The prolific early 2000s rock group rang in the new year and Atlas was in the mix for the final show of 2023.
In order to get us to midnight, City National Grove of Anaheim opened its doors later and got the party started right on time with Winona Fighter. The visibly ecstatic Nashville group took the venue by storm with their high energy set that pulled no punches. Singer Coco whirled across the stage like a tornado, kicking her feet and whipping her hair on every song- and making no apologies for the band’s brashness. Their powerhouse set completely charmed the rapidly filling room and whipped the crowd into an appropriate frenzy in preparation for the evening’s main event.
Something Corporate first reunited onstage at Las Vegas’s When We Were Young Festival in October and the outpouring of love and support the band received prompted them to keep those good times rolling. After a massively successful night one, night two commenced with the band emerging looking thrilled to be back in front of such an excited crowd. Fans were decked out in their holiday best- along with plenty of SoCo merch- and singer Andrew McMahon took control behind the keys of his trusty piano.
The band kicked things off with “Space” and “I Want to Save You”, getting the audience singing with gusto from the first notes. The band was relaxed throughout the set, smiling and playing like no time had passed since their disbandment in 2004. McMahon even joked that much of the material in their setlist was written at such a young age that they’d all found humor in singing ‘Drunk Girl” and “21 and Invincible” (which was very nearly changed to “41 and Invincible” to poke fun at the band’s ages now).
Something Corporate transported the Anaheim crowd back in time as the night went on with fans raising their hands for “The Astronaut” and dancing with abandon to “Punk Rock Princess”. McMahon stopped repeatedly between songs to express just how much joy they all felt at sharing a stage again, especially with the love they were given at the reunion announcement.
Nearly 90 minutes later and with an eye on the midnight countdown, Something Corporate took us into the new year with “I Woke Up in a Car” directly into all nine beautiful minutes of “Konstantine”- the most perfect way to start 2024. Whether the band decides to come back together for more shows in the future or not, a sold out audience in California will recount their experience with Something Corporate for years to come.
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Story and photos by Olivia Khiel
