The crowd at the Theater of Living Arts in Philly waited anxiously for RX Bandits while the opening band, Zechs Marquise, played their psych-rock collection of songs. The siblings of famed Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (The Mars Volta), Marcel and Marfred, played intensely while slowly winning over the crowd. As they played “Chase Scene” off their latest LP, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, the crowd became enamored. New fans started pushing their way towards the stage, intrigued by these trance-rock melodies. Zechs Marquise soon ended their set and introduced Dredg.
Lead singer Gavin Hayes entered and Dredg fans cheered with approval to start the next set. Gavin approached his slide guitar and played the overwhelming introduction to “Bug Eyes.” As Hayes moved his hands up and down the slide guitar, the crowd began pushing forward and soon started yelling the words to the song, “Bring back those good ol’ days | Nothing feels right; nothing ever goes my way | I threw my future away; now I walk alone.” Later in the set, Dredg decided to chill things out by playing an impressive rendition of “Zebra Skin.” Before letting the crowd get too mellow, Dredg highlighted their set with “Ode to the Sun.” The song had everyone in the crowd moving. As Dredg ended their set, the crowd began buzzing for what was next to come, RX Bandits.
“RXB! RXB! RXB!” the crowd chanted as they waited impatiently for the band to take the stage. Christopher Tsagakis entered and approached his drum set as the crowd went insane. Fans pushed to get closer to the stage. RX Bandits didn’t disappoint, as they opened with a four-person drum intro. It was an amazing start to the show. The rest of the band joined, and they went right into “In Her Drawer.” The mellower “Apparition” provided a much needed break for whoever was being pummeled during the first few songs. The crowd caught its collective breath and prepared for the next wave of songs.
The band’s setlist was mostly taken from their latest record Mandala. The crowd showed their appreciation by sustaining their energy throughout the entire performance. When RX Bandits left the stage, the entire crowd started singing the lyrics to the band’s most popular song “Overcome,” “We’ve had enough of these politician’s wars; what we need right now is love | We’ve had enough of these military scoreboards; all we need right now is love.” The crowd continued for a solid three minutes until the band appeased their request for an encore. As expected, they began with “Overcome,” and the loudness of the crowd peaked. RX Bandits played a few more songs before ending with the four-man drum solo. The show was an overpowering experience for anyone lucky enough to be in attendance.
