Drain played Middle East Downstairs – 6/7

Santa Cruz heavy hitters Drain headlined an insane show at the Mid East with Drug Church, Magnitude, Buried Dreams, Gel and Combust.

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Tours in the hardcore sphere don’t come much more stacked than this one. Metalcore/crossover thrash crew Drain hitting the road in support of their killer new record Living Proof was cause enough for celebration, but a roster of support that reads as a who’s who of pit-minded music in 2023 really pushed this one over the edge. Albany post-hardcore mischief-makers Drug Church could comfortably sell the Middle East on their own (they headlined a pretty packed show next door at Sonia last year), and much of the rest of the bill feels headed that way too. The end result was a pretty special night – and a pretty big underplay – that feels unlikely to repeat itself anytime soon.

As you can imagine, the floor (and the stage) were pure madness for most of the evening, whether by way of Magnitude’s pile-ons, Drug Church’s nonstop stream of stage divers (whom singer Patrick Kindlon admonished to keep their feet directed away from the Downstairs’ sensitive sprinkler system) or the full-on invasion as Drain closed the night with “California Cursed.” By that point, the line between performers and audience members had more or less ceased to exist – it was as much the crowd’s show as the band’s, and singer (/ex-Gulch drummer) Sammy Ciaramitaro wouldn’t have it any other way. The Drain frontman had to be one of the happiest looking guys I’ve ever seen at the helm of a band that ferocious, and the joy was contagious.

There’s not much more I can say about the evening that the pictures won’t tell you, so I’ll leave it to them. Shots of all six bands below.