THE DRIVER ERA PLAYS MANCHESTER ACADEMY
BY RIANNA RAM
Indie-pop band ‘The Driver Era’ brought their eclectic charm to Manchester Academy as part of their sold out UK leg of the ‘Girlfriend’ tour on Wednesday 12th August. Supported by American singer-songwriter ‘Jessarae’ and the band’s high-energy brother, ‘DJ Ryland’.
The evening began outside Manchester Academy with a queue bending around multiple buildings, a few hours before the show. The line, consisting of a mixture The Driver Era t-shirts and pink cowboy hats, began to move in anticipation when the doors finally opened at 7:00. The floor quickly filled as people started pouring into the venue to confirm their spot in front of the stage.
Jessarae kicked off the night by playing an assortment of songs including best hits: ‘Stand in The Rain’ and ‘Milk and Honey’ which undoubtedly made the crowd excited for what was to come. The hazy blue and pink lighting during the first few songs set the tone for the rest of the set, building up the atmosphere in preparation for the rest of the night.
Ryland Lynch, also known as ‘DJ Ryland’, opened his show with some of his own remixes, followed by classics from the likes of Taylor Swift and ABBA, heightening the energy in the crowd. It was clear to see, from the movement of the people, that the music had made a great impression. During the last two songs, Ryland entertained everybody further by singing and dancing on the turntable. His performance was the perfect addition to warm everybody up for the headliners.
After Jessarae and Ryland’s sets, fans gathered closer together to secure an up-close spot of the band which consists of RockyLynch and Disney’s Sweetheart; Ross Lynch, who gained a lot of his fame from his role as Austin Moon in Austin & Ally and Brady in Teen Beach Movie.
The Lynch brothers took to the stage of Manchester Academy to a sea of screaming fans and cowboy hats as they opened their set with ‘Keep Moving Forward’ alongside bassist Riker Lynch, keyboardist Garrison Jones and drummer Dave Briggs – not forgetting Ryland continuing his show from the sound booth as their tour manager. The band proved to be worth the wait as the crowd screamed the lyrics back to them. This song was shortly followed by the upbeat melodies from some of their other most popular hits, ‘Malibu’ and ‘Take Me Away’, and everybody was dancing, including the life-size Ross cardboard cut-out which two girls on front-row were moving around to gain attention from the performers.
The band are known for performing covers from other celebrities such as ‘Sex On Fire’ by Kings Of Leon and ‘Rock With You’ by Michael Jackson, however Manchester was lucky enough to hear a song remix of their own song ‘Heart Of Mine’ and ‘Hold On’ by Drake. Phones were held in the air throughout the show, but especially during this song, to capture memories of the night. This was most likely due to the recent traction on TikTok of the lead vocalist, Ross, showing off his infamous dance moves and capturing the hearts of the women in the crowd.
Dedicated fans that attended the concert, like Sera (@calumsftv) and Niamh (@londonletters), said that the crowd interaction from both Ross and Rocky made the show feel more personal, especially when they were reading signs that people had made and when Ross splashed the front row with the water bottle that he was drinking from.
The 20 song setlist may have seemed as though the concert would have been longer than 1 hour 30 minutes, but the show was over surprisingly quickly as each song created a different atmosphere – some songs even being dedicated to certain members of the crowd that had previously been at the Meet & Greet.
17 songs passed by, and the band said goodbye to fans and left the stage, which caused the entire venue to begin chanting ‘one more song, one more song’, and girls around me predicting what would happen next. To nobody’s surprise, the group returned to play their final songs. It was in these moments that Ross decided to take off his black bandana and denim jacket, to reveal his soft, blonde hair and white tank top.
They finished the set with ‘Afterglow’, followed by ‘A Kiss’ and there was not one soul in the room that was quiet. Everybody, including fathers of teen girls, happened to be dancing and singing to celebrate the end of the show.
Once the band said their goodbyes to the crowd, ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA played loudly over the speakers as Ross and Rocky continued dancing and handing out drumsticks, guitar picks and copies of their setlists to lucky fans that had spent their day queueing to see them. Overall, the show was a brilliant experience to be a part of and The Driver Era made the concert a night to remember for every person involved.
