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Projekt Revolution w/ Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, The Bravery, Ashes Divide, Street Drum Corps, Atreyu, 10 Years, Hawthorne Heights and Armor for Sleep
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 30, 2008
The Deal: Linkin Park bring along a bunch of their friends for annual Projekt Revolution Tour. (Setlists for Chris Cornell and Linkin Park at the end of review.) (more…)
Early Man Fans of stripped-down, straight-ahead metal, prepare to party like it’s BCE 1,900,099. Yessir: if you want your rock of the Early Pleistocene variety, the Brooklyn-based, Flying V-wielding, Orange amp-exploding Early Man is your band. Their 2005 ballz-out release, Closing In, has had fans clamoring for a follow-up for three years now. That patience is about to be rewarded – the band is said to be releasing a new platter later this year on The End Records. RIYL: Kreator, Tygers of Pan Tang, Sabbath, Priest, Hawkwind and the like. With Valient Thorr, Monotonix & The Kick Ass. The Milestone (Timothy C. Davis)
Yardwork/Snagglepuss New kids on the block Yardwork bring their all-together-now field hollers and punk rock wattage to the Uptown crowd. Such a convergence could either alter the downtown landscape forever or herald end times; either way should be a gas, as the octet’s great new EP attests. They’ll be joined by Snagglepuss, a horn-fueled, new wave dance party featuring veterans of the Charlotte scene from Fetchin’ Bones and Sugarsmack to Come On Thunderchild and Smithwick Machine. Not so much a passing of the torch as a sharing of the artistic flame. Alley Cat (John Schacht)
Sun Domingo CD Release This wide-touring Atlanta combo is on the road pumping their debut full-length recording The World’s Alive. Sun Domingo’s acoustically tinged progressive pop’s charm lies in the songcraft, not gimmicks or trendy threads. Plenty of curvy, hooky pop rock is on hand where the lyrics are caressed with introspection. They don’t play with wide brush strokes, preferring precise lines and accents. With Luke Brindley and Chad Mackey. Evening Muse (Samir Shukla)
Nas, Talib Kweli & Jay Electronica
Amos’ Southend
July 29, 2008
By Mike McCray
The Deal: Jay Electronica (the new guy), Talib Kweli (the veteran) and Nas (the hall of famer) touch down in the Queen City to give Charlotte a lesson in hip-hop. (more…)
Last Saturday, I scoured the streets of Charlotte for some cultural enrichment. First Stop: A Day in Pompeii at the Discovery Place.
Kiss 95.1 had a wine tasting featuring Shannon Ridge Wines to premiere the exhibit that runs now until January 4 (so don’t worry, you have a while).
We were like kids in Disney World running through Discovery Place playing with all the gadgets and gizmos off a vino buzz. We explored addiction and high fived a bear. (more…)
Coming tomorrow — Review and photos!
Busta Rhymes is no longer on the Projekt Revolution Tour. Some say he got kicked off, some say there were business obligations… no one really knows why at this point.
Anyway, here’s the schedule, if you’re headed out to Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre today:
2 p.m. - Armor for Sleep
2:40 p.m. - Hawthorne Heights
3:20 p.m. - 10 Years
4:20 p.m. - Atreyu
5:15 p.m. - Street Drum Corps
5:50 p.m. - Ashes Divide
6:45 p.m. - The Bravery
7:50 p.m. - Chris Cornell
9:20 p.m. - Linkin Park
Have fun!
Chris Cornell The former singer for Soundgarden and Audioslave will perform plenty of hits from those groups as well as a heavy dose of solo material. The guy has one of the greatest voices in rock and when he was at Ovens Auditorium not so long ago, he showed that he hasn’t lost a bit of it with age. With Projekt Revolution. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Jeff Hahne)
Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Sara Bareilles
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 28, 2008
By Brittney Cason and Jeff Hahne
The Deal — Another summer concert at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater — Home of the $11 beer. This one was Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5 and Counting Crows…. and Counting Crow’s lead singer Adam Duritz’s cane. (more…)
I think I’ve figured out why Uptown is so dead on Fridays - because everyone is either on a date, or on Dive Drive. a.k.a Montford Drive (the highway of fun between Woodlawn and Park Road).
Especially now that Andrew Blairs opened a few weeks ago, adding a delicacy to Dive Drive — it’s a fine dining restaurant, but after 10 p.m. they unveil the curtain to a massive dance floor. However, the party typically doesn’t begin until after 11.
I tend to dance to the beat of my own drum, literally, but it was hard to get down to Dave Matthews Band that they were playing early in the evening. But at 11 p.m., the cups turn to plastic and the music turns to upbeat with a beat. Yet, the dance floor remained deserted; Jacinda and I were even the only ones who did the Cupid Shuffle. But I like a wide open dance floor, it prevents injuries when my dancing tourettes kicks in and my hips and hair take on a life of their own. (more…)
Counting Crows The first line that Adam Duritz sings on his band’s new Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (”I’m a Russian Jew American/ Impersonating African/Jamaican”), to these ears, ranks right up there with Nirvana’s out-with-it verbal volley (”Teenage angst has paid off well/Now I’m bored and old”) that begins In Utero. No one’s saying Duritz is even sniffing the importance of a Kurt Cobain, mind you, but the man’s renewed openness (and openness to finally letting “them guitars rang,” as Patterson Hood of the DBTs sings) is utterly refreshing, especially when compared to the blather perpetrated by his band’s “peers” – tourmates Maroon 5, Matchbox 20 and that ilk. The concept of Saturday night (secular) and Sunday morning (sacred) is an old one – see almost all the blues, much of country music, and everything Prince ever did – but Duritz pens personality into almost every track here, reminding you (and himself) that our days are ultimately what we make of them. With Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Timothy C. Davis)
Arrive Sax man Aram Shelton leads this alto-vibes-bass-and-drums quartet, yet another top-notch ensemble from the fecund Chicago free scene. Shelton offers some familiar rhythmic and compositional footholds here for the free-wary, but there’s still plenty of space for deep-groove exploration and invention. The band is at its best when Shelton and Jason Adasiewicz – channeling serious mid-60s‚ Blue Note Bobby Hutcherson vibes (both kinds) – are in heated conversations that get pushed relentlessly toward resolution and catharsis by Tim Daisy (drums) and Jason Roebke (bass). Nothing short of magic, and not to be missed by open-minded jazz fans. With Project Bluebird. Century/Patchwerk Playhuas. (John Schacht)
