DAYSEEKER, RAIN CITY DRIVE AND HEART OF GOLD – ALBERT HALLS, MANCHESTER: 10TH DECEMBER 2024.

It’s a wet and windy day in Manchester but I’m not going to let that dampen my spirits as tonight we’re off again to once again another gig in the center of Manchester this time off to the Albert Halls due to the tour selling out at the 02 Ritz resulting in what I believe to be a venue upgrade to accommodate more people. I’ll be honest I’ve not visited this venue for music in a long long time so it was a nice change of scenery. On tonight’s agenda, we bring to you Dayseeker, Rain City Drive and Heart Of Gold, funny when you think about it from Yulefest 2024 on Sunday listening to hardcore bands (If you haven’t yet read the review this can be found >> HERE <<) to a pop-punk-eque, upbeat feel-good concert I guess the venue isn’t the only change of scenery! Listening to multiple genres of music and fully enjoying them really is the spice of life. It’s coming soon. All About The Rock go to see Sabrina Carpenter on tour… joking… unless…

First to the stage is Heart Of Gold, these are not to be confused with the band formed in early 1980 from ex-grateful dead members – Oh no! It’s not that sort of music at all although that would have been a very interesting line up depending if they are all still alive and kicking these days.

Anyway, getting slightly off topic there again with some music ‘what ifs’ but I absolutely loved their set. Although this was one of the bands I was least acquainted with for the evening I really enjoyed it. Their opening song “Stranger (To your love)” was a strong start and continued to play some of the fans favorites such as “Human Nature”, and “Heaven” and concluded with a strong finale of “See Through”. I’ll definitely be looking more into these when I get some spare time. I’d love to see what other gems they have in their discography (Album review coming soon?).

 

Rain City Drive has been on my to-see list for the last few months since discovering them through the accidental find of “medicate me” on one of my Spotify rabbit hole adventures. Since hearing that song I honestly fell in love with the band even more so when learning that the band actually met in Manchester and based their band name on the “rainy city” of Manchester. Their performance tonight absolutely memorized me with Matt McAndrew’s vocal talents being phenomenal, the band has an alluring stage presence and knows how to motivate an audience. 

Opening their set up with “Frozen” the crowd came alive instantly with singing and cheering, the energy in the room was at an all-time high within seconds of the guys making their way onto the stage. The highlight of the evening for me was the live performance of “Medicate Me” with Rory Rodriguez joining them on stage for this track, I was mesmerized by this and left feeling like a very happy girl. Other notable tracks from Rain City Drives’ set list were “Wish You The Best”, “Blood Runs Cold”, “Neverbloom” and the finale track “Talk to a Friend”.

 

Dayseeker took the stage with a very cinematic and dramatic entrance with a full backlit screen and let me tell you something it was beautiful, everything throughout their set felt like a galaxy cinematic experience and I was living for it. The stage was alight with purples, blues, white ,and reds. I honestly felt their set was the strongest of the evening with both Heart of Gold and Rain City Drive having phenomenal sets but Dayseeker’s was an absolutely beautiful set from both a musical and aesthetic standpoint.

After seeing them this evening I have a whole new level of respect for Rory Rodriguez’s vocal talents, this man’s vocal range is superb from his cleans to growls and can be easily comparable to their recorded stuff unlike a lot of bands these days, I’d even go so far as to say that his voice sounded better live than in their recordings. Dayseeker smashed into their set with “Dreamstate” and played some fan favorites such as “Homesick”, “Crying While You’re Dancing”, and “Paper Heart” ft. Matt McAndrews from Rain City Drive closed up with an encore of “Neon Grave”.

 

 

Overall, the evening was a very atmospheric and heartwarming experience you could definitely feel the admiration for the bands and you could also feel a sense of belonging. I feel that there was not one person present on this evening who did not feel touched by at least one song from the bands’ music throughout the evening.

 

I would go as far as to rate this gig tonight possibly one of my top 5 favourite gigs of 2024. I’ve included the image above that was taken from the photo pit during Dayseekers set because I have never looked at an image I’ve taken and though “That is actually stunning”. Is it the best image I’ve ever done, no it’s not but looking at this picture whilst going through my work really makes me think – music is something that can join everyone through all different paths of life. Seeing this both in the moment and in the picture after is stunning. It doesn’t matter what music you like be it metal, pop, or rap…. the fact everyone joins to see people perform is incredible. The fact that in this picture there may be people who have had struggles and are still battling through issues but are living there in the moment is amazing.

I would definitely in the future go and check any and all of the bands of this lineup if they came back to Manchester in the future (or local to Manchester). I’d highly recommend if you get the opportunity to see these bands live go do it, you will not be let down not only are these guys talented musicians but they also know how to put on a show.

 

 

For everything DAYSEEKER visit >> HERE <<
For everything RAIN CITY DRIVE visit >> HERE <<
For everything Heart Of Gold visit >> HERE <<

For more photography from the evening visit my INSTAGRAM >> HERE <<