Sunday 8 March 2026
Supports: TX2, Melrose Avenue
It’s Sunday night in Brisbane and it is pouring with rain, the kind that makes you wonder if we are heading towards flood territory. However, it also set the scene for the return US alternative rock/emo act Rain City Drive as they are midway through their current journey across Australia.
The Triffid packed out pretty early on, which was nice to see. It made almost a sellout crowd for Australia’s newest metalcore boys, Melrose Avenue, who lapped up the opportunity at opening for Rain City Drive. Following a couple of 80s-inspired heavy metal tracks blaring over the PA, including Motley Crue’s ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ one would have thought they were hanging out at a venue on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard.
The lights dimmed and one by one, the members of Melrose Avenue took their positions before launching into some enticing, bolstered metalcore. Early on, the set leaned heavily into the genre’s tropes. Breakdowns stacked upon breakdowns, the whole thing feeling more like an uptuned production in the studio than a live show breathing in real time.
Where the set found its footing, though, was in the quieter moments. Vocalist Vlado Saric came into his own on the softer, more melodic tracks, with ‘Inside Your Mind‘ pulling the room toward something closer to radio-friendly emo. It felt less chaotic, more considered, and arguably the more compelling side of the band’s sound.
Melrose Avenue are clearly a well-drilled outfit. But that precision worked against them at times as the set occasionally felt over-rehearsed, and a little more stage banter would have gone a long way toward warming up the almost-sold out Triffid. The crowd up front were more than happy to oblige, however, when the band called on them to throw their horns up before launching into ‘Body Bag‘, a punchy metalcore heater that simmered nicely into a catchy chorus and drew one of the band’s more enthusiastic responses.
While it’s still early days, this Sydney metalcore act have plenty of room to grow. With Hopeless Records on their side, the world feels like their oyster and this likely won’t be the last we hear of Melrose Avenue.
The next act that followed is someone I’m somewhat familiar but had barely scratched the surface of what they’re all about. You could say, I was extremely intrigued to uncover more about TX2‘s live show. The US musician from Fort Collins, Colorado, real name Timothy Evan Thomas, has built a devoted following online, known for championing the trans/queer community and delivering sharp alternative/emo music.
His first show in Brisbane that night was, in a word, explosive. The pint-sized pocket rocket has sold-out arenas written all over him, and backed by an equally magnetic band, TX2‘s set was just a damn good time. He feeds off the crowd’s energy and doesn’t just stay on stage. He dives into the moshpit. Watching him get swallowed up by a circlepit of his own making, it hit me: this is the next generation of emo. Think My Chemical Romance, Falling in Reverse, and the unruly energy of Yungblud all thrown into a blender; that’s your TX2 starter pack.
In between songs, TX2 didn’t hold back on what matters to him, rallying the room with a sharp “Trans rights are human fucking rights!” and inviting fans into his mental health movement, the X Movement. Drawing from his recently released album End of Us, tracks like ‘Nice Guy‘ delivered a double shot of dopamine to a room already buzzing with euphoria. During ‘MAD‘, his collaboration with horrorcore outfit Ice Nine Kills, he worked the barrier, greeting the front-row faithful while his vocals soared into another dimension entirely.
Before closing out with ‘I Would Hate Me Too‘, TX2 looked out at the crowd and made his intentions clear: “We’re going to sell out arenas one day.” Standing there watching him, it wasn’t a boast at all. It was a prophecy. TX2 is built to perform to the masses; a genuine spokesperson for a new generation of rockstars. The buzz is real, and you’d be smart to get on board now.
It’s going to be difficult for any artist to top the performance that TX2 just gave, which only kept the energy in the Triffid flowing. While I am only a super casual listener of Rain City Drive, I could tell that in Brisbane alone, they have a very passionate following behind them.
Here to showcase tracks from their most recent album Things Are Different Now, the band made one thing immediately evident: the only thing that hasn’t changed is their command of melodic emo. No theatrics, no gimmicks; just a tight, assured band that knows exactly what they’re doing.
‘Concrete Closure‘ was a standout moment, landing with quiet conviction. Around me, heads were down and moving, the kind of unguarded crowd response that only happens when a song genuinely means something to the people hearing it. It’s the mark of a band that has done the hard yards building a real fanbase.
Rain City Drive weren’t the loudest name on everyone’s lips leaving The Triffid that night, but they didn’t need to be. Sometimes the most impressive sets are the ones that don’t demand your attention. They earn it and if their new record is any proof, the band have well and truly completed their transition from Slaves. Things Are Different Now, but the music? That hasn’t changed one bit.
Review by Tamara May
Photos by Amy Driscoll
