This was a breathtaking show. Allison Russel and her band was fantastic. Hozier was just so beautiful and haunting that I can’t put it to words. The PNC Pavilion is also perfectly set up for a concert. The flow of people doesn’t get stuck, everything moves very quickly, and no matter what there is almost always exactly what you need wherever you are. I also loved the small sticker that was on the back of the arena seats where we could text the security our location at any time if there was a problem.

Hi, For many years I wanted to see Poison, but never got to. Now in my 50's I can tell you getting to see Bret Michaels for the first time live and singing Every Rose Has Its Thorn , was a dream come true ! Mr Michaels will never quite know how much this beautiful song has mean to me. I have PTSD and I sing when life gets me down and my dream is to sing on stage with Bret Michaels Every rose has its thorn. In closing the show was great. Thank you

Absolutely amazing! I took my 17 year old and my 15 year old. This was their first concert and they were blown away (as was I). It was very professionally done and a memory we will treasure for a lifetime. All my children can talk about is their next concert and wanting to see FIR again. They thanked me REPEATEDLY for taking them (something that never happens). I’m more of a death-core fan myself but after seeing FIR live, I’m now a fan for life.

Nickelback, Brantley Gilbert, and Josh Ross live on a Tuesday night was absolutely awesome! A hot humid Tuesday night met three amazing acts live in Charlotte, NC. The show kicked a$$ from start to finish. From the great setlists to the firepower and explosions on the stage left the fans craving more. The reunion of all three acts to perform Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road" was one of the highlights of the show. For anyone who lies about hating Nickelback should see the crowd on a work / school night as the place was packed. Even after a 17 to 18 setlist for Nickelback the fans were screaming for more. I only wished they would have played longer as the show wrapped up around 10:45 pm which was a surprise in my opinion. However, the show was great no matter. Rock on to all three great acts.

Smashing Pumpkins: 8/22/23 “It was my second time overall and second time in 315 days seeing Billy Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins LIVE, the former time was in Atlanta, this time Charlotte. Thanks to a LIVE NATION 4 for $80 (all in) my reserved seats at PNC Pavilion were waiting for me and my friend Derrick and family, a 90’s rock wealth of knowledge and top fan of SP. The shows were geared up to be entirely different, in fact they were entirely different tours, the former ‘The Spirits On Fire Tour’ with Jane’s Addiction, this evening’s ’The World Is A Vampire Tour’ with Interpol and Rival Sons. It was the 17th of a 26 show cross country tour (July-September), Charlotte having just missed out on the ‘Stone Temple Pilots’ who had joined the band on the prior leg of the tour. With a catalogue of 12 studio albums and 25 charted singles the band still features Billy Corgan 56 (vocals), James Iha (guitar), and Jimmy Chamberlain (drums) all since 1988. Jeff Shoroeder also on guitar since the 2007 reunion in lieu of D’arcy Wretzky who left the band or was fired in 1999 (take your pick) completed the line-up. Arriving early the temperature was 95° with a heat index of 104° at 5 p.m. for gates open. Taking our seats, the stage was set for Long Beach California’s Rival Sons (blues-rock) scheduled to open at 6:30. We were situated just outside the shade of a pavilion column in direct sunlight. Just prior to the band’s going on for a 8 song set my friend Jay surmised, ‘I’m going to see if I can find someone to talk to you about an upgrade.’ I suggested, ‘See if you can find the usher who complemented Sean on his tattoos, that might be a good start.’ After missing nearly half the set and some finagling the four of us were able to secure second row seats immediately behind a relatively small pit! The seats were elevated just enough to see over the heads of those standing. Rival Sons performed admirably with a decisively Zeppelin-ish sound. I suggest checking out the band if you’ve haven’t heard them and start with their second album ‘Head Down’. With our seats in place the second opener Manhattan formed Interpol (post-punk revival) took the stage at 7:44 p.m. The hour long set was somewhat lackluster to someone unfamiliar with the band, the songs sounding majorly the same. The music was solid but the stage presence (to me) lacked energy and personal engagement with the audience. I think that all along felt that I missed out on Stone Temple Pilots and went into it with an attitude. As the 9 o’clock hour turned, the stage was set for the headliners complete with light and sound checks. A complex system of suspended light rigs ensured an exceptional forthcoming visual display. The SP heart logo on the front of a stack of amplifier heads and a star