This post was updated Sept. 22 at 1:46 a.m.
Bruin Bash brought throwback tracks to the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Monday night.
Days before the start of fall quarter, students packed LATC for the sold-out annual concert, which featured headliner Swae Lee, openers Kid Ink and KYLE, along with DJ Nebula Star. Across the bowl and floor sections, attendees jumped, sang and waved their hands to sets spanning classic hits from the 2010s.
[Related: Swae Lee to headline 2010s-inspired Bruin Bash 2026 lineup alongside Kid Ink, KYLE]
Cultural Affairs commissioner Divine Trewick and Campus Events commissioner Salem Walsh kicked things off with a quick welcome to the crowd as attendees filtered in.
The stage kept things sleek, with a black DJ table in the left-hand corner and blue and red flashing lights. Many crowd members wore their 2016-inspired attire in an ode to the event’s theme, featuring graphic tees, Converse and mustache accents. The playlist set the mood with tracks like “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Clarity” and “One Dance.”
Before the openers hit the stage, student DJs Simbi, Ziane and Teejay began the night along with Nebula Star, who arrived fresh off her New York Fashion Week set for Nike.
Kid Ink then opened the show at about 9 p.m., performing hit tracks like 2013’s “Show Me.”
“You remind me of somethin’,” Kid Ink sang. “But I don’t know what it is right now.”
The stage lights turned red, and opening act Kid Ink took to the stage in a red leather jacket with a white hoodie underneath. Visuals flashed across the screen behind, including diamonds, lightning and old TVs. The set was packed with energy, with “Main Chick” and “Show Me” sending the crowd’s hands up as they bopped along and swayed their flashlights to the rhythm.
Between sets, one of the DJs mixed in 2012 hit “We Are Young,” which the crowd continued a capella, singing almost an entire verse and chorus together before the music started back up again.
KYLE kept the energy high at 9:45 p.m. in a denim jacket and black jeans, with only blue lights on the stage as cameras panned to crowd members on the screen behind him. KYLE performed with two dancers and sent the crowd cheering as they performed light choreography. Besides playing popular songs “Hey Julie!” and “Don’t Wanna Fall in Love,” the crowd gave its loudest reaction as he closed out his set with “iSpy,” a track released in 2016 that has amassed 1.8 billion streams on Spotify.
“I promise you can wave back – I’m super nice,” KYLE said as he waved out into the crowd. “I’m very glad to be from Los Angeles, California. I’m very glad to be here with you all tonight. So what I want to do is play a song that I feel each and every one of us can sing together. ”
Headliner Swae Lee, best known for his collaborations with artists French Montana, Ellie Goulding and Metro Boomin, rounded out the evening. The Mississippi rapper opened his set with “No Type,” one of Swae Lee’s tracks with Rae Sremmurd, a hip-hop duo composed of him and his brother. Between hits like “Unforgettable” and his Post Malone collaboration “Sunflower,” written for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Swae Lee interacted with the crowd, incorporating UCLA into his lyrics and giving tidbits of advice between songs. His performance of “Sunflower” received the loudest audience response of the night as a yellow strobe light filtered over the floor section.
As Swae Lee closed the night with “Black Beatles,” the crowd continued to sing along. With a long farewell – that included him throwing sunflowers to the crowd – Bruin Bash 2026 came to an end at 11 p.m.
“Shout out to y’all chasing y’all’s dreams,” Swae Lee said. “The coolest thing you can do is be smart. Remember that.”
