Don Gibson Theatre

Show was fantastic! All band members extremely talented.Love the new CD!

Sister Sadie was incredible as usual. Their musicianship was just awesome. They have so many ladies who can sing with the best of them. We enjoy seeing them every time. The best part was they keep you entertained the whole time. We love them!!

Excellent performance from Will Hoge and the Band. Great song writing delivers great music. They sounded great and I love the music.

Loved the show! James Gregory is a wonderful comedian and I also really enjoyed his opening act, Dan the Man. Wonderful to see them both in person! Also great venue!!

Pablo Cruise: 8/24/23 “I first heard Pablo Cruise in the Summer of ’77, a favorite year for music in general. Those were the days when your local ‘pop’ station mixed together music from every genre —it was a great time to break into the music scene unbiased. A typical half hour playlist on 96 ‘Tics’ could include something from Foreigner, KISS or Heart; Crystal Gayle, Glen Campbell or Kenny Rogers; Commodores and Heatwave; Jimmy Buffett and James Taylor with some Bee Gees and KC & The Sunshine Band mixed in! Enter Pablo Cruise from San Francisco (soft rock, pop rock, blue-eyed soul) and a repeat on Yacht Rock radio with a 78 Average ‘Yachtski’ rating. With 7 studio albums and 9 charted singles the band who resumed playing shows a couple years back mainly around California has rediscovered a cross-country attraction. It was to be my first time seeing the group LIVE and what better venue than the 400 seat art deco Don Gibson Theatre in Shelby North Carolina. The current line-up still consists of founding members since 1973 David Jenkins 75 on vocals and guitar and Cory Lerios 72 on vocals and keyboards. Completing the band are Larry Antonino on bass since 2010 (formerly Air Supply), Robbie Wyckoff on vocals and percussion since 2017 (best known for performing with Roger Waters on The Wall Live Tour), and former Disney World and Disneyland house drummer Sergio Gonzalez on drums since 2020. Arriving early my wife and I came upon String Theory (the most unique band in the Charlotte region) playing in the lounge. The 70’s / 80’s / 90’s band featuring Roger Leonhardt (guitar/vocals) and Scott Moon (drums/vocals) chose their selection of 1970’s covers wisely to the delight of the listeners. The duo earned an extension of three songs after Pablo Cruise members were spotted poking their heads in the back door for a listen. At 7:45 we made our my way to our center orchestra fourth row seats as the auditorium filled quickly. There were no set lists to be seen or online to follow along with as Cory later would joke, ‘We actually have the itineraries tattooed to our backs.’ At 8:09 the lights dimmed to a six and a half minute video highlighting milestones in the history of the band projected on the back curtain. Ending with the backdrop of the iconic Cruise logo band members took the stage for what would be a 17 song / 2 hour set beginning with ‘World’s Away’, the title cut from 1978’s album of the same name. Cory wasted no time interacting with the audience finding humor in their own ages, and ours! ‘We have a really nice show for you, we are gonna take a short break now. We normally do two songs at a time we go back and get some oxygen.’ ‘What ever you do please do not rush the stage cause we can’t take that anymore.’ David continued, ‘Ladies please don’t throw any articles of clothings that used to be a lot of fun, now, not so fun anymore. We were playing a show a week ago and someone threw something up here just about covered the whole piano.’ 1981’s #13 ‘Cool Love’ followed after numerous false starts between Cory and David, Cory jesting, ‘This goes on for forty minutes ladies and gentlemen.’ ‘Raging Fire’ from ‘A Place In The Sun’ came next after Cory told us how a guy came back stage to them in Florida boasting, ‘I just wanna tell you this, Raging Fire is first song I ever made love to’. Cory had to break it to him gently, ‘I had to let him know that that’s our shortest song!’ ‘Island Woman’ featured some bottle neck slide from David, placing the slide down he finished with a flawless solo hanging out below the 12th fret where he spent most of the evening. There has been no diminish to his guitar skills at all over the passing of years. Continuing with a long instrumental jam in ‘Atlanta June’ and moving through 1977’s title cut single ‘A Place In The Sun’ the band decided to slow it down. As Cory introduced David for a song featuring him alone on acoustic he looked over at Dave who still had his electric strapped on. ‘You know what we’re doing next right?’ Okay, Oh’ he replied picking up a not so well tuned Takamine and fumbling to fix it. What followed next as the band left the stage was a Dylan-esque song Dave had written at 3 a.m. that ‘just kind of came right through’ him about the complexities and diversions that tie up our lives titled ‘Living Inside Of Your Love’. Cory and band rejoined the stage for ‘I Get Tired (Just Thinking Of You)’ found only on the live album. Cory joked how that it was written for his kids. What came next was what has become known as the show’s ‘7th Inning Stretch’ where everyone has the chance to get up out of their seats move around and make some noise. 1983’s ‘You Might Be Wrong (But It's Alright)’ was the first song to feature Robbie on vocals, 1978’s #’21 ‘Don't Want To Live Without It’ was another. I was so impressed with Robbie Wyckoff’s vocals, commenting to Michele I said, ‘That is some of the finest vocals I’ve ever heard LIVE!’ He reminded me of Kansas’ Steve Walsh back in the day, and with the long hair he also had the look. ‘Will You Won't You’ the last song they wrote before they stopped touring in the mid-80’s featured yet another great guitar solo and was followed by band intros. The intros themselves were informative as to Cruise’s current structure. Bassist Larry got a phone call, it was Cory and Dave thinking about getting the band back together and needed a bassist. Larry’s response to the founding members, ‘I already know the songs, I’ve played them and it just took us thirty years to find each other but I’m here to stay.’ Larry and Robbie were buddies and immediately after six years of working Roger Water’s ‘The Wall Tour’ singing the David Gilmour parts Larry invited him in. Sergio introduced as ‘a shy guy’ replying ‘I no speak English’ was also recruited by Larry. He finally gave in, speaking English rather well, ‘So what do you think of my playing tonight… the drums sound good, not too loud?’ He then mentioned how he had played with Jennifer Lopez in the past, ‘I had the best seat in the house!’ ‘I’m Always Here’ from Baywatch that Cory had worked on featured Larry on Lead. The four front members traded vocals throughout the performance while Robbie was more often than not adding in tambourine providing some additional 70’s-drive on the percussion. Cory had been working the seasoned crowd to get up and move and when he busted out a red and black Rowland Ax-Edge keytar on ‘Zero To Sixty In Five (an instrumental from 1976’s ‘Lifeline’ used as theme music for various sports television shows) we were just about there. ‘I Go To Rio’ finally did it, everyone up on their feet! Cory introduced their #6 smash hit from 1978 ‘Love Will Find A Way’, ‘This lyric has definitely stood the test of time dedicated to all the firefighters and first responders.’ In an extended solo Dave made his way up the isles to the delight of everyone. Their other #6 song we all waited for ‘Whatcha Gonna Do’ ended a well-built set, there was something in it for everyone. There were no encores as the crew began packing up for a big gig in Atlanta the next day with ‘Yacht Rock Review’, the combo according to Ticketmaster’s seat map will fill the entire outdoor Cadence Park amphitheater. After the show we hung out with their sound engineer Tom Vinci not thinking I was going to see the band. We talked about stories from the road, something that always intrigues me and I hadn’t noticed that the entire audience had cleared. I figured I’d peer around the corner into the lounge and saw the band set to take their venue promo shot with the Don Gibson staff. When I brought out a copy of a Japanese pressing of 1979’s ‘Part Of The Game’ each band member signed it and I was invited for a photo shot with them, the ultimate highlight of the evening! The band has commented on the origin of their name, ’Pablo represents an honest, real, down-to-earth individual; and Cruise depicts his fun-loving and easygoing attitude towards life.’ That’s exactly what Cruise brought home to the sell out crowd cross-coast in Shelby NC, a time travel to a much simpler time, mid 70’s — mid 80’s, music at its best!” Review and photo by DAve (Concert #812)

Bryan interacted with the audience and blessed us with insights and stories of his career. It is a blessing to have a local venue that allows the artists to connect with the audience!