clustered drum head decorated the stage. At 9:10 p.m. the stage lights dimmed to soft white as the recorded sounds of ‘Atum’ signaled the entrance of the band members. With finger points, rock on gestures, and hand claps from Billy the stage lights turned brilliant green to a driving bass-line kicking off the first notes to 1999’s #4 ‘The Everlasting Gaze’. Continuing hard and heavy ‘Doomsday Clock’ was next in the 21 song / hour and fifty minute set. Unlike past performances, the band drew from the composite of their musical catalogue pulling songs from 8 of their 12 albums, plus two covers. The first of which, the third song in, was an unconventional cover of Talking Heads ‘Once In A Lifetime’ complete with shredding guitar, screeching vocals, and a methodically pounding drumbeat. Corgan even changed up the lyrics to the delight of the audience… ‘And you may find yourself in another part of the world called Charlotte!’ Jimmy addressed the audience in a factual demeanor prior to 1993’s ‘Today’ from ‘Siamese Dream’. ‘Thank you so much Charlotte North Carolina. We’re the Smashing Pumpkins and we’re glad to be here, thank you so much.’ After the #3 ‘Perfect’ a tech brought out Billy’s custom painted Yamaha star and touring member Katie Cole joined him also on acoustic for ‘Disarm’. ‘Ava Adore’ had Corgan, dressed in his all black cassock complete with Masonic patch, face paint with what appeared to be a Z over a U on his forehead working the audience as he swung the mic out with a commanding ‘Sing it’ out to the audience, ‘We must never be apart’. Wiping his head with a black towel more than once, he tossed them out into the crowd, as well as a water bottle at various points. For ‘Tonight Tonight’ the acoustic star guitar was again brought out for a stripped down version with Jimmy that included some verbal interaction between the two. James_‘How you guys doing? It’s so hot and so humid (crowd laughs as though it’s no big deal for us).’ Billy_’James how you feeling tonight?’ James’_Billy ‘I feel great, how you doing?’ Billy_’Normally my friend I’m in an existential crisis. For some reason I took the day off today… We’d like to The Interpols, of course Rival Sons what a great band. We’re so blessed to be on this fantastic tour. Thank you for filling up this building for us tonight.’ James was dressed in a white western styled shirt with black stars and skulls with matching white pants. Billy_’James He may look like a space cowboy now but back in the day this young man and I started this band in my father’s bedroom somewhere around 1987-1988 thirty-six years ago. We can’t thank you enough for thirty-six years of supporting our band!’ 1995’s #2 ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ followed finding it’s perfect place into the set. The second cover of the evening Manfred Mann’s harmonica driven 1964 UK hit ‘Hubble Bubble’ and was scarcely discernible from the original. With an all-three-on-guitar extension of the song Billy was featured on a two minute feedback driven solo transitioning directly into ‘Jelly Belly’. The deeper cut from ‘Mellon Collie’ which was not played on tour since 1997 proved to be a crowd favorite. The interaction between James and Billy continued, Billly_‘What day of the week is it? Everyday is the same for me. Is it Monday? Is it Tuesday? Is it Rock day? James we may not be twenty anymore but it’s happened that we’ve rocked harder than the audience can handle. I think you need to get out the James rock-o-meter, lets detect this level of rock-ness that’s happening right here.’ James panned the audience from right to left and then left to right with his finger. James_‘It’s like a 7.8.’ Billy_’James I think you need to get the rock meter out one more time, I’m not buying it.’ Apparently we hit a ’10’ as the show continued with ‘Empires’ from the new album followed by ‘Hummer’ and ‘Beguiled’. The band ended strong without encore starting with everyone’s favorite the band’s only number one ‘1979’ along with band intros. ‘Cherub Rock’ followed with a blues-styled guitar solo by Billy that transitioned immediately into ‘Zero’ arguably one of Pumpkins best songs —a consummate ending! The Charlotte performance in mine and my comrad’s experience was multi-times better than Atlanta’s show. Long past are the days of Billy’s infinite sadness. He’s battled his demons and taken the upper hand as was evidenced by his demeanor throughout the performance. He proved himself interactive, energetic, grateful, and referred to himself as ‘blessed’. Notwithstanding his lyrics live on to speak to a generation bringing about a sense of comfort through the relatability they offer. Billy’s description of the tour says it all, ‘That’s what [it’s] all about, bringing back that sense of community. If you don’t fit in, you belong here… a true alternative festival, where all the self-proclaimed weirdos and outsiders of the world can get together and have a party’. It sounds as if we’ll fit in perfectly!” Review and photo by DAve (Concerts #809-811)

