Dayseeker brought a stellar evening’s lineup with them to The Uptown

May 19, 2024

Emily Jacobs,

Dayseeker. // photo by Emily Jacobs

Tuesday night at Uptown Theater was a hell of a good time in a nearly sold-out show with Dayseeker headlining, and AVOID, Rain City Drive, and Silent Planet opening the night. Strolling in about 30 minutes before start time, the Dayseeker merch line already stretched across the venue.

AVOID was a fun start to the evening. This is the second time I’ve seen them—they opened for The Devil Wears Prada at the same venue just a few months ago—and they’ve put on a fantastic show both times. Singer Benny Scholl has a charisma about him that really riles up the crowd. There were nearly as many crowd surfers during their set as there were during the headliner, even with their set being six songs shorter—evidence that AVOID is a band to watch.

AVOID. // photo by Emily Jacobs

Their set included songs from their most recent album, Cult Mentality, and a couple from an earlier EP, The Burner. Some of those songs were about more serious subjects, like “Midnight Six,” which is about having a hard time letting go of the past and things that are out of control. Others were more on the fun side, like “Blast off,” a song about getting too high. AVOID’s sound doesn’t fit neatly into any genre, with elements of metalcore, hard rock, and pop.

Rain City Drive. // photo by Emily Jacobs

It was also the second time I’ve seen Rain City Drive. Last time I saw them, they were the headliner of a show at the Bottleneck that I mainly showed up to for the openers. I nearly fell asleep during their set and ended up leaving early—though in their defense, I attended the show after working first shift. This time, however, they didn’t disappoint.

Rain City Drive was originally known as Slaves and they were founded by former Dance Gavin Dance singer Jonny Craig. After Craig was kicked out of the band due to ongoing problems, they replaced him with The Voice runner-up Matt McAndrew. Wanting to turn over a new leaf, they decided to change the name of the band—though their somewhat generic alternative rock sound hasn’t really changed too much in the two albums they’ve released as Rain City Drive.

Seeing Rain City Drive live, McAndrew’s talent as a vocalist is apparent, amplified by his enthusiasm—he jumped down from the stage to give out handshakes and high fives to fans at the barricade.

One highlight of their set was when they played their most recent single, “Medicate Me,” a track that features Dayseeker, and for which their vocalist, Rory Rodriguez, came onstage to sing it with McAndrew. I also particularly enjoyed their last song, “Talk to a Friend,” a song about depression and talking to yourself the way you’d talk to a friend.

Silent Planet. // photo by Emily Jacobs

Silent Planet was a surprise addition to the tour. Originally, metalcore outfit Polaris was supposed to be on the ticket, but they unfortunately needed to drop out of the tour at the last minute. Naturally, Silent Planet, who has been good friends with Dayseeker for the past decade, was willing to step up to the plate.

I just started listening to Silent Planet after they were announced for the tour, and my only regret is that I didn’t start sooner. They just released a new album, SUPERBLOOM, back in November, a concept album that has received rave reviews in both reputable publications and the cesspool that is metalcore Twitter. One of the singles from that album, “Antimatter,” which they played during their set, has been on repeat for me and I don’t see myself getting sick of it anytime soon.

Lead vocalist Garrett Russell is incredibly talented, performing both clean and unclean vocals for the band. Guitarist Mitchell Stark also provides some clean vocals, adding some layers to Silent Planet’s sound.

Most of the songs that they played were off of their new album, but they also played a couple of songs off of their album before that, Iridescent. One of these songs was the closer, “Trilogy,” a song that Russell explained he wrote while in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt.

The much-anticipated Dayseeker finally took the stage, and they were worth the wait—though the wait didn’t seem so long with three fantastic opening acts.

Dayseeker released three albums before finally achieving a great deal of popularity with their fourth album, Sleeptalk, which diverged from their previous metalcore sound. Normally, I’m not a fan of metalcore bands going soft and incorporating more synth elements, but Dayseeker did it right. The album included a few tracks that were on the “heavier” side and covered a wide variety of difficult topics, keeping the listener guessing with each song.

“Before Sleeptalk, I didn’t know if we were going to be a band much longer,” says Rodriguez.

Their fifth album and most recent release, Dark Sun, lacks the versatility of Sleeptalk, but makes up for it in lyricism. The album is mainly about the death of Rodriguez’s father from cancer, but ends on a positive note with a song about the birth of Rodriguez’s daughter. He stated during their set that he originally only planned to write one song about his grief and move on, but that he soon realized that the bulk of the album would be needed to fully process his emotions.

“I think, very foolishly on my part, I never really considered the fact that my dad dying was a real possibility,” Rodriguez says. “I’d think there was always a new treatment, chemotherapy, radiation—something to be done to help him, and to be eventually be told that he had three to six months to live and eventually being in the room with him while he passed away. It’s just not a pain that I would wish on my worst enemy, and I don’t talk about this to bring the mood down or to make you guys sad. I talk about my dad every night because my dad was instrumental in me finding a path in music.”

Their setlist consisted of songs from these two albums, beginning with “Gates of Ivory” from Sleeptalk, a song that’s critical of religion. They brought Silent Planet’s Russell onstage for the second song, “Dreamstate,” and AVOID’s Scholl onstage for the third song, “Crooked Soul.”

I’d heard before that Dayseeker’s shows were tear-jerking, but as someone who doesn’t cry often during shows, I thought I’d be the exception. I was wrong. “Burial Plot,” a song about blaming oneself for someone’s death, brought tears to my eyes, along with “Drunk” and “Sleeptalk,” songs about abusing alcohol to deal with some of life’s trials. It wasn’t just the subject matter that made me cry, though. Rodriguez has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard live, and it felt as if it was calling out to me personally, tugging at my heartstrings.

“Starving to Be Empty” was another standout song, an acoustic track about a friend of Rodriguez who battled anorexia, and for which he brought Rain City Drive’s McAndrew onstage to sing along. “Paper Heart,” a song about dealing with social anxiety, also heavily resonated with me.

There were two encore tracks, closing out the night with “Neon Grave,” one of the heavier songs on Dark Sun about Rodriguez’s father.

If I’m being honest, this wasn’t the show I was most looking forward to this year, but it far surpassed my expectations and was one of my favorites so far. Next time Dayseeker is in town, I’ll be sure to catch them again.

All photos by Emily Jacobs

Dayseeker