Allgood @ Visulite Theater

The Crap Facts:
This is my 503rd concert.
This is my 15th concert at The Visulite.
This is my 108th concert in Charlotte.
This is my 130th concert in North Carolina.
This is my 304th concert in the USA.
Allgood are the 580th band I've seen.

Allgood are the 150th different band I've seen in Charlotte.

Southern Culture On The Skids @ Visulite Theatre

I have seen this name around for years - even back in Australia, but I've never gotten around to see SCOTS.  What a mistake!

Lately I've really had to push myself to go to shows.  I'm not always getting the same joy out of seeing live music as I have in the past.  Even tonight, I wanted to go to this show in November, but it was postponed due to the Visulite's roof being broken.  Tonight, I ummed and ahhed and then finally at 8.45pm I decided to go.  Luckily I only live a mile away and I could still get in.  It was a lot busier than I expected, until I realized they were a North Carolina band, then it all made sense.

Within 15 minutes of getting there and finding my spot on the floor at the front, SCOTS were onstage and warming the crowd up with a Link Wray cover.  From then on it was 100 minutes of great swamp-garage rock with a ting of rockabilly.  And the band and crowd were having some fun.  And not only was the music good, the musicianship was outstanding.  With a minimal 5 piece standing drumkit, bass playing with exuded coolness, some great guitar rhythm and lead work, and background percussion, you can tell this is a band who have plied their trade well for a long time.  Special mention also needs to be made of their dancer who came out during Dirt Track Date. I didn't know any SCOTS songs, but every song was great.  Funnel of Love and '69 El Camino early in the set were highlights.  House of Bamboo was also great.  I loved their surf rocking Meximelt, and was thinking of an old mate, Roman (he of the Ditch Diggers), when Ditch Diggin' came on.  8 Piece Box was a weird experience.  As people got on stage and the band started playing, the on stage audience, while dancing, threw bits of fried chicken into the crowd.  Crowd still on stage for the crowd favorite Camel Walk, and the main set was finished with a rocking version of Daddy Was A Preacher But Mama Was A Go-Go Girl.  So good.  Midnight to Six Man was the pick of the 3 song encore.

One thing I want to remember in the future that is not music related, but style content.  Bass player Mary Huff's look is dynamite.  The red updo, white rimmed sunglasses, diner shirt, checkerboard skirt (with matching purse) and white cowboy boots looked like any moment she was going to pull a pencil from behind her ear and take my breakfast order.  Instead she used her persona and tied it in to her performance.  Playing bass for her looks like just another part of her body.  Like you and I would breathe.  It looked like this is exactly where she is supposed to be.   In the past I have said Nick Cave, Tex Perkins, Les Claypool and Stefan Olsdal have this aura about them that makes you watch them (sometimes to the detriment of the rest of the band).  I would now like to add Mary Huff to list.

What I got most out of this was, if you see a band advertised and something tweaks your interest, go and see them.  I've seen the name Southern Culture On The Skids for probably more than 20 years.  Great name, there's got to be something to them right?  But never did I go and try something new.  What a waste.  Imagine years of seeing this brilliance, not just a first sow at age 51.  These guys are so good and so much fun, I'm not sure I'd ever miss a show that comes through town again.

Southern Culture On The Skids Setlist

Complete show

The Crap Facts:

This is my 502nd concert.
This is my 14th concert at The Visulite.
This is my 107th concert in Charlotte.
This is my 129th concert in North Carolina.
This is my 303rd concert in the USA.
Southern Culture On The Skids are the 579th band I've seen.

Myrtle Beach

So for Spring Break, I took the boys down to Myrtle Beach for 2 nights on Monday and Tuesday. We picked that spot as none of us had been there before and it is a tourist Mecca that everyone in the South has been to at least once.

