Rainbow Kitten Surprise hit the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a completely sold-out crowd! The North Carolina native band was joined by another Boone native band, Cigarettes @ Sunset, for the night. The venue was packed and ready for a mind-blowing night with Rainbow Kitten Surprise!

Cigarettes @ Sunset kicked off the show with insane energy! The Boone native band found their way back home to a North Carolina crowd and brought everything they had! They played songs off their EP “Possum Rock” like “Theresa,” “Pavement,” “Rewind,” and “Old Bleached Hair.” I have been wanting to see this band perform ever since I missed them opening for Dexter & The Moonrocks in 2024. They played at The Underground, which is right next door, so it is very cool to see them play in a venue this size! They played their recent single “Gasoline” and “Carolina Shake Down,” which hasn’t been released yet. They got the crowd rowdy! Sometimes a crowd takes a bit to warm up with an opener, but you would have thought this was their show with how rowdy the crowd was! You can feel the love that Cigarettes @ Sunset has from their home state, asking the crowd that “even though we’re in the city, can everyone be Appalachian for the next four minutes” with their song “Appalachian Raised.” This band was a perfect opener for the show, giving fans a peek into their close-knit and charismatic group! I cannot wait to see them live again!

Rainbow Kitten Surprise started their set at 9:15, with the crowd worked up and sweaty! They started off with “Pacific Love,” before flowing into “Mission to Mars” and “Our Song.” I’ve had the pleasure of seeing and photographing Rainbow Kitten Surprise before, but I’m so happy to get to do it again. I remember my older brother going to see them when I was in high school, and I had questioned who they were. I took a deep dive into their music and realized how much I was missing out! Now I know to never miss them on tour if I can help it!

They performed a multitude of songs from their discography like “bones,” “Friendly Fire,” and “100 Summers,” off their 2025 album bones, as well as songs off their 2018 album How To Friend, Love, Freefall, like “Matchbox,” “Hide,” “When It Lands,” and “Painkillers.” They also played a few songs off their 2013 album Seven + Mary, like “Devil Like Me” and “Shameful Company.” The crowd was matching Ela word for word with every song! Towards the end of the set, they played an acoustic version of their songs “Black and White,” “Hey Pretty Momma,” and “First Class.”

With this being my second time seeing Rainbow Kitten Surprise, I can 100% say the crowds for their shows are the nicest people around! They are so friendly and inclusive, chatting and making friends with each other between sets, and when the band walks on stage, they lock in to have the time of their life. They came back on stage for a brief encore with “Tropics” and their most beloved song, and the song that made me fall in love with them, “It’s Called: Freefall.” It is so exciting to see a band show so much love for Charlotte/North Carolina because, on some tours, these dates feel like they get glanced over or North Carolina gets completely skipped, but you can always count on a North Carolina band to show up for their home state! Bands like Cigarettes @ Sunset and Rainbow Kitten Surprise make me very proud to be from North Carolina. Sometimes the South gets hidden behind its flaws, and yes, there are many, but bands like them show the heart that can come from it!

Rainbow Kitten Surprise continues on with shows in Cary, Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, and New York! Be sure to catch them before this leg is over! Cigarettes @ Sunset will be opening until the last stop, before Common People opens in New York.