Rotorua's Ryan Christensen is in New York, he is keeping us posted with what he has been up to:
Trolling through Facebook on my Sunday evening, just as we all normally do, I saw a post from one of my favourite bands "Bad Rabbits". They were performing a show and shooting a music video in Amityville, Long Island that night. Usually I look at these posts and wonder what if I was just closer to this place and could be a part of it. Just out of curiosity I googled where this Long Island place was. It was an 85minute train ride from where I was sitting. Needless to say I was on a train within the next half hour.
When I arrived in Amityville it was a ghost town. I was so used to the hustle and bustle of NYC and I couldn't believe not seeing people on the streets.
Even after 3 weeks here I was so used to it. It was great to get a sense of America suburbia, small little houses on massive sections with squirrels running through the grass and an American flag on every house. This was a side of America I hadn't really seen yet. After helping a man get a fridge off the back of his pick up, I found "Ollie's Point", the bar the gig was being held.
Walking into the small venue, there was already people everywhere. There were a couple of college bands opening for them, so there were Nanas and Grandads with video cameras and I really got flashbacks from the old "Stanza" days. (My high school progressive metal band).
Walking over to the merchandise table I saw the bass player from "Bad Rabbits" behind the desk and started to have a yarn. He was stoked to meet a New Zealand fan and found out his brother even studied in Dunedin. He thought it was so cool I'd made the effort to come see them and that their music had travelled so far that he wanted to introduce me to the rest of the band.
The gig was incredible, was greater than my wildest expectations. The band was so full of energy and was amazing live. I would even say the live experience felt and sounded even better than their EP.
The old songs were awesome and the new ones are going to be big hits. The crowd went wild with stage diving and my shout out on stage and dancing to "Neverland" had to be personal highlights. The video and photos from the gig should be out soon, so will post it when it drops.
Training home I still couldn't quite believe what had happened that night.
Living. The. Dream.
To read more of Ryan's blog visit http://ryansweek.wordpress.com/