Rainbow Kittebn Surprise, which plays The Ritz in Ybor City, Florida on September 17, 2018. Credit: Camren Meier for Creative Loafing Tampa

Rainbow Kittebn Surprise, which plays The Ritz in Ybor City, Florida on September 17, 2018. Credit: Camren Meier for Creative Loafing Tampa

Rainbow Kitten Surprise has been a fast-rising darling on the festival and indie-rock circuit, so we wondered how Orpheum was going to be able to handle the number of fans wanting to catch the North Carolina rock and roll band before its rise led to gigs at larger theaters.

Wonder no more.


The band — whose frontman Sam Melo spent some time in Tampa Bay after his family moved from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. (more on that in a forthcoming CL interview with Melo) — has moved its September 17 Ybor City show to The Ritz to accommodate what promoters are calling "overwhelming demand."

Tickets that have already been purchased will be honored at the The Ritz. Listen to RKS' new album and get more information on the show below. Click here to see some photos we took of Rainbow Kitten Surprise playing Shaky Knees festival in Atlanta.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Mon. Sept. 17, 6:30 p.m. $31.52 & up. The Ritz, 1503 E. 7th Ave., Ybor City. theritzybor.com.

This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 6, 2018.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...