Nighttime set and the stage lit up as local Bay Area band Midrift stepped out to the screams and cheers of more than 400 fans who came ready to sing along and mosh after the show was rescheduled in February.
The Depot hosted their Depot Dynamics concert Friday, in the conference hall after having to reschedule an outdoor performance in February due to weather. After anticipating a large audience that Midrift was bound to draw, the Depot manager Michelle Yang made the call to move out of the normal Depot venue on the lower floor of the Cesar Chavez Student Center to the larger Jack Adams Hall.
Midrift themselves were unsure how big the crowd would be since the last time they played at San Francisco State University, they were at the much smaller Depot venue.
“It’s definitely a little stressful,” said frontman Gus Mehrkam. “I feel like we have to fill it out now. Hopefully, we can.”
Opening band Chrome’s guitarist Diego Rios got a shoutout from his band members at the start of the set for playing a show at SFSU, where he is also a student. Their energy immediately set the bar for the show with raw shouts from singer Sergio Ramirez and heavy riffs to back him. Ramirez pumped up the crowd as he strode back and forth across the stage.
After only 15 minutes, the first mosh pit of the night opened.
The band closed their set with fast-paced surf-rock tune “Delta,” which is currently their only song on Spotify.
Midrift guitarist Manoa Neukermans mentioned a big part of why they like playing at SFSU was because “basically all of our age demographic was there.” The free, all-ages show brought in a large crowd of teenagers from around the city. For some attendees, it was their very first concert.
“It was my first show, so I thought it was great,” said audience member Naihema Wilson-Giron. “I did get in a pit, then I was crowd surfing.”
The night’s second opener, Luna Ivy, slowed the tempo with their dreamy indie-pop sound. The audience swayed and danced to Lees Akard’s airy voice while bassist Autumn Salvo, guitarist Dilly Dailey and drummer Bex Castillo backed her up.
Songs such as “Purple Daisies” and “Savy” gave a fun, bouncy energy for the crowd to move to, while their track “In My Head” wound down the room with a moody, head-bobbing vibe.
Before the headliner reached the stage, Jack Adams Hall hit its capacity of 450 people, leaving dozens in line hoping to hear the music from right outside the doors. The floor filled up and fans screamed as Midrift members occasionally poked out to make a small adjustment to the stage. Then, as they stepped out to perform, the crowd went wild.
Although a sign was posted by the stage saying “No Crowd Surfing No Stage Diving,” mosh pits reopened and fans crowd surfed as the band played hits like “Twin Flames” and “Unrequited” which collectively have over 50 million streams on Spotify. Mehrkam was caught up in the passion of the crowd and climbed into the front row towards the end of the set.
“He fell on us and then I got a guitar pick,” said Jasmine Mendez, who arrived at the show just in time to see Midrift. “10 out of 10, I’d come again to see them.”
Midrift has been touring across the U.S. since they last performed at The Depot in 2024, with stops along the East Coast, Arizona and Texas. Now back in California, the band is playing shows across the state in preparation for their album drop.
The band is booked to play in festivals like Sound and Fury in Los Angeles and Outside Lands this summer.