Pretty easy drive down gets us to Bay View Resort on the Boardwalk mid afternoon. We walk along the Boardwalk and stop 8th Ave Tiki Bar for a late lunch. It was the first place we came across, had outside seating, and good food, so a good find. Afterwards we walked up to Pier 14 and braved the winds and walked out on the pier. Weather is not great and after getting checked into the hotel, we head out to Broadway On The Beach to find dinner. Good, clean, family fun area, Broadway On The Beach gave us a million choices to eat. After getting news of an hour's wait at the Hard Rock Cafe, we ended up at Melt for a filling dinner. We spent the evening looking around here and then heading back to the hotel.

L & B, Pier 14, Myrtle Beach, SC

B, Bay View Resort, Myrtle Beach, SC

Late start the next day, as the boys take advantage of sleeping in a dark room (they have skylights at home). We are close to our beloved Litchfield Beach, so we opt to drive down to Parlor Doughnuts for breakfast. 45 minutes for the world's greatest doughnuts. Of course! Driving there, I'm taken aback by the volume of touristy spots there are here. There are so many pirate-themed mini golf courses, pancake houses, and Calabash seafood buffets, it's hard to imagine how they all survive. On the drive back we cut through Murrell's Inlet and Surfside Beach to have a look. I liked Surfside. It looks like more of a residential area, without the high rise hotels, And not tired. Myrtle looks like weather beaten and old, Surfside looks like a bunch of locals that take of their beach properties. We did stop at Cancun Lagoon on the way back to support a local mini golf course. Good fun playing in and around at Chichitza styled pyramid. No lunch, so back to the hotel, quick change, and onto the beach to enjoy this 77 degree sunshine, via the oversized chess board for a game of B v L. It was nice sitting on the beach as the boys played on the water's edge. The water, however, was painfully freezing. One foot in for me, a splashing fight for the boys, and L took a tumble into the water. Another chess game before heading back into the room. I let the boys pick dinner while I showered, and they picked this awesome Italian restaurant, Vicini's, a few miles away. We were there early, but by 6.15pm, the 12 tables were full. And the food excellent. On the way back we stopped at Mt. Atlanticus, for another round of mini golf. Great fun again, and no none of us won free golf for life at the end. We walked up and down the Grand Strand with ice cream to see Myrtle at night. It reminds me of Surfer's Paradise back at home. Plenty of people just on vacation looking for fun.

B&L, Parlor Doughnuts, Pawleys Island, SC

Dad, B & L, Cancun Lagoon, Myrtle Beach, SC

B & L, Myrtle Beach, SC

Plans for an early beach move were thwarted by some heavy rain. Instead we packed up and made one last stop at Hot Cakes for breakfast. Hearty start to the near 4 hour drive back home.

Nice to break up the week with a couple of days in a new spot. Though I'm not sure I ever need to go back to Myrtle again.

Jimmy Carr @ Knight Theater

I'm glad Jimmy Carr made a stop in Charlotte.  I often watch videos of his show "8 of 10 Cats Do Countdown", and while wildly inappropriate, I find him extremely funny.  And tonight was no different.  

While specific jokes are hard to retell when reviewing, I hope I look back at this and remember his lampooning of Gastonia, the sex talk with a young audience member, and his witty, often unrelated one liners, as well as his ability to offend everyone, even having a dig at us stay at home dads.  Can't be offended by one of the jokes, has to be all or nothing.

The show's low did stop near the end, when he tried some new jokes.  Written that day on a piece of paper, Carr was looking to see if the jokes were funny, but delivery was not practiced and kind of stunted the show a bit.  I'm sure once properly worked into the set, these jokes will add to the laughter.

I don't know why we don't go to many comedy shows.  Everyone we've been to has been good, and Jimmy Carr is no exception.  Maybe Blumenthal will bring out some more good English comedians (Greg Davies, Richard Ayoade, Joe Wilkinson etc).  Here's hoping.

