PHOTOS — Rainbow Kitten Surprise 2025 ⋆ Shows I Go To | 🎤 Florida Concerts, Festivals, & Giveaways

PHOTOS — Rainbow Kitten Surprise 2025

Rainbow Kitten Surprise w/ Michael Marcagi • June 18, 2025 • The BayCare Sound – Clearwater, FL • Photos by Alan Davis – instagram.com/AlanBlackRhino

RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISE LIVE REVIEW

The BayCare Sound /// June 18, 2025
Review by: Alan Davis

Almost two years to the day after they canceled their show in St Petersburg, Rainbow Kitten Surprise have finally made it to the Tampa Bay Area!

Hailing from North Carolina, Rainbow Kitten Surprise is a quartet where genres don’t exist. Beginning their musical journey in 2013, they’ve released four albums. Most recently releasing their newest single, “Espionage” in February of this year. They’re the perfect representation for Pride Month. In March 2022, vocalist Ela Melo publicly announced she was coming out as a trans woman.

In May 2023 RKS were set to play two pre-tour shows. One at the Hard Rock in Orlando and one at Jannus Live in St Petersburg. The show at the Hard Rock had started, but RKS never took the stage. The show was canceled due to a medical crisis Melo was experiencing. During an interview in 2024 with Lyndsanity.com, she expressed, “I had a total mental breakdown. I mean, we call it psychosis, when you’re seeing things. And I was actively seeing things that weren’t there. This was during soundcheck before the show, and I asked my stage manager, I was like, “OK, I have this little screen on this keyboard and all the things are moving and changing colors. Is that actually for real?” And he’s like, “No.” I was like, “Um, we got a problem.” It continued to spiral throughout the day. And I was just like, “I can’t do this show.” I mean, I wasn’t actually even in a position to say, “I can’t do it.” I was melted. I was crying and just being like, “I can’t trust anything. I can’t trust my reality. Things are happening that aren’t.” That was when we really pulled the plug on stuff and it’s like, “This person needs help. This person needs stuff to get them right and regulated and ready to go. We cannot continue like this.” Which is a fair assessment.“. They canceled the upcoming tour and haven’t been back to the area until tonight.

I made my way to the Baycare Sound, in Clearwater, early due to a possibility of rain and ungodly rush hour traffic. Hurricane season is here. The rain is plenty. Stepping outside is like having ESPN (who doesn’t love a Mean Girls reference?!). You can just sense it. Sometimes it feels pointless showering, because you know the second you step outside the humidity is going to have sweat running down your back.

Once inside the 9,000 person capacity venue, the type of crowd RKS brings with them is just as eclectic as their sound. There were people of all ages: a goth girl in corpse paint, a ginger bearded man in a pink dress with pink wig, a girl dressed as a cat with three tails, twenty-something women in short skirts, frat bros, hippies, and straight and same sex couples.

Eight months ago I was lucky enough to photograph their return show at the Hard Rock. Tonight I was lucky enough to be back in that same position. I had my photo pass in a lanyard around my neck and my camera in my hand. I was more than ready to capture the raw energy that was about to happen right in front of my lens.

Opening the show was singer-songwriter Michael Marcagi, formerly of the Heavy Hours. He brought a band of hired guns with him to rip through an eleven song set. The crowd didn’t seem to know his music until halfway through the set where he pulled out a cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “deja vu”. It didn’t appear that many knew his song, “Scared to Start” that gained popularity on Tik Tok. The music was good, but with the heat the crowd appeared to be saving their energy.

After a very long thirty minute set change, Rainbow Kitten Surprise took the stage at exactly 8:15PM. The sun was starting to set behind them over the Clearwater Harbor. The stage for tonight’s Thanks For Coming Tour was a little disappointing due to it being recycled from the Love Hate Music Box Tour. However, for those seeing it for the first time it’s an absolute spectacle! Truly one of the best light shows I’ve ever seen.

Ela Melo hit the stage wearing a giant smile and a pleather little black dress. The band opened the set with fan-favorite, “Cocaine Jesus”. It surprised me due to it being their second most streamed song on Spotify. The stage lights were blinding at times. That may have also been the sweat running down my face and getting in my eyes. The band sounded absolutely amazing. One of the best sounding live bands I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to not get caught up just watching them perform instead of taking photos.

The rule is you get the first three songs to photograph what you can before you get kicked out of the photo pit. Myself and the five other photographers had a grand total of exactly ten minutes to capture what we could. Out of those ten minutes was eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds of music. Normally that it. When you’re out of the pit; you’re done. Rainbow Kitten Surprise is one of those bands that allows photographers to capture more images from around the venue as long as you aren’t obstructing the paying ticket holder’s view.

The song “King” made it’s live debut, being played fifth out of a twenty-five song set. The band played for almost two straight hours. I personally couldn’t wait for them to play “First Class” again. That song hits on so many levels. The thousands of fans in attendance seemed to think so too with the echoes of a sing-a-long. The show ended with a two song encore from the album “How To: Friend, Love, Freefall”.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes towards supporting organizations providing mental health treatment and access to care for the LGBTQ+ community; and the PLUS1 LA Fires Fund working to provide critical resources to the organizations working tirelessly to support those affected by the LA fires.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise Setlist:
1. Cocaine Jesus
2. Holy War
3. Our Song
4. Goodnight Chicago
5. King (Live Debut)
6. Meticulous
7. Matchbox
8. Espionage
9. Drop Stop Roll
10. When It Lands
11. SVO
12. Hide
13. Dang
14. Devil Like Me
15. Painkillers
16. Tropics
17. Cold Love
18. First Class
19. All That and More (Sailboat)
20. Shameful Company
21. Work Out
22. 100 Summers
23. Run (with band introductions)