Jesus Villa of Pomona, California, had never traveled east of Texas. The chance to see the Baltimore band Turnstile play a free concert in their hometown convinced him to fly the 2,200-plus miles on Friday night.

When asked why he couldn’t miss Saturday’s show at Wyman Park Dell, the 37-year-old smiled. “I’m getting a little bit of chills right now,” he said, sitting under a tree as one of the first concertgoers to arrive. It was six hours before the first note was played. “Whenever they come on, there’s an electricity in the air. You can’t really describe it. You just feel it.”

That palpable magic wafted through the 16-acre park on the gorgeously sunny day, with thousands in attendance to mosh, dance, headbang and sing along with one of the biggest and best bands to ever call Baltimore home.

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It was the hardcore quintet’s first live performance in nearly a year — an opportunity to debut new songs ahead of June 6, when their anticipated fourth album, “Never Enough,” is released via Roadrunner Records.

For a band that’s recently earned Grammy nominations and conquered arenas throughout North America on tour with Blink-182, Turnstile could have had their pick of nearly any venue and made some money in the process. Instead, in line with their ethos, they chose to raise money for Baltimore’s Health Care for the Homeless.

The band prioritizes creating a welcoming environment at their shows, drummer Daniel Fang said in an interview just before the concert.

“That aspect of inclusivity is really important for us,” said Fang, who lives in Charles Village. “So if we’re ever able to do it for free at an outdoor park, that’s just the peak of our ideal show. This is kind of what we dream of.”

Fang said the band — which includes singer Brendan Yates, bassist Franz Lyons and guitarists Pat McCrory and Meg Mills — didn’t know what kind of turnout to expect Saturday.

“I’m hoping there are a lot of people, just like passersby, that wander in when they hear some music and they’re introduced to a new world that’s in their backyard,” he said.

While the park was filled with longtime fans who sported old Turnstile T-shirts and knew deep cuts like 2015’s “Drop,” there were also people who were just curious about the scene, like Mei Lin Lau Mann of Baltimore. She wasn’t very familiar with the group but figured she’d check the show out after going to Remfest nearby. Mann left impressed.

“I loved it. It’s a very weird community that I’m not a part of but it was really fun to experience it with them,” Mann said. “It was just really cool to see the whole thing; it felt like a really great community event. It was a little surreal because it was just so many people that showed up for a great cause.”

The concert, which had QR codes posted around the park to donate to Health Care for the Homeless, has raised $35,000 and counting, said Kevin Feldt, the organization’s senior director of institutional advancement. Donations allow the agency to provide a wide range of care — from primary health care services and dentistry to therapy and substance abuse treatment — to those who can’t afford it on their own.

“Just the opportunity to be able to share our work and mission with a crowd of thousands was incredible,” Feldt said. “Certainly, we’ve never had that experience before, where we could share our work with that many people. That was pretty wild.”

Unregistered Nurse Booking founder Dana Murphy, who organized the concert with Turnstile, said the band financed the event themselves without sponsors. She said it took a team of between 60 and 70 people to execute the band‘s vision for the show, which had been in the works since January. Murphy is proud that the event went smoothly and has been received so warmly.

“The Baltimore music scene is really thriving ... and it’s so great to see it get the love and attention and positivity that it deserves,” Murphy said.

The organization hopes to reach $40,000 in donations, in honor of the agency’s 40th anniversary this year, with the help of a raffle, the winner of which will receive a poster designed by Baltimore illustrator Alex Fine and signed by the band.

Fang said performing in Wyman Park Dell holds an “extra layer of significance” because Baltimore cleared out encampments there in 2024, forcing people without housing to leave.

“Homelessness is not something far away from you,” he said. “These are our neighbors. These are just people, and it takes people to show up for them.”

Facilitating community could be Turnstile’s superpower, and it was on full display throughout Saturday’s performance. From the opening chords of the anthemic “Never Enough,” visceral joy spread through the green space, with countless stage-divers being caught with open arms and fallen attendees being picked up in the midst of delirious mosh pits. The crowd was diverse on all fronts — age, race, gender — with punks in studded leather, college kids in backwards baseball hats and families bringing kids along for their first concert.

“I want to thank you for letting me see myself! I want to thank you for letting me be myself!” the crowd shouted back to Yates during “T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection).”

Saturday’s triumphant show was just the start of a long tour run: Turnstile heads to California later this week before an album release show next month under the Kosciuszko Bridge in Brooklyn, New York. Then they’re off to Europe for festival gigs.

While the milestones continue to pile up, Fang said the band still feels like a group of best friends who started in Yates’ parents’ basement. He doesn’t think about where they’ve played or how many albums they’ve released.

“I only think about — did we do it because we love it and can we continue to do things in a way that feels true to what we do creatively and true to how we feel ethically?” Fang said. ”I think as long as those boxes are checked, we’ll probably keep doing this for a while.”

In case you missed the concert, watch it below.