DS Show Review: MESS – Live at Characters Sports Bar, Pomona, CA (3/26/26)

Drama with a promoter caused a wave of bands to drop out of CY Fest and their scheduled preshows, leaving a lot of fans disappointed. But some of the touring bands refused to let the trip go to waste. MESS, traveling from Mexico, booked a last‑minute show at Characters Sports Bar in Pomona, playing alongside Bomber and Broken Cuffs. For anyone still hungry for great live music that weekend, this show delivered.

The Venue

If you’ve never been to Characters, it’s a rad spot. The building is a big brick structure with a spacious outdoor patio. Inside, you’ll find a long bar running along the right side and a few billiards tables to the left. The bands set up outside under a tented patio area, which actually gives the space surprisingly good acoustics – clear enough to hear everything without blowing out your ears or needing earplugs.

I walked in right at the 9 p.m. start time.

Broken Cuffs

First up was Broken Cuffs, a three‑piece punk band from Palmdale, CA. They had some tech issues that delayed the start and caused the singer’s mic to cut out for half a second here and there, but it wasn’t enough to ruin the set. Once they locked in, they delivered a solid, energetic performance.

Setlist:

• Police Brutality
• Cultura
• Uniform
• Quarantine
• Murphy’s Law
• Fight
• Media Takeover
• New song (title uncertain; lyric included “I don’t care what you think about me”)
• These Boots (dedicated to the working class)

Bomber

Second up was Bomber, a newer four‑piece made up of veteran LA musicians who’ve been playing punk, rock’n’roll, and Oi! since the ’90s. I’m not sure how many of their members are originally from the UK, but the singer definitely was – and he also handled bass duties, which is always cool to see.

This band absolutely ripped. I walked in without really knowing their music and walked out a fan. The pit had English punks and LA locals mixing it up, and the energy was infectious. I noticed a Chelsea F.C. bag near the stage during setup, and later, when the crowd broke into big anthemic chants, it all made sense; anthems are engrained throughout many areas of English culture. The songs were raw, catchy, and built for shouting along.

Not all of their tracks are available on streaming yet, so a few titles are based on lyrics.

Setlist:

• We Don’t Trust You (title uncertain)
• Choose Your Fate
• We Won’t Fight No One (title uncertain)
• System
• He’s a Skinhead (title uncertain)
• Hard Working Man
• Big Business (title uncertain)
• Fuck Ice, Fuck You Too (new song released March 25)
• Bomber Rules O.K.

I wanted to grab their EP or a shirt to support, but by then I had already bought a MESS LP, a MESS shirt, and two other LPs from a vendor with an incredible vinyl selection – records from the UK, Australia, the U.S., even Brazil.

MESS

Closing out the night was MESS, an Oi! punk band from Guadalajara, Mexico. Frontman Abraham Vilchis has a killer raspy, gritty voice that cuts through everything. The crowd was fully locked in from the first song to the last. Standout moments for me were Revenge, Falso Poder, Leave Me Alone, and Street Boys.

Setlist

• Revenge
• Traidores
• Leave Me Alone
• Fire, Fire, Fire
• Sal de Revolver
• Dolor? (title uncertain)
• Falso Poder
• My Own Game
• Street Boys
• True Love
• Sospecha