Dayseeker closed out their Dark Sun Spring Tour in San Diego, and what better way to close out a tour than a sold-out night at Soma! This was Dayseeker’s first time playing the main stage at Soma and to sell it out was something special. This tour also included Avoid, Rain City Drive, and Silent Planet. A stacked lineup with four bands that are absolutely killing it right now, and are rapidly on the rise. Each band brought powerful performances all with raw emotion.
Kicking off the night was Avoid, and they do indeed kick ass!
I’ve seen them a few times now and every time I see them, they just keep getting better and better. They are masters with crowd engagement and all of their shows just feel like one big party! This was a hometown for a couple of the Avoid boys as they just moved to Carlsbad a few months ago. I’m also from Carlsbad, so whats up neighbors! During “Cowabunga”, frontman Benny Scholl jumped into the crowd and crowd surfed for a bit. Then during their last song, “HostAge At A BeAch House PArty”, they threw out giant beach balls and someone even came out surfing on a giant inflatable turtle. I saw later in the show that one of the beach balls had gotten stuck on one of the rafters.
Rain City Drive has been blowing up recently, especially with their latest single “Medicate Me” featuring Rory Rodriguez. They’ve gained almost 500,000 monthly listeners on spotify since its release on April 26th which is insane! This was my tenth time seeing Rain City Drive and it’s awesome to watch them grow and come into their own over the past couple years. Halfway through “Medicate Me”, lead singer Matt McAndrew held out a mic, and in the most cinematic way, Rory walked out through the fog. I heard Rain City play Medicate Me when I saw them a couple of weeks ago at Welcome to Rockville, but the synergy of those two on stage together was something else. They also added an extended break down to “Talk To A Friend” and I love the dynamic it adds to the song live. Matt jumped down to the barricade during the end of the song to give out high fives and fist bumps to fans.
Silent Planet was a surprise add on to the tour.
Originally, Polaris was supposed to be direct support, but unfortunately needed to drop out last minute. Silent Planet, who has been good friends with the Dayseeker guys over the years, was willing to step in! The atmosphere of a Silent Planet show is very different and unlike anything I’ve felt before. It's very haunting and also spiritual-like. They just released their latest album, Superbloom, in November of last year. Most of the songs they played were off that new album, but they also played a couple songs off their album before that, Iridescent. One of these songs being the closer, “Trilogy,” a song that lead sing Garrett Russell explained he wrote while in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt.
This was also somewhat of a Dayseeker hometown show too as they’re from Orange County. Their setup looked so dreamy, with the colors, the fog, and their reflective mirror-like lights. Their latest album, Dark Sun, was released back in November of 2022. The album focuses on vulnerability, heartache, and offers a view into lead singer Rory Rodriguez's personal life and learning to go through life after the passing of his dad. He stated about the album, “This is in honor of the late Dennis Rodriguiz and was written for anyone who needs solace during the hardest times of their lives.” I’ve connected with this album a lot because my grandfather, who was my father figure growing up, also lost his battle with cancer. The album put into words all the emotions I’ve felt since his passing.
Dayseeker has such a strong fan base, and it’s crazy how Rory is able make us feel connected and not so alone by putting into the words the pain that so many of us feel. It’s not just about lose, but he speaks on anxiety and mental health and makes so many of us feel heard. Being in a room full of people that are screaming all of the words and expressing themselves in such a way is something else. I’ve never walked out of a Dayseeker show with dry eyes and I always say, you didn’t truly go to a Dayseeker show if you didn’t ball your eyes out at least once. Rory made a heartfelt tribute to his late father before “Drunk”, and It gets me anytime he starts talking about his dad. Every time I’ve seen Dayseeker play, Rory gets choked up at least once. I love his vulnerability and the fact that he is open to share what he shares. We also loved all the on stage collaboration this night! Garret came back out during “Dreamstate”, Benny came out during “Crooked Soul” and did his iconic Pig Sqeual, and Matt came out for an acoustic version of “Starving To Be Empty”.
The Dark Sun tour continues this winter in Europe! Rain City Drive will be joining them again along with Heart of Gold. They also just announced the Dark Sun Protocol fall tour that features Alphawolf, Catch Your Breath, and Kingdom of Giants! With plenty opportunity to see Dayseeker this year, don’t miss out!
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