Alt-rock band Dear Elise emerged on stage in striking blue lights as high-pitched screams of the audience backed the distorted melodies of the guitar and tranquil vocals of Lizzie Marcou, a USC music industry alum. The first notes of FemFest shook with a radical bassline and the strike of cymbals intensifying the song, while Marcou and bassist Mia Corona synergized face to face on guitar to open the night.

For the first time in FemFest history, the festival took place off campus Sunday night, featuring five women-fronted bands, fans, merch vendors and USC students gathering to support female musicians. Attendees moshed and head-banged to the alternative rock sounds of Dear Elise, WALLIS, The Blushes, 12 Gauge Trixie and headliner Turning Jane.

Callie Beard, FemFest co-assistant executive director and a junior majoring in music industry, said the event is intended to draw attention to the lack of women’s representation in the music industry and counteract it with women-led shows and events.

“Even though women make up such a large amount of the music industry in the live sphere, they’re never booking on the same level as men,” Beard said. “We’re trying to focus it more on women in [Los Angeles] and how they’re trying to do their best to make sure that they’re getting seen in a sea of dominating men.”

Through FemFest’s setting as a traditional rock show, the dark venue, bright stage lighting, open pit and high-energy music allowed for a carefree environment in which the audience actively engaged with the music and expressed themselves.

“A lot of women don’t like to get into a pit for the first time because they’re too scared of the men that are in it,” Beard said.

Beard said FemFest advocates for safe spaces for women to enjoy live music and explore the parts of concert life they might not feel comfortable partaking in within predominantly male-dominated spaces.

Following Dear Elise, Wallis Schriver, a junior majoring in popular music performance known professionally as WALLIS, emerged center stage in leather and stiletto-heeled boots, bumping up the beat and turning the FemFest pit into a disco dance floor. She performed in unison with her background vocalists: Sophia Condon, a junior majoring in popular music performance, and Hannah Norman, a junior majoring in jazz studies.

During WALLIS’ performance of her song, “Full Time All the Time,” she signalled to an eager audience member, inviting her to the edge of the stage, and shared the other end of a prop red rotary phone with her, playfully singing “Are you aware that you’re calling me on my street phone?” and striking a pose.

“I view performing a set like a show; I really try to get everyone’s outfits coordinated, and I want to do things with more staging and more little scenes, even little scripted moments,” WALLIS said in an interview with the Daily Trojan.

To finish off her set, WALLIS embraced the ecstatic energy of the crowd and channeled it into her performance of “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn. While singing, she reached out to the crowd, dancing alongside them.

“I feel very powerful when I’m on stage. I feel like the most uninhibited version of myself,” WALLIS said. “It makes me feel like a superhero, and I just hope that when people are watching that it makes them feel like that too.”

As superhero-popstar WALLIS took off from the stage, the lights dimmed to a deep red and punk bands The Blushes and 12 Gauge Trixie played sets centered on edgy fem-rock.

Suddenly, the crowd was covered in red balloons and beachballs, which they bounced around the pit as the sharp voice of 12 Gauge Trixie echoed throughout the room. The hard rock amplified the intensity of the room, even inspiring some audience members to crowd surf. As the noise and lights of The Echo dimmed, all eyes faced Turning Jane, the headliner of the night.

Turning Jane took the stage and announced that the FemFest crowd would get to hear songs from their unreleased new album, “Queen of Hearts.” Taylor Heart, lead singer of the band, also announced that their single off the album, “Let’s Play Doctor,” would be released Friday.

During their set, Turning Jane featured “Be a Doll,” an unreleased song which spoke out against misogyny and encouraged women to stand up for themselves. The song slowed into a unique halftime blues interlude, dragging the tempo of the audience’s dances to a smooth trot, before returning to a fast-paced rock anthem.

Heart said as a substitute teacher and rock ‘n’ roll singer she has gotten to witness the impact her music has had on young women through performances and daily instruction.

“[The influence of music] makes me light up,” Heart said. “They’re so young, and for them to be excited about music and art and expression is really cool to witness.”

After finishing the album, the audience pleaded for one more song, resulting in Turning Jane playing a last-minute Led Zeppelin trio medley of “Whole Lotta Love,” “Black Dog” and “Stairway to Heaven.” Rocking out the night on the sweet guitar lead of “Stairway to Heaven” and light harmonies by the band, FemFest concluded on a note of power as the crowd swayed in awe.

“I never grew up with a female role model to look up to,” said Jasmine Dennis, the bassist for Turning Jane, in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “I feel the joy and the passion even more for playing music when I see little girls or parents telling me that their kids are inspired by what I do after performances, and I feel like I want to keep doing it, not just for myself, but for future generations.”