Sum 41 opened perfectly, getting the crowd energized for the night. Simple Plan was the climax of the show, with a great setlist and production. Unfortunately, The Offspring kinda killed the energy. The played good songs but they kept stopping for 5-10 minutes to goof around and ramble. That really took the power out of their most impressive songs. Even though they were headlining their production wasn’t as good as Simple Plan. I went to see Sum 41 mainly and considered Simple Plan to just be a bonus. Glad that Sum 41 was incredible and pleasantly surprised that Simple Plan dominated.

This was my first time seeing these guys live. I was not surprised that they put on a strong show, knew how to get the crowd involved and had exciting pyrotechnics. However, I was surprised how much pathos they put into the performance, raising awareness for suicide and addiction and showing genuine concern for anyone struggling with those things. There was lots of headbanging, but there were also lots of tears at this concert and I left feeling much more appreciative for these guys and their music.

Culture Club / Howard Jones / BERLIN: 7/19/23 “It was a hot summer night in Charlotte and New Wave Was on the menu, the kind of weather that’d melt your 80’s vinyl and your cassette tapes as well for that matter. Aside from the Police and Cars by the time New Wave took over the airwaves I was still steeped deep in arena rock and roll. Although I missed a lot of the scene there was plenty of airplay and videos available to perk my interest leaving me slightly above novice status. The Letting It Go Show’ featuring Culture Club, Howard Jones, and BERLIN kicked off July 13 in West Palm Beach and is scheduled to wrap up on Aug 20 Concord CA. The North Carolina date (the fifth of the tour) was sandwiched in the middle of a 3 night in a row run (Atlanta/Charlotte/Nashville). Live Nation’s $25 ‘All In’ afforded me reserved seats in the rear between the covered portion pavilion and the lawn just behind the concourse. Culture Club still features the original three from the beginning in London 1981: Boy George, Roy Hay (guitar), and Mickey Craig (bass). Sitting in on drums was touring member Anne Evanson, after Jon Moss left in 2021 procuring a £1.75 million settlement with George and the band. The band comes into town with 6 studio albums yielding 50 million sales and 10 charted singles in the U.S., not to mention George’s solo releases. With a promise from the prompter ‘The prolific band will be performing all the hits’ the nearly all 80’s era crowd was ready to get it on, but first things first. At 7 p.m. 1978 formed L.A. new waver’s BERLIN took the stage for a 35 minute/ 7 song set beginning with ‘Masquerade’ a somewhat obscure single which cracked the top 100 in 1982. Skipping over their five albums from the 2000’s save one song they drew nearly all material from the 1980’s. Lead woman Terri Nunn 62 not just looks the part, she IS a rock star —never missing a beat. With an outgoing personality and strong vocals she won over the crowd quickly. The second song in their set was ’No More Words’ which made it’s way to #23 back in 1984. It’s original video clips were projected on the side screens. ‘Charlotte we are excited to be here and we’re especially excited because our guitar player is from Charlotte South Carolina, Mr. Carlton Boost.’ His family was present in the audience, ‘You must be very proud of your hometown boy!’ ‘Animal’ which was released in 2013 as a comeback hit but failed to chart was inserted mid-set and introduced accordingly: ’Some of you have known BERLIN since we were all in our twenties. We wrote a lot about dating in our twenties, this song is about what dating feels like to me know.’ After a powerful performance of the bands only #1 ‘Take My Breath Away’ from ’86’s ‘Top Gun’ were band intros. In addition to Carlton the hometown boy, there were John Crawford the founder of the band on bass since 1977, Dave Diamond on guitar since 1983, ‘and on drums since last Tuesday’ Ric Rocc. Terri disembarked from stage to sing a cover of The Cults ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ walking and working the crowd with ne’er a missing word. It turned out to be the crowd favorite. With one more song her time had run out and Terri exclaimed, ‘If someone dragged you here tonight and you have no idea who we are, thank you so much!’ Next in order was synth-pop wizard Howard Jones from Southhampton UK who surprisingly has the largest portfolio of music of the three artists: 15 studio albums with 12 charted singles in the U.S.. A brief turn time had the stage ready for him which featured no drum kit. Eight tall lights resembling florescent ceiling bulbs stood erect on the stage along with three keyboards and all was set. Both BERLIN and Jones performed a front a black curtain which stayed in place concealing Culture Clubs’s equipment until it was their time to go on. I took the intermission time to upgrade myself to a mid-spot under the pavilion which was fairly easy to do. The noticeably light attended mid week crowd had left the covered areas in the corners open as folk gathered towards the front and center. Taking my cue as security left a pavilion entrance open for a moment I made my move! At 7:54 p.m. John Howard Jones 68 took the stage for a 55 minute / 9 song set batting all of his major hits out of the field starting off with 1984’s ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’. ‘We are having such a great time, it’s not fair to have such a great time. Would you like to sing along to all my songs? (audience cheers) In that case we’d a like to get to know you well!’ Jones set was all 80’s, all hits, including ‘Everlasting Love’, ‘New Song’, ’No One Is To Blame’, and ‘What Is Love’, a song that climbed the closest to top for him peaking at #2 in the UK. Wearing a multicolored jacket with ‘HoJo’ written on the back, bright white pants with pink and orange sneakers, the in command conductor of a four person band put on (in my opinion) the strongest performance of the evening. A highlight of the evening was when Jones introduced his bass player Nick Beggs formerly of Kajagoogoo. Playing a 10 string custom modified Chapman Stick and wearing a sleeveless skirt style kilt all in black with long flowing blond hair it turns out he was the writer of the #1 ’Too Shy’ and we got to hear it performed LIVE. Jones informing us that the band ‘never actually made it to America to play that song live, and so this is a bit of a special moment to hear this song in the U.S.A.’! Nick killed it wowing the audience with a throbbing slap bass solo. The #5 ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ rounded out the set with the evening’s rendition ever increasing in volume and tempo until it turned into an all out dance remix. Picking up the florescent lights as props HoJo wielding them like light sabres. With a quick intro of the other three band members he walked off the stage, his set complete. 9:15 rolled around and it was time for the headliner to take the stage. The lights went down and the curtain fell as George Alan O'Dowd 62 stood a top an 8 stair riser separating the drum and percussion kits. Strutting downward step by step while the crew removed the curtain he opened with the new and unreleased ‘Next Thing Will Be Amazing’. It was the first of five new songs included, the majority of them positioned mid-set. Performing 15 songs Culture Club performed without a break (save a brief word to the crowd) for an hour and a half, the early and later portions of the set housed all the hits. The second and third songs in respectively were their #13 ‘It’s A Miracle’ and the #9 ‘I'll Tumble 4 Ya’. A reggae-fied cover of Bread’s ‘’Everything I Own’ followed which was actually recorded by the Club back in 2002 and briefly charted. George dressed all in long clothing with a black sport coat with large yellow dots and a large yellow bowler top hat had to be dying in the Southern heat. ‘Either it’s a little cooler here or I’ve just declimatized, you know because as you can see I’m very overdressed for this climate. Heat is the enemy of fashion and must be defied.’ Although the performance was great and George’s voice strong, the pitch seemed a step or two lower than the radio versions. The music also lacked the brilliancy I fondly remember with somewhat muffled bass and percussion taking the forefront. Standing out in the nine person band were the background vocalists. It’s no surprise as Culture Club has always been strong in that area even so far as hiring Clare Torry (of Floyd’s ‘Great Gig’) in the studio. Tonight featured ‘The Voice’ finalist Vangelis Polydorou and Roxy Yarnold who I can not overstate were both amazing. The theme of the tour was all about letting it go whatever the ‘it’ is as George stated ’as you get older and a bit smarter you realize “choose your battles”, let some things go, most things can be let go.’ George used the theme as a platform to share his new material and to not always live in the past (i.e. 80’s music). But alas, the hits were what we came to hear and they started to surface once again the later half of the performance with the #2 ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’, #10 ‘Church Of The Poison Mind’ (performed in a medley with Wham’s ‘I’m Your Man’), #2 ‘Time’, and #5 ‘Miss Me Blind’! A three song encore rounded out the set with a duo of covers ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and ‘Get It On (Bang A Gong)’ with the Clubs sole chart-topper the #1 ‘Karma Chameleon’ inserted between the two. Winding out the evening were full band intros. Bottom line when all was said and done, if you grew up in the eighties or loved the eighties you did not leave the amphitheater grounds disappointed!” Review and photo by DAve (Concerts #798-800)

