By Joey Caraway, October 20, 2026
Hundreds of fans wrapped around the Fox Theater in Pomona cosplayed as their favorite characters from Five Nights at Freddy’s, My Little Pony and the band members’ fictional characters known as “Tombsonas,” ahead of the Los Angeles-based electronic rock group The Living Tombstone’s Oct. 9 concert.
The performance was part of The Living Tombstone’s Multiplayer Tour led by Israeli-American music producer, vocalist and founder Yoav Landau. American singer-songwriter Sam Haft, who joined The Living Tombstone in 2016, performed alongside Landau, accompanied by the rest of the touring band.
For many fans, The Living Tombstone’s music is tied to online games, shows and creators they grew up watching. The band gained attention around 2012 through its remix of the My Little Pony song “Discord,” which has more than 92 million views on YouTube as of publication. The group later reached a wider audience in 2014 with its original song, “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” based on the game of the same name, which has more than 427 million views on YouTube as of publication.
Jeniffer Flores, a Marionette cosplayer from FNAF who drove two hours to attend the concert, highlighted the sense of community among cosplayers in line, where fans could recognize and appreciate each other’s outfits.
“I feel more comfortable like this,” Flores said. “But anywhere else, obviously, they’re gonna be like, side-eye, judgment, but here I just feel welcomed and comfortable.”
Flores said The Living Tombstone’s fan base is unique because it brings everyone’s “weird” interests together, despite what others think, and helps fans embrace what makes them different.
Many audience members, including concertgoers Flores and Dani Sloan, credited YouTuber Markiplier’s FNAF gameplay with introducing them to The Living Tombstone. For others, including concertgoers Sal Reyes and Catherine Suico, the My Little Pony fandom initially introduced them to the music.
“The songs are just good,” Reyes said. “Even as my interest in the source material kind of waned, I was like, well, ‘Discord’ is not gonna leave my playlist.”
Despite releasing some of its most popular songs in the early 2010s, including “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “It’s Been So long” and “Discord,” the group has continued creating music inspired by online fandoms, along with original songs and albums associated with the band members’ “Tombsonas.”
The group’s long history of creating music for online communities drew fans of different ages to the concert, from kids accompanied by their parents to young adults who discovered the songs when they were younger.
“We were definitely the weird kids in middle school, so I feel like everyone else here kind of was,” Reyes said. “Everyone is here to have a good time. It’s really fun.”
Inside the venue, the lobby was filled with fans complimenting each other’s outfits and waiting to buy exclusive merchandise before making their way toward the stage. The venue also included a photo booth and several bars, both inside and outside the concert space.
Suico described the concert setting as a gathering of different fandoms coming together to celebrate their shared interests and express themselves.
“It’s like an IRL convention,” Suico said.
As the opening act, electro-punk band Qbomb set out to teach the audience how to be “punk rock legends,” while gearing up for the main event. Throughout the set, the six-person group encouraged audience participation through mosh pits, getting low before a beat drop and the “Q-beam,” where audience members split the crowd down the middle before rushing and dancing together during another beat drop.
Alex Sanchez, an audience member who had seen Qbomb before, said the group improved from its previous performances.
“I don’t know if it was the sound difference and the quality of things, but it was a lot better,” Sanchez said. “I had so much fun. Now it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, this is it.’”
Sanchez also highlighted the audience’s kindness, politeness and sense of community compared to other concerts she had been to, especially in the mosh pits, where attendees encouraged peace, love, unity and respect.
After a brief intermission, the lights went dark, signaling The Living Tombstone’s entrance as fans cheered from across the venue. Red lights flashed to the beat of drums and bass while six LED screens framing the stage displayed images of the band members.
All five members ran onto the dark stage and took their positions, their brightly lit, neon-accented outfits contrasting against the dim backdrop. Within the first few notes, the audience recognized each song and began singing along and cheering.
Whether the band played an original or fandom song, each was met with the same enthusiasm throughout the performance. The rapidly changing lights and LED screens displayed visuals from The Living Tombstone’s music videos, including 8-bit hallways for “Basics in Behavior,” stylistic flames for “Die in a Fire” and the iconic FNAF office for “Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Katelyn Yu, another member of the audience, said attending this event with her friends made it special, especially after listening to the songs together on their way to the venue.
Fans held FNAF plushies, costume props and masks from the various fandoms in the air. One standout was the life-sized Marionette prop that special effects designer Angel Andre Lozano lifted during each song, especially ones connected to FNAF. Its tendril-like hands drew cheers from the crowd each time they reached upward.
According to Lozano, it took him just over one year to create the Marionette, alongside other FNAF characters including Toy Chica and Toy Bonnie, which were originally created for the red carpet at the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 movie premiere.
During “This Comes From Inside,” a tribute song about the many years spent making FNAF fan songs, the crowd turned on their phone flashlights and waved them in unison. The band also performed its Overwatch fan song, “No Mercy,” with almost every audience member participating in the call-and-response portion of the song.
“We literally were so hype for that,” Yu said. “I was jumping up and down. I’m like the biggest Overwatch fan of all time.”
After the main set, the band returned for an encore, with some members removing their character masks. They played several of their most popular songs, including “Discord,” “It’s Been So Long” and “My Ordinary Life,” before closing with “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”
Jared Clonts, a history student at Cal Poly Pomona, said he was especially excited for the final songs, particularly because both “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “It’s Been So Long” were featured in the recent FNAF movies.
“Honestly, I know it sounds corny to say, but my favorite part of the concert was the end,” Clonts said. “Those were the songs I was waiting for the entire time. I feel really basic, but you can’t hate their most popular songs.”
Clonts also said The Living Tombstone could be a great pick for BroncoFusion, despite not appealing to the majority’s taste, because it has the potential to draw a large crowd and become a “big meme.”
Even after the performance ended, fans took pictures with other cosplayers and complimented each other’s outfits once more outside the venue.
Yu said the phrase “to be cringe is to be free” resonates with a lot of people and makes them happy, encouraging others to be open-minded and expand their horizons when it comes to fandoms and what others may see as “cringe.”
Before performing “This Comes From Inside,” Landau talked about the community’s shared interests and how music connects people.
“The magical thing about the channel being on the internet first and us connecting to the internet is that we get to be introverts together,” Landau said.