Charlotte FC V NYCFC @ Bank of America Stadium

A bitterly cold night for the season opener.  We had bought the boys the new Charlotte FC kit, hoping to give it to them for their birthday later this year, but opted to give it to them early for the game.  This was a celebration for trying out for, and making, their middle school team as well.

A good size crowd got the noise started early, thanks to the magnificent supporters end, and Charlotte started off really well.  The opening 15 minutes they dominated and were rewarded with a well headed goal by Malanda in the 8th minute.  This, and the frigid weather, kept the crowd on its feet for most of the first half.  NYC seemed to get into the game in about the 20th minute, and kept the game even from there.

After the half, again, both sides were evenly matched, though NYC never really threatened on Kalina's goal.  When a handball in the box in the 63rd minute was finally called, after VAR took forever, it looked like Charlotte were ready to put a seal on the game.  Unfortunately a poor penalty from Vargas made for an easy save, and the home crowd had to wait nervously as we held onto the 1 goal lead.  But unlike previous seasons, Charlotte defended and we ran out 1-0 winners.  A good way to start the season.

Charlotte 1 (A. Malanda 8) defeated NYCFC 0

Crowd: 62,291

Tool & Elder @ Spectrum Center

Oh no!  Am I getting too old for dad-rock?  Or is it just that I have seen a couple of Tool shows too close together (I mean, it has been nearly 2 years).

An early crowd was exposed to the most suited Tool support I have ever seen.  Elder.  Their heavy prog-rock light-on-lyrics songs made me wonder if I'd seen 6 5-minute songs or one 30 minute opus.  Regardless I thought it was pretty good.  Not only did I not know the songs, but I had not heard of the band either.  One to keep an eye on.

A sold out crowd in the Spectrum Center made plenty of noise as Tool came on stage piece by piece.  With Maynard standing on the opposite side of us, beside the drum, in the dark as usual.  Starting off with Fear Inoculum I am not hopeful that this set will be newer album heavy.  Fortunately Jambi was up next, which is my favorite Tool song.  And it sounded great, and as usual the visuals that come with the music at a Tool show were outstanding.  Rosetta Stoned straight after saw the last of the 10,000 days songs played for the night.  It was fantastic to hear Intolerance and I would have liked to have heard a lot more Undertow stuff, but apparently those days are long gone.  It was about now I noticed a dad and 2 sons on the opposite side of the arena from where I was sitting.  Dad was into, but his sons, maybe 10 & 13, were also having a blast.  The sons may not have known the music, but it didn't stop them dancing their hearts out for the rest of the show.  It distracted me from the band quite a bit.  But that didn't matter, because I felt like I was standing behind Adam Jones for a lot of the show.  The Grudge was a nice finisher to the set.  The encore started with Chocolate Chip Trip - which I've seen a bunch of times live now.  I understand Danny is an incredible drummer, but as a fan I want to see him display that with a different song.  Schism was a bit anti-clamitc for the final song, especially seeing they have been playing Stinkfist at some other shows.  But again that's just me.

Overall I think I'll wait before I head back to see Tool.  No doubt they are incredible musicians, who put on a big show, but the last 3 I've seen (in 5 years) have all been Fear Inoculum heavy.  It is the older stuff that does it for me - no Aenema songs tonight.  And tonight I understand the show went for 2 hours - and no I don't include the publicized 12 minute break between 7 song main set and 4 song encore - but 11 songs for $185 - the 2nd most I've ever paid for any concert - and $50 for a t-shirt (pass).  Who's the family member stereotypically counting where the money is going.  Dad!  It seems like it's alienating your prime audience a bit.  That said, most concert tickets are on the rise - maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, past his concert used by date.  We'll see.

Tool Setlist

The Crap Facts:

This is my 501st concert.

This is my 5th concert at The Spectrum Center.
This is my 106th concert in Charlotte.
This is my 128th concert in North Carolina.
This is my 302nd concert in the USA.
Elder are the 578th band I've seen.
This is my 8th Tool concert