The Best Is Yet To Come for RED

Rated R Tour comes to Greensboro, NC

As they prepare for the release of their eight studio album, Rated R, Nashville-based Rock band RED head out on the appropriately named, Rated R Tour, and make a stop in Greensboro, NC at Hangar 1819. RED consists of Michael Barnes (vocals), Randy Armstrong (bass), Anthony Armstrong (guitar), and Brian Medeiros (drums).

Since their break out into the rock scene with “Breathe Into Me” in 2006, the band has toured throughout the US and Europe and has faced the trials and tribulations of moving from being signed to a record company to recording and releasing Rated R independently. The last time they were in Greensboro, they played a stripped down acoustic show, but tonight, they brought back the electricity!

RED shared the bill with openers Echostone, Home For The Day, and Saul. Echostone took the stage first. Though their set was short, the NC and SC natives got the night going with 3 of their original songs, and their cover of 10 Years’ “Wasteland”.

After a quick stage change, Home For The Day made their way onto the stage.

The local NC band was just featured on the Greensboro tour date, but the energy that they gave off on stage was palpable and it was clear that they brought their fans with them. The band gave off a very pop-punk energy, and fully took advantage of what space they had on and off stage, as the lead singer and bassist went out into the crowd and jammed on the floor with their fans. Like Echostone, they also decided to bring in a cover during their set, and rocked out to Breaking Benjamin’s “Polyamorous”.

As we got closer to the headliners of the night, Saul, a hard rock band from Iowa, were next to take the stage.

The band has a full length album out with previous EPs, and they released their latest album This Is It… The End of Everything, earlier this year. Their set included songs from their entire discography, and they are promoting their latest single, “A Million Miles”, accessible on all platforms and available for radio request. Bassist, William McIlravy, was especially fun to watch with his spin moves on his side of the stage.

Finally, it was time for RED to take the stage.

The stage was decorated in an ominous tone, including mannequins with red laser eyes that changed throughout the evening, likely alluding to lack in human connection and empathy that surrounds the current online culture, which sets them up well as they open up with their first single off the Rated R album, “Surrogates”. The crowd was tuned in and despite the album not being released yet, the audience had done their homework and were singing the lyrics back with confidence.

With their eighth album dropping soon, the band had a wide catalog of songs to choose from and their setlist spanned across all albums. They went through heavy hitters like “Infidel” from their last release, Declaration in 2020, to “Let Go” and “Lie to Me (Denial)”, which had the crowd headbanging and rocking out.

House lights were dimmed and the stage was backlit with white light for “Pieces”, allowing the band to slow down and for Barnes to demonstrate his vocal talent. They quickly picked back up with the energy as they dove into heavy hitters like “Feed the Machine”, “Death of Me”, and “Release the Panic”.

The band ended their main set with “Shadows”, which was also slowed down from their original version before they left the stage to a crowd cheering for an encore. A few minutes later the band returned for two more songs. It can’t be a RED show without the one that started it all, “Breathe Into Me’, which they appropriately closed their show with, leaving everyone on a high and once again, always wanting more.

RED will continue to tour in support of Rated R in the US through mid November. See the link below to see if they are coming to a town near you! If they aren’t, be on the lookout as they are likely to announce more dates in support of their new album early next year!