Culture Club / Howard Jones / BERLIN: 7/19/23 “It was a hot summer night in Charlotte and New Wave Was on the menu, the kind of weather that’d melt your 80’s vinyl and your cassette tapes as well for that matter. Aside from the Police and Cars by the time New Wave took over the airwaves I was still steeped deep in arena rock and roll. Although I missed a lot of the scene there was plenty of airplay and videos available to perk my interest leaving me slightly above novice status. The Letting It Go Show’ featuring Culture Club, Howard Jones, and BERLIN kicked off July 13 in West Palm Beach and is scheduled to wrap up on Aug 20 Concord CA. The North Carolina date (the fifth of the tour) was sandwiched in the middle of a 3 night in a row run (Atlanta/Charlotte/Nashville). Live Nation’s $25 ‘All In’ afforded me reserved seats in the rear between the covered portion pavilion and the lawn just behind the concourse. Culture Club still features the original three from the beginning in London 1981: Boy George, Roy Hay (guitar), and Mickey Craig (bass). Sitting in on drums was touring member Anne Evanson, after Jon Moss left in 2021 procuring a £1.75 million settlement with George and the band. The band comes into town with 6 studio albums yielding 50 million sales and 10 charted singles in the U.S., not to mention George’s solo releases. With a promise from the prompter ‘The prolific band will be performing all the hits’ the nearly all 80’s era crowd was ready to get it on, but first things first. At 7 p.m. 1978 formed L.A. new waver’s BERLIN took the stage for a 35 minute/ 7 song set beginning with ‘Masquerade’ a somewhat obscure single which cracked the top 100 in 1982. Skipping over their five albums from the 2000’s save one song they drew nearly all material from the 1980’s. Lead woman Terri Nunn 62 not just looks the part, she IS a rock star —never missing a beat. With an outgoing personality and strong vocals she won over the crowd quickly. The second song in their set was ’No More Words’ which made it’s way to #23 back in 1984. It’s original video clips were projected on the side screens. ‘Charlotte we are excited to be here and we’re especially excited because our guitar player is from Charlotte South Carolina, Mr. Carlton Boost.’ His family was present in the audience, ‘You must be very proud of your hometown boy!’ ‘Animal’ which was released in 2013 as a comeback hit but failed to chart was inserted mid-set and introduced accordingly: ’Some of you have known BERLIN since we were all in our twenties. We wrote a lot about dating in our twenties, this song is about what dating feels like to me know.’ After a powerful performance of the bands only #1 ‘Take My Breath Away’ from ’86’s ‘Top Gun’ were band intros. In addition to Carlton the hometown boy, there were John Crawford the founder of the band on bass since 1977, Dave Diamond on guitar since 1983, ‘and on drums since last Tuesday’ Ric Rocc. Terri disembarked from stage to sing a cover of The Cults ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ walking and working the crowd with ne’er a missing word. It turned out to be the crowd favorite. With one more song her time had run out and Terri exclaimed, ‘If someone dragged you here tonight and you have no idea who we are, thank you so much!’ Next in order was synth-pop wizard Howard Jones from Southhampton UK who surprisingly has the largest portfolio of music of the three artists: 15 studio albums with 12 charted singles in the U.S.. A brief turn time had the stage ready for him which featured no drum kit. Eight tall lights resembling florescent ceiling bulbs stood erect on the stage along with three keyboards and all was set. Both BERLIN and Jones performed a front a black curtain which stayed in place concealing Culture Clubs’s equipment until it was their time to go on. I took the intermission time to upgrade myself to a mid-spot under the pavilion which was fairly easy to do. The noticeably light attended mid week crowd had left the covered areas in the corners open as folk gathered towards the front and center. Taking my cue as security left a pavilion entrance open for a moment I made my move! At 7:54 p.m. John Howard Jones 68 took the stage for a 55 minute / 9 song set batting all of his major hits out of the field starting off with 1984’s ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’. ‘We are having such a great time, it’s not fair to have such a great time. Would you like to sing along to all my songs? (audience cheers) In that case we’d a like to get to know you well!’ Jones set was all 80’s, all hits, including ‘Everlasting Love’, ‘New Song’, ’No One Is To Blame’, and ‘What Is Love’, a song that climbed the closest to top for him peaking at #2 in the UK. Wearing a multicolored jacket with ‘HoJo’ written on the back, bright white pants with pink and orange sneakers, the in command conductor of a four person band put on (in my opinion) the strongest performance of the evening. A highlight of the evening was when Jones introduced his bass player Nick Beggs formerly of Kajagoogoo. Playing a 10 string custom modified Chapman Stick and wearing a sleeveless skirt style kilt all in black with long flowing blond hair it turns out he was the writer of the #1 ’Too Shy’ and we got to hear it performed LIVE. Jones informing us that the band ‘never actually made it to America to play that song live, and so this is a bit of a special moment to hear this song in the U.S.A.’! Nick killed it wowing the audience with a throbbing slap bass solo. The #5 ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ rounded out the set with the evening’s rendition ever increasing in volume and tempo until it turned into an all out dance remix. Picking up the florescent lights as props HoJo wielding them like light sabres. With a quick intro of the other three band members he walked off the stage, his set complete. 9:15 rolled around and it was time for the headliner to take the stage. The lights went down and the curtain fell as George Alan O'Dowd 62 stood a top an 8 stair riser separating the drum and percussion kits. Strutting downward step by step while the crew removed the curtain he opened with the new and unreleased ‘Next Thing Will Be Amazing’. It was the first of five new songs included, the majority of them positioned mid-set. Performing 15 songs Culture Club performed without a break (save a brief word to the crowd) for an hour and a half, the early and later portions of the set housed all the hits. The second and third songs in respectively were their #13 ‘It’s A Miracle’ and the #9 ‘I'll Tumble 4 Ya’. A reggae-fied cover of Bread’s ‘’Everything I Own’ followed which was actually recorded by the Club back in 2002 and briefly charted. George dressed all in long clothing with a black sport coat with large yellow dots and a large yellow bowler top hat had to be dying in the Southern heat. ‘Either it’s a little cooler here or I’ve just declimatized, you know because as you can see I’m very overdressed for this climate. Heat is the enemy of fashion and must be defied.’ Although the performance was great and George’s voice strong, the pitch seemed a step or two lower than the radio versions. The music also lacked the brilliancy I fondly remember with somewhat muffled bass and percussion taking the forefront. Standing out in the nine person band were the background vocalists. It’s no surprise as Culture Club has always been strong in that area even so far as hiring Clare Torry (of Floyd’s ‘Great Gig’) in the studio. Tonight featured ‘The Voice’ finalist Vangelis Polydorou and Roxy Yarnold who I can not overstate were both amazing. The theme of the tour was all about letting it go whatever the ‘it’ is as George stated ’as you get older and a bit smarter you realize “choose your battles”, let some things go, most things can be let go.’ George used the theme as a platform to share his new material and to not always live in the past (i.e. 80’s music). But alas, the hits were what we came to hear and they started to surface once again the later half of the performance with the #2 ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’, #10 ‘Church Of The Poison Mind’ (performed in a medley with Wham’s ‘I’m Your Man’), #2 ‘Time’, and #5 ‘Miss Me Blind’! A three song encore rounded out the set with a duo of covers ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and ‘Get It On (Bang A Gong)’ with the Clubs sole chart-topper the #1 ‘Karma Chameleon’ inserted between the two. Winding out the evening were full band intros. Bottom line when all was said and done, if you grew up in the eighties or loved the eighties you did not leave the amphitheater grounds disappointed!” Review and photo by DAve (Concerts #798-800)

