Quarters of Change Rocks Their First Hurricane Party
orlando, florida - september 27th, 2024
New York rock band, Quarters of Change, played their first hurricane show last Friday in Orlando, Florida. After having to cancel their Tampa show the night before due to Hurricane Helene, the group of four was beyond excited to bring the energy back to Orlando and ride out the last few bands of the hurricane.
After a great opening set from Florida’s own rock band, The Hails, Quarters of Change took the stage with flashing lights and large shadows as they dove into “Depression II” , a strong introduction to the rock sound we would continue to hear throughout the night. The crowd was jumping and dancing while singing, as the band went into the next two songs “What I Wanted” and “Tightrope”, all off of their recently released album ‘Portraits’. Lead singer, Ben Roter, commanded both the crowd and the stage with his vocals and presence. Pulling out vocal frys and strong indie tones similar to those of All American Rejects and other iconic pop rock and pop punk bands. The crowd went wild as he leaned over the stage, singing to fans and immersing himself in The Social, one of Orlando’s most iconic venues.
Guitarists Ben Acker and Jasper Harris entrance the crowd in iconic and thrilling guitar riffs, while drummer Attila Anrather kept up the strong and fast beat in a classic rock fashion. It’s clear from my spot in the back of the small venue, that these four musicians have a strong bond, not only with their instruments but with each other as well. There’s so much trust and excitement between them and it radiates off of the stage.
As the lights strobe, the opening chords of their iconic song “Do or Die” is barely heard before the crowd erupts into excited screams and cheers before the band is drowned out by the whole crowd singing ‘You never like when I play my music anymore / You only like that 1974 / We’re growing apart, can we just get back to the start?’. The joy from the crowd and the band fills up every corner of the Social and you can barely see the stage from how much the crowd is jumping and dancing. It’s an infectious joy that can only be found in the indie and alternative community.
Photo: @richardjohnsun
Photo: @chloerossdalton
The band continues to rock out with favorites from their new album such as “Hollywood Baby”, “Keep My Blood”, and “Heaven Bound”. The crowd feeds off the energy from the band, continuing with the excitement and dancing up till the last second. The band closes out with the up beat “T-Love” a favorite off their 2022 album ‘Into The Rift’. As the song goes on, Roter goes into a killer bridge with crazy delay vocals as Anrather brings the song to the next level with a repetitive and strong drum pattern.
As the band finishes out the song and walks off stage, the crowd immediately starts chanting for an encore and “One more song!” can be heard bouncing off of every wall. Obviously not done, the band runs back out for an encore of “Kiwi” and “Rift”. They rock out with the crowd, and as the last note rings out they all thank everyone for coming and promise they’ll be back soon. As they walk off stage, for real this time, the crowd is still buzzing and the merch table gets swarmed by newly turned fans who want something to remember the night by.
There’s still a few stops left on Quarter of Changes’ PORTRAITS TOUR II tour, so catch them in the United States until October 27th, or see them in the United Kingdom for a few dates in November! You can get tickets here.
