Seraphina Lotkhamnga on May 28th, 2013

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“What if Ty Segall were to come out tonight?” asked a fan in the sold-out Echo on Friday night. This was seconds before someone rammed into his body and pulled him into the mosh pit. His possible scenario didn’t have to come into fruition because the bombastic bill of Mikal Cronin, Pangea and Gap Dream didn’t give anybody much time to think. There were only two choices: Move along with the music or have someone else accidentally knock a beer out of your hand for taking the night too seriously.

• ||| Photography by Michael Lei

Cleveland, Ohio’s Gap Dream, part of the Burger Records crew, kicked the night off with some solid psychedelic garage-punk with songs like “58th St” off of their self-titled album, and newly signed L.A. punk-rockers Pangea (they’ll be releasing music on Capitol affiliate Harvest) refused to hold anything back when it came to warming the crowd up for Cronin. To his benefit, by the time the headlining artist took the stage, bodies were already sweaty and teeth were already chipped from all the crowd surfing.

Taking advantage of the rowdy atmosphere and already knowing the answer to his question, Cronin cleverly dove in to “Is It Alright” with its opening a cappella measures and massive guitar chugging. Favorites off his 2011 self-titled debut, “Situation” and “Apathy” followed before he would begin to slay with songs off his latest record “MCII.” Cronin then dove into some frenetic power-pop with “Am I Wrong.” The fans roared to agree with the lyric “I don’t think so.”

Although Ty Segall didn’t make it to the show, his buddies Chad A.U. (Chad & the Meatbodies) was there on guitar and Emily Rose Epstein (Ty Segall) was banging on the drums to flesh out his live band. The jangly arrangements, wildly psychedelic guitar solos and pop melodies (and some major hair-whipping) were results of this family affair on stage, and it served as part of the cycle as they fed on the audience’s rushing endorphins. This group consisted of former L.A. residents themselves Chad pointed out: “It feels so good to be home.”

The technical difficulties during the beginning of the set (Cronin’s vocals were a bit off) mattered little. As Cronin and his crew roared through new songs such as “Weight” and the extremely anthemic tunes “See It My Way” and “Shout It Out,” fans threw themselves on stage to dance and sing into the mic. One even took the time to drop to his knees and repeatedly bow to Cronin during a guitar solo in “Change.” Songs off of his “Tide” EP were also plucked and placed in to the boisterous set.

After “Gone,” Cronin made some in the crowd believe he was really gone for the night, but his loyal fans knew better. A brief encore proceeded where the band covered Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World” to wrap up what was simply a special night. It was as if we had all traveled back in time to take part in the biggest high school party ever thrown, and not only did the parents never come back but the cops just didn’t make it in time.