Culture Club / Howard Jones / BERLIN: 7/19/23 “It was a hot summer night in Charlotte and New Wave Was on the menu, the kind of weather that’d melt your 80’s vinyl and your cassette tapes as well for that matter. Aside from the Police and Cars by the time New Wave took over the airwaves I was still steeped deep in arena rock and roll. Although I missed a lot of the scene there was plenty of airplay and videos available to perk my interest leaving me slightly above novice status. The Letting It Go Show’ featuring Culture Club, Howard Jones, and BERLIN kicked off July 13 in West Palm Beach and is scheduled to wrap up on Aug 20 Concord CA. The North Carolina date (the fifth of the tour) was sandwiched in the middle of a 3 night in a row run (Atlanta/Charlotte/Nashville). Live Nation’s $25 ‘All In’ afforded me reserved seats in the rear between the covered portion pavilion and the lawn just behind the concourse. Culture Club still features the original three from the beginning in London 1981: Boy George, Roy Hay (guitar), and Mickey Craig (bass). Sitting in on drums was touring member Anne Evanson, after Jon Moss left in 2021 procuring a £1.75 million settlement with George and the band. The band comes into town with 6 studio albums yielding 50 million sales and 10 charted singles in the U.S., not to mention George’s solo releases. With a promise from the prompter ‘The prolific band will be performing all the hits’ the nearly all 80’s era crowd was ready to get it on, but first things first. At 7 p.m. 1978 formed L.A. new waver’s BERLIN took the stage for a 35 minute/ 7 song set beginning with ‘Masquerade’ a somewhat obscure single which cracked the top 100 in 1982. Skipping over their five albums from the 2000’s save one song they drew nearly all material from the 1980’s. Lead woman Terri Nunn 62 not just looks the part, she IS a rock star —never missing a beat. With an outgoing personality and strong vocals she won over the crowd quickly. The second song in their set was ’No More Words’ which made it’s way to #23 back in 1984. It’s original video clips were projected on the side screens. ‘Charlotte we are excited to be here and we’re especially excited because our guitar player is from Charlotte South Carolina, Mr. Carlton Boost.’ His family was present in the audience, ‘You must be very proud of your hometown boy!’ ‘Animal’ which was released in 2013 as a comeback hit but failed to chart was inserted mid-set and introduced accordingly: ’Some of you have known BERLIN since we were all in our twenties. We wrote a lot about dating in our twenties, this song is about what dating feels like to me know.’ After a powerful performance of the bands only #1 ‘Take My Breath Away’ from ’86’s ‘Top Gun’ were band intros. In addition to Carlton the hometown boy, there were John Crawford the founder of the band on bass since 1977, Dave Diamond on guitar since 1983, ‘and on drums since last Tuesday’ Ric Rocc. Terri disembarked from stage to sing a cover of The Cults ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ walking and working the crowd with ne’er a missing word. It turned out to be the crowd favorite. With one more song her time had run out and Terri exclaimed, ‘If someone dragged you here tonight and you have no idea who we are, thank you so much!’ Next in order was synth-pop wizard Howard Jones from Southhampton UK who surprisingly has the largest portfolio of music of the three artists: 15 studio albums with 12 charted singles in the U.S.. A brief turn time had the stage ready for him which featured no drum kit. Eight tall lights resembling florescent ceiling bulbs stood erect on the stage along with three keyboards and all was set. Both BERLIN and Jones performed a front a black curtain which stayed in place concealing Culture Clubs’s equipment until it was their time to go on. I took the intermission time to upgrade myself to a mid-spot under the pavilion which was fairly easy to do. The noticeably light attended mid week crowd had left the covered areas in the corners open as folk gathered towards the front and center. Taking my cue as security left a pavilion entrance open for a moment I made my move! At 7:54 p.m. John Howard Jones 68 took the stage for a 55 minute / 9 song set batting all of his major hits out of the field starting off with 1984’s ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’. ‘We are having such a great time, it’s not fair to have such a great time. Would you like to sing along to all my songs? (audience cheers) In that case we’d a like to get to know you well!’ Jones set was all 80’s, all hits, including ‘Everlasting Love’, ‘New Song’, ’No One Is To Blame’, and ‘What Is Love’, a song that climbed the closest to top for him peaking at #2 in the UK. Wearing a multicolored jacket with ‘HoJo’ written on the back, bright white pants with pink and orange sneakers, the in command conductor of a four person band put on (in my opinion) the strongest performance of the evening. A highlight of the evening was when Jones introduced his bass player Nick Beggs formerly of Kajagoogoo. Playing a 10 string custom modified Chapman Stick and wearing a sleeveless skirt style kilt all in black with long flowing blond hair it turns out he was the writer of the #1 ’Too Shy’ and we got to hear it performed LIVE. Jones informing us that the band ‘never actually made it to America to play that song live, and so this is a bit of a special moment to hear this song in the U.S.A.’! Nick killed it wowing the audience with a throbbing slap bass solo. The #5 ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ rounded out the set with the evening’s rendition ever increasing in volume and tempo until it turned into an all out dance remix. Picking up the florescent lights as props HoJo wielding them like light sabres. With a quick intro of the other three band members he walked off the stage, his set complete. 9:15 rolled around and it was time for the headliner to take the stage. The lights went down and the curtain fell as George Alan O'Dowd 62 stood a top an 8 stair riser separating the drum and percussion kits. Strutting downward step by step while the crew removed the curtain he opened with the new and unreleased ‘Next Thing Will Be Amazing’. It was the first of five new songs included, the majority of them positioned mid-set. Performing 15 songs Culture Club performed without a break (save a brief word to the crowd) for an hour and a half, the early and later portions of the set housed all the hits. The second and third songs in respectively were their #13 ‘It’s A Miracle’ and the #9 ‘I'll Tumble 4 Ya’. A reggae-fied cover of Bread’s ‘’Everything I Own’ followed which was actually recorded by the Club back in 2002 and briefly charted. George dressed all in long clothing with a black sport coat with large yellow dots and a large yellow bowler top hat had to be dying in the Southern heat. ‘Either it’s a little cooler here or I’ve just declimatized, you know because as you can see I’m very overdressed for this climate. Heat is the enemy of fashion and must be defied.’ Although the performance was great and George’s voice strong, the pitch seemed a step or two lower than the radio versions. The music also lacked the brilliancy I fondly remember with somewhat muffled bass and percussion taking the forefront. Standing out in the nine person band were the background vocalists. It’s no surprise as Culture Club has always been strong in that area even so far as hiring Clare Torry (of Floyd’s ‘Great Gig’) in the studio. Tonight featured ‘The Voice’ finalist Vangelis Polydorou and Roxy Yarnold who I can not overstate were both amazing. The theme of the tour was all about letting it go whatever the ‘it’ is as George stated ’as you get older and a bit smarter you realize “choose your battles”, let some things go, most things can be let go.’ George used the theme as a platform to share his new material and to not always live in the past (i.e. 80’s music). But alas, the hits were what we came to hear and they started to surface once again the later half of the performance with the #2 ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’, #10 ‘Church Of The Poison Mind’ (performed in a medley with Wham’s ‘I’m Your Man’), #2 ‘Time’, and #5 ‘Miss Me Blind’! A three song encore rounded out the set with a duo of covers ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and ‘Get It On (Bang A Gong)’ with the Clubs sole chart-topper the #1 ‘Karma Chameleon’ inserted between the two. Winding out the evening were full band intros. Bottom line when all was said and done, if you grew up in the eighties or loved the eighties you did not leave the amphitheater grounds disappointed!” Review and photo by DAve (Concerts #798-800)

