Rain City Drive Blows NYC Racket Away with the 'Things Are Different Now' US Tour

On October 4th, 2024, Rain City Drive takes their 'Things Are Different Now' tour to New York City's Racket!

Not going to lie, this was my first time ever going to this venue in New York City and I was absolutely impressed with how the venue appeared. It took me a while to find the venue but I was able to figure it out. Rain City Drive has just released their album 'Things Are Different Now' via Thriller Records; which can all be streamed on all music platforms. If you have not heard of Rain City Drive, then what are you doing with your life? You're missing out on a phenomenal band. Coming from Palm Coast, Florida, the band focuses on its blend of pop rock along with post-hardcore. Usually you would catch me at a hardcore, metal show but this was definitely a change of taste in my music.

Rain City Drive consists of members Matt McAndrew (vocals), Felipe Sanchez (guitar), Weston Richmond (guitar), Colin Vieira (bass) and lastly Zack Baker (drums). This was the second time I was able to catch this band perform live since their tour with Memphis May Fire, From Ashes To New back in summer of 2022 right when I started to do more concert photography. Their stage performance was absolutely to die for and you can tell how many people were at the show to see the band right years before the band did their very first US headlining tour. Looking back now, their fan base has grown so much and I am very proud of these guys for all the hard work and creativity they insert into their music.

Right when these guys were about to take the stage, all the people in the crowd were chanting "RAIN CITY DRIVE" over and over until Matt McAndrew appears on stage wearing a black hoodie with his hood up. Kind of looked like he was trying to hide himself which gives the performance more of a dramatic appearance and I was mind blown. To start off their set, they opened with "Frozen" which was one of the first singles to be released from their latest album 'Things Are Different Now' and all you are able to hear is everyone in the crowd jumping around and screaming the words. So many people were fan girling in that crowd and I couldn't stop smiling and laughing at the energy and vibes the crowd brought. Unfortunately for me, there was no photo pit at this venue so I had to basically bear hug my camera the whole night and praying my camera wouldn't get knocked out of my hands!

The energy went on and fans were going absolutely FERAL once the band performed older songs like "Witch Hunt", "Cutting It Close", "Waiting On You" and many more. McAndrew asks fans "Who is ready to hear older songs now?" and when I tell you the room roared with screams, my ears started hurting even with my earplugs on. The band obviously performed songs from their latest album and hearing those songs live for the first time was very heart warming in my opinion. When the album got released, Thriller Records had uploaded the music video on YouTube for "Wish You The Best" and seeing how many people already memorized the lyrics was astonishing. Guitarist Felipe Sanchez got the crowd to start jumping and dancing and with fans going insane, it made it a little hard to photograph but I decided to jump in and go along with the crowd... by the end of the night it felt like a whole work out and my legs were killing me from all the jumping and dancing I did. For being in such a smaller room compared to most venues I've been to, the crowd made the space feel so much larger with how packed out the room was.

To close the night off, they performed one of their top streamed singles that featured Rory Rodriguez of Dayseeker titled "Medicate Me". Since there was a feature in the song, I was kind of expecting someone from the opening bands to hop on stage and fill in for Rodriguez but McAndrew's vocal range made it sound like Rodriguez was already on stage performing. I was very thrilled and impressed with how the band sounded considering it was one of their first headlining tours. If you have not yet seen this band perform live, I would 100000000000% check them out. As I mentioned before, if you have not yet to listen to the band, what are you doing with yourself? Load up their music platforms and show these guys some support.