Alive, uncontainable, and rough-edged, Rainbow Kitten Surprise and their following filled MGM Music Hall on March 6 for a stop on the “bones North American Tour.” The venue was perfect — intimate enough so that every face was visible from the stage, drawing together stage and audience. The setlist thread between tracks from the touring album “bones” and decade-old favorites, treating the band’s catalogue as a shuffled deck.

While RKS appeals to audiences of both hard rock and folk, the choreography and production make clear that this ambiguity is their defining asset, not a limitation. On record, a listener might file RKS alongside the likes of Mt. Joy or Bon Iver; in person, the fist-pumping and arm-swinging intensity pulls them closer to the rawness of early Kings of Leon.

Visual production held the band’s warm, improvisational energy together. Towering LED columns cycled through saturated rainbow washes and cross-cutting beams. Rhythmic flashes synchronized with guitar riffs, and blazing streaks swept the dark theater in color. The upright bars dimmed to a low pulse during slower passages, holding the room in suspense before ramping each song toward its peak. The lighting does in color what RKS does in sound, splitting the difference between rock and indie folk.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise dressed as loosely and unpretentiously as they played. Flanking the stage in an oversized baseball jersey, an open short-sleeve shirt, and dark workwear-style pants, the band's members arrived intentionally individual. Taking the lead at center stage, lead vocalist Ela Melo shattered that casualness. Clad in a metallic silver outfit, fishnets, and tall black boots, she commanded the frontwoman role. The audience matched the band, blending casual flannel layers and basics with the edge of the downtown venue.

Yet it was the physicality that distinguished RKS’s performance from any other rock concert. Melo and guitarist Darrick “Bozzy” Keller orbited each other across the stage, bending low in tandem, locking eyes mid-riff, and answering each other’s rhythms in restless, full-bodied conversation. When Melo threw herself into the beat, lunging and kicking, Keller angled his guitar toward her. The rest of the band fed that momentum, trusting one another without hesitation. Bassist Charlie Holt pressed back to back with guitarist Ethan Goodpaster, while Jess Haney waved at the band from behind his drum kit. The commitment never wavered across two hours.

The setlist ranged ambitiously across genres and RKS’s catalog. The harder tracks landed with immediate force: Melo spun across the stage through “Drop Stop Roll,” stark white lighting stripped the stage bare during “Painkillers,” and the crowd made its preferences clear, singing loudest and longest for “First Class.” Though the variety was a strength, it also created a minor imbalance, as if the unstructured setlist left its quieter moments slightly short of the breathing room they needed.

The highlight of the night arrived as the slower songs drew the band inward, into a tight huddle behind a single microphone. Their guitars tilted into the cluster, the spotlight narrowed, and the audience leaned in. Acoustic renditions of “Black and White” and “Bare Bones” gave the audience a glimpse into the folk roots of the band.

The encore belonged to the crowd before Melo even opened her mouth, speaking to the unwavering support the band has gained. When the opening notes of “It’s Called: Freefall” rang out across MGM, the recognition was instant. Smoky rays of white light reached the furthest ends of the pit before spinning rapidly into the song’s chorus. The room reached another gear after an already unrelenting evening, raising the stakes of the night into an enjoyable, collective memory.

The “bones North American Tour” made that case shrewdly, slipping unfamiliar new material alongside the songs fans already claimed as their own. Walking off the stage at MGM Music Hall, the band made the strongest possible case that their music lives above genre — and that standing in a room where they can see your face and you can see theirs is the only way to fully understand their artistry.

—Staff writer Liam J. Kralik can be reached at [email protected].