Dead & Co: 5/30/23 “Truckin’ into Charlotte on a Tuesday, the time was now, the day of the dead had come. I had not seen the Grateful Dead nor any of it’s members or spinoffs heretofore. I had not even seen John Mayer prior to and it was the 6th of the 29 show in ‘The Dead & Co’s ‘Final Tour/Summer 2023’. The closest I’d ever gotten was spending an overnight in downtown Hartford back in March of 1987, the Grateful Dead were playing that evening with their fans camped out in Bushnell Park. Hundreds of U2 fans along with myself at the same time were camping out at the Civic Center for U2 tickets. Talk about two diverse groups of individuals but we all got along, hail the power of rock ’n’ roll! Mayer 45 formed The Company back in 2015 ‘to keep the music of the dead alive’ and the evening’s line-up consisted of: Himself, Bobby Weir 75 on guitar and vocals (from GD’s conception in 1965), Mickey Hart 79 on drums (joined GD in 1967), Jeff Chimenti on keyboards (has been with Bobby since ’97 on every tour of Dead/Dead & Co), Oteil Burbridge on bass (Allman Brothers Band ’97-’14 and a founding member of Tedeschi), also on drums was Jay Lane. Back in April Dead & Co released a statement stating Bill Kreutzmann would not be performing on the final tour due to a "shift in creative direction.” Ironically Weir had had an ‘out-of-body vision’ in 2016 revealing a younger replacement of Bill who would continue the band for decades to come. Would it be? Not being familiar with much band material other than ‘American Beauty’ and ‘In The Dark’ my only agenda was to take in the experience. I allowed ample drive time purposing to arrive 3 hours early and visit Shakedown Street’s rows of vendors that had set up in Lot F. The Queen City took on the new name Tuesday to that of ‘CAR-LOT’ as the two mile line of vehicles I was in inched toward the venue at a half mile per hour’s pace. Let the reader take note that PNC is not prepared to handle full capacity volume to the dismay of ticket holders. The exact same thing happened at my Buffett show there. Arriving on the pavilion grounds with 20 minutes to spare I found my way to my rear reserved section seat. The stage immediately captured my attention, there was a lot going on up there from L to R. Surrounding where Jeff would play were keyboards to left and to the front with a piano to the right, next was a massive percussion section with two drum kits, the first with a tie dye design and the other with a ‘steal your face’ lightning bolt on the drum heads, John, Bobby and Oteil would be positioned in the forefront in that order. Instruments and amplifiers filled any open areas of the stage, an amp and an instrument, an amp and an instrument, and so on. Six giant lighting rigs were suspended designed to move all ways in order to create a visual light extravaganza. Oriental rugs on the stage floor and a giant video screen completed the set, it was a grand production. The 78° weather cooperated for the outdoor crowd of 19,500 as showers and storms circling the city dissipating to barely a sprinkle before ending at showtime’s commencement. At precisely 7:13 p.m. the band took the stage for a 3 hour and 50 minute / 18 song evening divided into two sets with a brief intermission. Kicking off with 1978’s faux-disco driven ‘Shakedown Street’ Ace’s (I.e. Weir’s) vocals were amazingly in top form! Capitalizing on the 14 minute extended jam of the 5 minute album cut dancers began to fill any open space including the entire concourse that separated the lawn from the reserved section. As fans let their freak flags fly, it was clear that staff could in no wise control the spontaneity of camaraderie that arose. That feeling that I lost out on of any people watching that may have occurred in the parking areas quickly subsided as I observed dance moves mimicking that of the Charlie Brown Christmas scene. It didn’t stop all night long, one particular gentleman was dressed in a lighted butterfly cape with wings, and another nearby threw herself onto a grassy area rolling and got up again and again with no lack of energy level. Speaking of grass, as you would imagine at any given point and at any given place, the scent of burning grass would fill the air during the entire evening’s event. It seems as if the band creatively chose the evening setlist as the next song up was ‘Cold Rain’ and after that ‘The Wheel’ “If the thunder don’t get ya then the lightning will”. ‘The Wheel’ was part of a trio of debut-to-the-tour songs that ensued, the others being ‘Dire Wolf’ and ‘Loose Lucy’. Diehard fans got their fill of special music as the evening topped off with five debut-to-the-tour songs in total, ‘Black Peter’ and ‘Let It Grow’ completed the remaining two. The humble Mayer playing with over the ear headphone monitors at no time acted the part of a superstar even though he himself can sell out arenas. Hawk’s multi-styled playing helped to fill the shoes of Garcia as I don’t think anybody else would have been able to. And just like set one was over as the band announcing a brief intermission, the only words any member of the band spoke the entire evening long. They let the music do the talking! Set two really took off as the video screen cycled through psychedelic and album themed imagery. Beginning with a trilogy from the ‘Blues For Allah’ album ‘Help On The Way’, ‘Slipknot’ and ‘Franklin’s Tower’ the band began took to showcasing their individual talents beginning with a 1970’s driven extended B3 solo featuring Jeff. Oteil took the vocals on ‘Shakedown Street’s ‘Fire On The Mountain’ to the delight of the fans. ‘Drum/Space’ treated as one song featured a three piece percussion section which included Oteil on the banjo bass with Micky on the balafon, a marimba type instrument before he switch over to an upright steel guitar for psychedelic effect. Oteil scatted along to the beat at one point. ‘Space’ a regular fixture during Grateful Dead shows since the late 70’s was likely constructed and included in their shows to correspond to a tripping audience, its music helping guide the listener. Hart showed the back of his T-shirt to the audience on the video screen revealing the words ‘Charlotte & Co’ and ended the piece by blowing a kiss out to the cheering crowd. The well-known ‘Sugar Magnolia’ picked the tempo back up with images on the screen of a flying eyeball and a turtle playing banjo. As 11 p.m quickly approached the band squeezed in one last number ‘U.S. Blues’ and broke the venues’s hard and fast 11 p.m. curfew by extending the song for one additional chorus. With bows, waves, and no words exchanged, the Dead exited the stage. As an uncharacteristically friendly crowd shuffled out politely for another hour plus long parking lot jam the loonies made their presence known with N2O hits for those daring to participate. With a ‘RIP Dead’ at least for now I drove home experientially-full knowing that I had been in the presence of truly legendary musicians who have left their mark in the grooves of time!” Review and photo by DAve (Concert #784)

