Chudson, WILLOWBARK! and First State revive all-ages shows in Garden Grove

Octopus Vs. Bear, a room tucked into the basement of the First Baptist Church of Garden Grove, hosted an all-ages bill with Chudson, WILLOWBARK! and First State on September 18, 2026. The space sits around the block from Garden Amp and just off Garden Grove's Main Street, with white Christmas lights strung along the walls, no barricade and a large pillar standing directly in front of the stage.

First State opened amid some confusion over its own name: the show flyers billed the band as Inpost, while its social accounts use First State. The set functioned as a tribute to late-1980s and early-1990s emo, including a Braid cover and a closing run through the Ramones' version of "Do You Wanna Dance?" Chudson's guitarist and singer noted the group was playing ska the last time the two shared a stage.

WILLOWBARK! followed with an experimental approach, sometimes adding keyboard and sometimes not, showing no interest in settling into a single genre. One song opened slowly before shifting into something close to the Misfits. The largely teenage crowd kept moving throughout.

Chudson closed the night with the same explosive start the band has become known for, though with tighter control of that energy than fifteen months earlier. New material leaned slightly more toward pop punk without abandoning the group's formula, as heard on "I Hate Live Nation." After a year of larger rooms, the band has made clear it prefers small spaces and remains skeptical of what comes with moving up.

Octopus Vs. Bear had previously been shut down by the city of Garden Grove before reopening, and its future as a regular venue remains uncertain. In a county with only a handful of rooms, the night underlined how punk, ska, emo and metal audiences increasingly overlap.