It was scorching in Phoenix, AZ on July 8th, but that didn’t stop Real Friends from bringing the heat! Crescent Ballroom was packed with music lovers of all ages eager to see the band perform. Real Friends had two Phoenix local bands, Sundressed and Troubled Minds, open for them and the crowd was nothing short of excited to see them perform.
Troubled Minds
Troubled Minds opened the show and brought the best vibes along with them. The local Phoenix band had the whole crowd bobbing their heads and enjoying the music. They were all smiles on stage and you can tell they all have a great friendship between them by the way they interacted on stage. As soon as they started to perform, you felt like you were transported to a different world simply through the passion in their songs.
Sundressed
Sundressed was next and the energy in the venue skyrocketed. The Phoenix local band consists of six members and you can tell by the way they move and jump around on stage that the friends love performing together.
The band was extremely talkative and were even joking with the crowd while working through a brief technical issue they experienced. The lead singer, Trevor Hedges, encouraged the crowd to cry when introducing the next song. “Who here has cried today?” he asked the crowd, “This song is called “Cry About It”, if you like to cry then cry about it”. The crowd proceeded to cheer and shout along to the song. The band even seemed to have their own personal cheering section dedicated to them.
The harmonies on stage were simply amazing and the crowd seemed to be feeding off of their great energy. When explaining the genre of music they perform, Hedges described it as “Adult contemporary emo, it’s like regular emo with back problems”. This comparison generated laughter from the crowd. The high energy and many laughs was the perfect way to amp up the crowd and segway into the main act of the night.
Real Friends
As soon as Real Friends hit the stage, the energy in the room shifted in anticipation of the main event of the night. The band was interacting with the crowd the whole show and they were loving it. The energy in the room was electric as they moved around on stage and kicked and jumped to their songs. They later revealed that it was technically a hometown show for guitarist Dave Knox, who is from Phoenix. When speaking on it, lead vocalist Cody Muraro stated, “Every time we come here it feels more and more like home”. Muraro then encouraged the crowd to form a mosh pit and many happily obliged. He told the crowd that if they had never crowd surfed before to do it for the first time that night. This led to a frenzy of people throwing themselves around and landing on stage. The bands manager even ran on stage to help safely catch people and let them run back into the crowd.
The music from the band had such a big range that there was sure to be a tune on the set list everyone would love. They played crowd favorites such as “Late Nights In My Car”, “I’ve Given Up On You”, and “Six Feet”. The band’s latest single, “Waiting Room”, was also included on the setlist and is the first song they have released independently from their record label. Every single song they performed sounded amazing and the passion they pour into everything they do is evident. Their stage presence was magnetic and it was hard to look away from them the whole show. Muraro then went on to tell the crowd that they were having a full length record release in the fall, and the crowd went absolutely nuts at the news. It’s clear that Phoenix loves Real Friends based on the love and support the crowd gave them all night. If they decide to return to the valley on a future tour, it’s without a doubt that the venue would be packed to the brim!