Outstanding show. Can’t wait until they come back through. That’s what a band who’s been together for 30 years should sound like.

Skip Ewing: 12/16/22 “It was a cold evening in Shelby NC (30’s) at my favorite small capacity venue, the 400 seat Don Gibson Theatre for my first time seeing Skip Ewing LIVE. Ever since I heard ‘Burnin’ A Hole In my Heart’ back in 1988 and again ‘It’s You Again’ in ’89 I’ve held in high regard his smooth baritone voice and authentic and conscientious lyrics. Not including his own 15 charted singles Ewing has also written #1’s for Kenny Chesney, Collin Raye, Clint Black, Diamond Rio and Brian White, and penned for numerous other artists including Keith Urban, Zac Brown, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Trisha Yearwood, Tracy Byrd, Clint Black, Hank Williams Jr, Shania Twain, Mark Wills, Randy Travis, Alabama, George Jones, Tim McGraw and the list goes on! Billed as the 2022 Christmas Tour I was hoping to catch a few of his non-holiday compositions. Yes I’ll do an occasional Christmas show if it means seeing an artist I might not otherwise have a chance to see. With a couple minor traffic delays my wife and I arrived with 12 minutes to spare and were greeted by Ameila at the box office (a friendly face every time we’ve make the two plus hour trek).The stage set was simple with two microphones, two stools (for guitar and fiddle), Skip’s pedal board, and of course a Christmas tree. David Ralph ‘Skip’ the California Native who spent some of his formative years in South Carolina before moving to Nashville and more recently to Wyoming took the stage at 8:20 performing an hour and a half / 21 song set. Addressing the audience he began by saying, ‘What I like to think of when we do a show like this is that we’ve invited you into our living room.’ As he hadn’t been on tour in a long while here were folks from multiple states in the audience who were acknowledged. As for the song set, it wasn’t as simple as just counting the songs since there was no list to follow along with (some eager fan carrying away his handmade cardboard setlist after the last show). Some songs were partials, some were combo’s/medley’s and there was even a fiddle solo from his accompaniment partner Luke Bullock. Ewing opened with a non-holiday set mostly consisting of his number one’s written for other recording artists. First was Chesney’s You Had Me From Hello’, then Diamond Rio’s ‘I Believe’, and Raye’s ‘Love Me’, also featured were White’s ‘Rebecca Lynn’ and ‘Someone Else’s Star’. The back story on ’Star was that it was written around the melody of ’Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. Ewing let us know that after his debut album ‘The Coast Of Colorado’ which included 5 top 20 hits, he went to pitch songs for future release and was received with resistance from executives telling him, ‘We need you to get something that’s gonna play on radio’. Ironically 7 songs from that list he eventually pitched to other musicians which became number ones for them. Also included in the beginning set was Skip’s ‘The Gospel According To Luke’ which he humorously re-quoted a fan’s expectation, ‘Play that song about the guy in an Audi, you know about the Audi on 8th Avenue’. The actual lyrics being, ‘his home was an alley on faith avenue’. Luke proved himself a great communicator all evening long often sharing the backstories of the pieces he chose which made for a great trip down classic 80’s-90’s country memory lane. Prior to the Christmas set two songs were chosen from the newest release and were very well received ‘Railroad’ and ‘Margolagine’. Skip shared with us how he sold everything he owned in Nashville with the exclusion of his instruments and a few pieces of art and he left for Wyoming to study horsemandhip, ‘so I could learn a lot about myself’. The ensuing Christmas set was much better than anticipated and uniquely and originally presented. There were excerpts from ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’, his own ‘Mr Snowman’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ with great fiddle work. Included was a solo from Luke Bullock (having recently toured in Lyle Lovett’s ‘Large Band’) who proved quite an accomplished fiddle player. At one point Skip left the stage and set up a stool in front of the 3rd row (the row I was sitting in two seats away) and sang ‘Rudolph’ with all the audience participation add-on’s to a 7 year old in attendance. He left side stage saying, ‘Can I get through that door?’ My wife calling out to the laughter of those around us, ‘If Chubby Checker did it, you can do it’! Back on stage, two perfectly arranged song combo’s were included ‘’Santa Claus Is Coming To Town/Twas The Night Before Christmas’ and ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas/America The Beautiful’. Rounding out the evening was ’95’s ‘It Wasn’t His Child’ i.e. the Christmas story told from the vantage point of Joseph. The highlight of the evening was the final song, a rendition of ‘Silent Night’ in which Skip slowly backed away from the microphone for an all audience a capella sing-a-long. Being in the audience, it was literally the finest singing I’ve ever heard from an audience, the sound was simply amazing. Skip acknowledging the moment, ‘I got emotional there, it sounds silly but I did’. After the performance I took the opportunity to meet Skip who made an appearance at the merch table. Michele was able to talk with his wife Linda about their next tour date in Grand Junction CO while I asked Skip about his years living in Charleston, SC. Of course I took advantage of the photo op, and an individual in line payed it forward by buying me a tour shirt with Skip’s ’307 Horsepower Band’ logo!” Review and photo by DAve (Concert #732)

