Live photos: Darius Rucker, PNC Music Pavilion (8/29/2015)

Darius Rucker
PNC Music Pavilion 
Aug. 29, 2015

Two songs into his set, Darius Rucker walked to the front of the stage at PNC Music Pavilion with the microphone in one hand and a shot of whiskey in the other. As Rucker made a toast to the crowd, he thanked Charlotte for their countless years of support. “I remember playing at Amos’ Southend…” he said to rousing applause. “Hell, I remember playing at the Pterodactyl Club!” Rucker tossed back his shot before starting “Good For a Good Time.” 

Before starting his next song, he thanked the crowd once again for their support of his career as a country artist. “A lot of people said this wouldn’t work,” he said. Roughly 15,000 people roaring in response has clearly proved those people wrong. Rucker, the former frontman of Hootie & The Blowfish, went on to perform more than a dozen of his songs — a mix of country/pop/rock and some of those old Hootie favorites, much to the crowd’s delight. 

This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2015.