Kaiya Vandemark

Oct 27

Rain City Drive Brought Their First Ever Headlining Tour to San Diego

Rain City Drive brought their first headliner tour to San Diego! The tour is in support of their latest album, Things Are Different Now, which they just released last month. Joining them on this run was Belmont, Until I Wake, Siamese, and Nightlife, which all added a fun and energetic blend of genres. Rain City Drive has recently blown up, especially with the release of this album. I’ve seen the RCD boys open for bands on both the side stage and main stage at Soma, but it was so cool to finally see them headline at this venue and pack the place out!

Nightlife kicked off the night and they were so much fun! Mixing rock with elements of soul/RnB/fuck, they’re the type of band you just want to dance to. They released their latest songs, “strangeluv” and "i/o", earlier this year in May. They’ve been playing an unreleased track on this tour too so be on the lookout for some new music coming soon!

Coming all the way from Copenhagen, Denmark, Siamese was up next! I first saw these guys back in 2022 at Blue Ridge Rock Festival, which was their US debut. Siamese is the type of band that just radiates positivity and genuineness which makes them so fun to watch! Lead singer Mirza Radonjica was up there having a Comedy Central special. He was making jokes about Texas and how he was happy to be back in California because he couldn’t make certain jokes in Texas. He was also making jokes about the expensive Visas. Their set consisted mostly of newer songs, but they did close out with an oldie and the song that first got me into them, “Ocean Bed”.

About a week or so before the show, Rain City Drive posted on their socials that they were doing a contest to get an RCD inspired flash tattoo during the show. I signed up and somehow got picked, which was so sick! I unintentionally picked the Neverbloom inspired one, which is the song I’m most connected to. The song is about Lead singer Matt McAndrew’s dad passing away when Matt was only 24 and learning to live life without him. I’ve never had a song that hit quite so close to home before as I lost my grandfather, who was my father figure growing up. Getting a tattoo at a show was not on my bingo card for the year, but so happy I could cross that off and now have a fun little story to tell!

Because I was getting a tattoo, I unfortunately missed Until I Wake! Heather was out there taking photos though! They brought amazing energy and were the only band of the night that had a circle pit going. They do have a slightly different lineup now as they brought in a new Lead singer Jaali (Justin) Cypher who joined last November! They just released their latest single “Renovate” earlier this month, which is the title track to their upcoming album coming out on December 6th.

Belmont was up next as direct support! They’re a very high-energy band with constant movement that’s pretty entertaining to watch. During one of their songs, the sound went completely out for the last half. You could only hear the drums, but the rest of the band still didn’t miss a beat. They acted as if the sound was still there almost to where you were wondering if you just lost your hearing. They closed out with their hit, “Overstepping”.

This was my 11th time seeing Rain City Drive and no I’ll never get sick of them. It’s been so fun watching their journey over the years and watching them grow into who they are now. Every time I’ve seen them, they bring something new and step more into their own. We met a group of friends before the show who flew all the way to San Diego from New Zealand just for this show and were flying back home the very next day. They said the VIP experience was amazing and they even got a shout out from Matt in between songs.

The setlist was pretty evenly divided between their two albums To Better Days and Things Are Different Now, also adding a couple off their self-titled album. For the second time this night, the sound totally cut out before they played “Neverbloom.” While they were trying to figure out what happened, Matt picked up an acoustic guitar and we got treated to an impromptu acoustic version of “Like I Do”! It was one of those moments that you’re fully aware that this was something special that only San Diego got to experience. It’s cool how when something goes wrong, it can still be turned into something amazing! They “closed” out their set with “Talk to a Friend” but then came back out for an encore which started off with “Sacrifice,” one of my favorites off the new album. It’s such a powerful sounding song, and so much more powerful live! They officially closed out with “Medicate Me!”