The last of their kind still standing! The band was tight and sounded amazing. I had sworn that I wouldn't see them without Layne, but William delivered on all front. What an amazing and timeless band. My 13 year old son had to see them because they are his favorite band and he will have a great memory for the rest of his life. Jerry Cantrell has always been the man and still reigns! I had seen AIC many times before and this show was equally amazing. Thanks for the music guys. Thanks for being the best show(in his own words) my son as ever saw. Thats not a light statement because Iron Maiden and Kiss was his first 2 shows.

The Good: New fan of The Hu !! Very impressive and such a new sound. The Great: Megadeth did not disappoint ! Every thing I expected and more. Seen them for the 3rd time over the last 20 years, and Dave still shreds like a 20 year old. The sound was super clear, very loud and had so much energy. A metal OG legend still puts out a top tier show ! Love it. The Bad: Love 5FDP, but Ivan's microphone and sound was terrible !! Glad I knew the words, because otherwise you couldn't understand most of what he said. They had the energy and they definitely carried the energy over from Megadeth. Great night of Music !

I wanted to share my VIP experience I had. Soundcheck VIP. 1) the early entry is always nice. I never spend much money because it's expensive. Crowd free shopping is always cool. Especially for the food lines. As for passing time, I always seem to meet and chat with other VIPs. Always friendly people. 8/10 2) Soundcheck was OK. I did have front row, so that made up for it. Other than the times the pit people got in my way. Then I had to keep standing. They only did two songs, and I remember last time I saw them I feel like they did at least 4. I read that some people got a whole show with lights and everything. We didn't. 8/10 3) There was no "moderated discussion" around their new album. I understand time constraints, but come on they only answered like 3 questions. They read them off a tablet. They did do mine as the last one so that's still cool. Emma said my name and I gotta say, her voice/accent is beautiful. They were about 3 rows in front of us. She told a couple dad jokes so that was funny. 8/10 4) There was no digital photo booth. Just some dumb selfie stand that did a photo with a cheap band logo banner. I didn't pay as much as I did to take a damn selfie. I can do that at home. 5/10 5) We were able to take photos and videos during the show but no upload right to social media. What was that about? I mean I uploaded my stuff later. And taking "photos and gifs". The hell does that mean? How do you take a gif? 8/10 6) The merchandise was pretty cool. Obviously the VIP laminate. A signed band print, a evanescence logo Keychain and a "Broken Pieces Shine" bracelet. 8/10 So all in all, a pretty good show. Other than no meet and greet. I still know for a fact when I bought my tickets it said meet and greet in the package details. I wish I had a screen shot. Note for the future. The COVID excuse is old. The two openers were cool though, and seeing Korn for the first time was nice. It would have been nice to spend like $100 or so less total for both tickets. I'm also celebrity crushing over Emma. I never saw her in person so it renews my love for Sick Puppies. I don't regret paying what I did, because my brother never saw evanescence live, and neither of us ever saw korn.

The show itself was great and INSIDE the venue was nice but parking absolutely sucked. My friend has a prosthetic leg and the closest they could put us was about 1/4 mile away. 1/4 mile across a gravel parking lot in a wheel chair was very tough. After the concert there was no one directing traffic in the parking lot at all. Coming in there was one lane in each direction, afterwards it was make your own lane, literally 5 or 6 cars across and bumper to bumper Concert gets 5 stars, PNC music pavilion gets 0 stars

I’ve been a fan since 1991, C B Smith Park, Hollywood, FL - chilly cook off !!!! Drive everywhere to see my boys! 2nd row, end seat towards center. Loved Kix trying to understand why Neon Moon is so popular… Saw them on their Last Rodeo Tour in Jax, FL. Seeing then in Charlotte last September and to my surprise, they stopped in Jax, FL on June 4, 2022 at VyStar Memorial Stadium. Happy belated birthday, Ronnie, I m catching up in August same age! Thanks so very much for all your music, photo trips and fb. No social media now, but don’t stop writing and singing….. # 1 fan

Awesome show as always, but and I'm guessing this is to do with PNC the seats we paid for had been moved over and more seating added. It had to be sold out and maybe more than what they list as 19,500 capacity! Other wise a great performance by Kid. It's time he takes time for his family but sure will miss him coming to Charlotte every 2yrs at least. Glad I've seen him 8 times in Charlotte. I can't travel far anymore or I'd went to other near by states to see him.

Last night in Charlotte NC, they really proved the point that they're much more than a nostalgia act. They packed the PNC Music Pavilion despite the 100 degrees heat and humidity and put on a show that included more new material than bands like The Rolling Stones or Metallica play on their shows anymore and it was very well received by the audience. The show was a big production as well and it looked amazing. They looked more like a band coming back like Aerosmith in 1987 or Duran Duran in 1993 than any nostalgia act. The new songs sound great and sold me on buying the album, The Tipping Point. Truly, it was the best concert I've seen in a long long time

Jimmy Buffett: 4/30/22 “It was my 2nd time in Charlotte in 3 days for my first ever Jimmy Buffett Concert. You know it’s going to be a good night when the venue sends out a notification the day of the show, ‘Beach balls and inflatable sharks WILL (all caps) be allowed into the venue.’ The sold out show was on its 4th reschedule, original ticket sales going all the way back to January 2020. The stage set backlit in sea foam green/blue had sea grass, shells, pelicans, lighted crab, a #36 giant lighted buoy, and some beach balls that may strtegically landed. The instruments included steel drums front and center, pedal steel guitar, trumpet, and a stand up bass. Jimmy, in shorts and barefoot addressed the capacity crowd of 19,500, ’Three years, glad to see that our fins are still up!’ The set of 28 songs included all the hits, some covers and a couple surprises from Mac McAnally on guitar, a rendition of Allman Brothers ‘Little Martha’ and his own ‘Back Where I Come From’. This was a special bonus for me, I had not known he would be joining the tour. Mac seemed content being second wearing a ‘Nobody’ guitar strap in contrast to Jimmy’s ‘Fin’s Up’ strap. One befitting substitution of note to the set list was Coast of Carolina in lieu of Savannah Fare You Well, the perfect replacement. The Parrotmeister himself, now 75, exhibited himself not only as a singer/songwriter but also a storyteller, sharing background for most every song. I imagine he won’t be packing it in too quickly, there’s no doubt he loves what he’s doing. The crowd (at least under the pavilion) was ruly and the staff friendly, the security right near me in shorts, wearing a lei, and grooving along when folks weren’t watching. In considering my own recent changes in latitude, I suppose I was at the perfect place and time for the event!” _by DAve (Concert #644)

Priest was the first band I ever listened to that got me into metal, and I finally got to see the one that started it all for me. My father seen priest back in 80 and 82 (Screaming for Vengance tour) , and finally are coursing him out of the house he went with me! 35 years later and he says Rob hasn’t missed a beat! Purple was awesome too! What a great show! I’ll definitely be seeing them both again if they come through.