Excellent show by Edwin. Incredible singer and performer. Intimate venue, Craig and Larry also did a fantastic job.

Great show. We laughed, we cried, we had a great time.

Absolutely fantastic! Such an intimate setting and she was very personable, funny, and entertaining, and she sounded amazing in her stripped down acoustic songs. I was truly impressed with her talent on the guitar and her wonderful voice. It was a great show and I would definitely go see her again any day. The Don Gibson Theatre is a very nice and charming place to go see your favorite stars.

“Three guitars and a dozen candles” sounds like the name of a country song, but in actuality it was the stage set in Shelby NC for a sold out Terri Clark show! Terri was glad to back on the road for NC show one of three despite RV/U-Haul woes, tornados in the Smokies, technical and wardrobe situations. Her voice is strong and showmanship flawless, including a medley of 80’s hits she grew up listening to that brought out real hearty laughter from the audience. It was the stories behind the songs that made the evening special, one of which ‘Smile’ in honor of her mom had Terri working hard to compose herself just to get through. It’s worth mentioning the Don Gibson Theatre staff, who were more than hospitable in upgrading us from row U to D! DAve

Excellent show! Loved every second of it!

Show was great. Very entertaining and high energy! Girls are very talented. Wish them all the luck!! They are also very down to earth and very appreciative!

First tine we have ever seen Paul Thorn. Was a very interesting and entertaining concert. We really enjoyed it. Paul is very talented and a great guy. He met all of his fans and signed autographs.

Great concert! Always makes me smile to listen to him! Also love the small venue, Don Gibson Theatre in Shelby, NC.

I got to spend time talking to him after the show.

Fantastic Show! I hope he’ll come back ! Totally enjoyed it!

This was my first time seeing The Weight Band. Actually, wasn’t really sure what to expect. Once they got started I loved this band!! All the band members are blessed with so much talent. I knew Albert Rogers from playing in another band and was introduced to the other band members. What a great group of guys!! Looking forward to hearing them again!

Awesome show. Lee Roy definitely did not disappoint! Show was great and the band was great. Just a great show and he was very gracious in signing autographs and talking to folks afterwards. We really enjoy shows at the DG! We are very thankful for this place! Everyone here should be!