Metallica
Time Warner Cable Arena
Oct. 18, 2009
The Deal: Metal veterans Metallica hit "The Cable Box" for a couple hours of mayhem.
Blues Traveler with Simplified
The Fillmore
Oct. 15, 2009
The Deal: Blues Traveler, celebrating its 22nd year in existence, hits The Fillmore with local band, Simplified, in the opening spot.
Needtobreathe w/ Serena Ryder, Matthew Mayfield
Visulite Theatre
Oct. 8, 2009
The Deal: South Carolina rockers perform sold-out all-ages show at the Visulite, bring along label mate Serena Ryder and Alabama-based singer-songwriter Matthew Mayfield.
Blink-182
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Oct. 6, 2009
The Deal: Reunited punk-pop rockers tear through a whole bunch of songs in quick time.
Black Crowes w/ Truth & Salvage Co.
The Fillmore Charlotte
Sept. 30, 2009
The Deal: Black Crowes bring along Truth & Salvage Co. for a show at The Fillmore.
Rob Thomas with Carolina Liar and OneRepublic
Uptown Amphitheatre
Sept. 29, 2009
The Deal: Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, performs at Uptown Amphitheatre in support of his sophomore solo album Cradlesong. Opening acts include Carolina Liar and OneRepublic.
Motorhead with Reverend Horton Heat, Nashville Pussy
The Fillmore Charlotte
Sept. 11, 2009
The Deal: Motorhead, Reverend Horton Heat, Nashville Pussy and a whole lot of speakers hit the Queen City.
Heart w/ Tonic
Uptown Amphitheatre
Sept. 6, 2009
The Deal: Classic rockers bring along radio favorites.
The Good: Tonic is one of theose bands who you've probably heard, but can't name one song off of the top of your head. It's the "Ohhhhh yeah... I know that song..." factor. So, of course, there was a big sing along during "If You Could Only See."
Heart hit the stage with "guns blazing." Nancy Wilson walked out to the front of the stage (sadly, the only time any band member strayed far from their microphone stand) and kicked off the opening riff to "Barracuda." Not a bad start to a set that lasted roughly an hour and a half.
Ann Wilson's voice may have cracked once or twice, but damn if she doesn't have one of the best female voices in rock. She also found a moment to play flute on "Love Alive."
Nancy spent plenty of time jumping up and down and kicking out a leg in true rock style as she ripped through a cover of Led Zepplin's "Immigrant Song," and their own "Crazy On You."
Adding in a cover of The Who's "Reign O'er Me" that showcased the vocals once again, the band's encore included a cover of Zepplin's "Going to California" (with the name changed to Carolina) before a show-closing "Magic Man."
The Bad: If you saw Heart open up for Journey last year, you pretty much saw the show they played on this night. The good part is they sounded just as strong as they did a year ago.
The Verdict: It's always great to go to a show thinking you'll know three or four songs by a band and then know most of the setlist. Heart's catalog runs deep and is worth checking out.
Heart setlist
Barracuda
Never
Kick It Out
Straight on for You
Love Alive
Mistral Wind
Immigrant Song
Back to Avalon
These Dreams
What About Love
Alone
Reign O'er Me
Crazy On You
Encore
Going to California
Magic Man
Down w/ The Melvins, Haarp, Evil Army
The Fillmore Charlotte
Sept. 5, 2009
The Deal: Supergroup Down brings along The Melvins, Haarp and Evil Army for heavy metal gig at The Fillmore.
Traveling Circus and Medicine Show Counting Crows with Michael Franti & Spearhead, Augustana
Uptown Amphitheatre
Aug. 21, 2009
The Deal: The Traveling Circus and Medicine Show Counting Crows, Michael Franti & Spearhead and Augustana stopped by Charlotte's Uptown Amphitheatre for a unique night of music. Hopefully, if you went, you knew that it was getting started at 7:30. Adam Duritz posted this on the tour's Web site:
Dear Everyone-Who-Happens-To-Read-This,I know youre all used to showing up at 8:30 or 9PM for concerts that started at 7. Its understandable. Youre there to see YOUR band and youre showing up when you think theyre gonna play, right? Well, starting on Thursday July 16th at Marymoor Amphitheatre in Redmond, Washington, thats all going to change.
Ladies and Gentlemen, at 7:15PM, when the curtain goes up on The Saturday Night Rebel Rockers Traveling Circus & Medicine Show, Augustana AND Counting Crows are all going to be walking out onstage together and that show is going to start with EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US onstage singing and playing our brains out. Well do a few songs together and then it may be Counting Crows that plays the first set alone. I dont know exactly how the shows going to run every night. Itll definitely be different a few days later in Friant, CA when Michael Franti & Spearhead join up. Itll probably be different every night. The only thing I know for sure is that EVERY show on this tour is going to start with EVERYONE onstage together and were going to all be running on & off stage all night playing on each others songs and playing songs all together and basically just playing whenever we feel like playing. So you get my point, right?
GET HERE ON TIME!
Cuz when the curtain rises THE CIRCUS BEGINS
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So, how did it turn out?