On April 18, 2025, Real Friends took the stage to a packed house at Empire Live in Albany, NY, the third of four bands in the lineup for Silverstein’s 25 Years of Noise tour. I knew I was in for a wild experience when I was in the photo pit for the first three songs and almost couldn’t get any photos because the crowd surfers were coming in hard and fast. My love and gratitude to the security team for keeping us safe, because if it weren’t for them, I am sure I would’ve been taken out by at least one flying foot.

Real Friends opened their set with “Waiting Room,” and the crowd was on it from the first note. I have seen a lot of bands in my time, but few have come close to the intensely energetic link between band and audience that I witnessed during their set. Singer Cody Muraro made such a point of connecting with the crowd, that I’m actually thinking he might have spent more time in the audience than he did on stage, and they loved every second of it. He crowd surfed with them. He sang with them. He gave them the microphone to sing while they crowd surfed. He jumped into the crowd and sang in the middle of them. At one point, in a rather touching moment, he was singing from the middle of the crowd, and a group of men had their arms around each other’s shoulders while they sang along with him. While most singers try to connect with the crowd, Muraro took it to a whole other level, and everyone in the building was there for it.

Roughly halfway through the set, Muraro, on stage at this point, asked the audience if there was anyone who hadn’t crowd surfed before. If there were, he wanted every single one of them to get up and give it a try. What followed was an absolute sea of bodies making their way to the stage, being held up by every able arm in the building. I’m by no means a newbie to crowd surfing, but that sight was a first even for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the only one in the building who didn’t crowd surf that night.

Real Friends finished out their set with “When You Were Here,” “Me First,” and “Tell Me You’re Sorry,” but I am quite sure they could have played 10 more songs and everyone still would have wanted more.

Review & photos by I’m Music Magazine Photography/Writer Amanda Packey