The Rundown · This week in Charlotte
October 19 to 25, 2026
Steve Lacy Takes The Skyla Lawn
Steve Lacy brings Oh Yeah? to the Skyla lawn on Thursday, October 22, KATSEYE fill Spectrum Center on Tuesday, and Rawayana move their Saturday party outdoors. Dave Chappelle and Anthony Jeselnik split the big comedy rooms.
The Marquee
The Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre lawn faces the skyline, and on Thursday, October 22 it gets the kind of show that suits a fall night outside. Steve Lacy brings the Oh Yeah? tour to the Music Factory, his first headline run since the Give You The World Tour sold out across North America in 2022. The album behind it came out on July 17, self produced and ten tracks long, with SZA and Erykah Badu among the guests, and the title song already plays over the end credits of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He was the guitarist in The Internet before Bad Habit went to number one on his own, and the set still sounds like a player who would rather be in the band than in front of it. Raleigh gets him the next night, so this is the Charlotte chance.
Around The Neighborhoods
Uptown starts loud. KATSEYE bring the Wildworld Tour to Spectrum Center on Tuesday, October 20, six members from a worldwide search and a crowd that knows every formation. The weekend turns quieter and more grown up. Cheyenne Jackson plays the Carolina Theatre on Saturday, October 24 with That Guy From That Thing, the songs and stories show that started as his solo Carnegie Hall debut in December 2025. Upstairs at the Blumenthal on Sunday, October 25, Niladri Kumar brings sitar and zitar to the Booth Playhouse with The Space Between the Notes, a tour that honors his years with the late Zakir Hussain.
The Music Factory runs every night of the week. Tuesday has Benjamin Tod of Lost Dog Street Band in the Underground. Wednesday is a metal night with an early start, Arch Enemy and The Black Dahlia Murder at the Fillmore at six while PeelingFlesh take the Underground at 6:30. Scene Queen and Wargasm keep the basement loud on Thursday, and JPEGMAFIA brings EXPERIMENTAL RAP upstairs on Friday. Saturday has two crowds in one block. Rawayana moved their show to the Skyla lawn, a better fit for a band whose newest record asks where the after party is, and Blake Whiten, twenty years old and from Six Mile, South Carolina, plays the Underground close to home. Sueco and Jeris Johnson close the week downstairs on Sunday.
NoDa has a full week on North Davidson. Andrew McMahon opens it on Tuesday at the Neighborhood Theatre with Three Pianos, the tour that puts Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin and his solo songs in one set. Abbie Gamboa brings a worship night there on Wednesday, and Santa Cruz bluegrass band AJ Lee & Blue Summit follow on Saturday. On Sunday, October 25, Atlanta singer Jai'Len Josey plays one of the last dates of The Serial Romantic Tour, her first headline run, with Laya opening.
Out on Elizabeth Avenue, the Visulite has Alana Springsteen on Thursday, October 22, the I Hope This Helps Tour between a Charleston night and an Atlanta one, with Kyle Schuesler opening. The Gold Line streetcar runs right past the door.
East on Independence Boulevard, Ovens Auditorium has two nights built around songs everyone already knows. The Carpenters Songbook arrives Thursday, a new touring production from the team behind The Simon & Garfunkel Story, with Christina Hélène Braa singing Karen's parts. On Friday, Undertale, The Determination Symphony puts a 25 piece orchestra on the Toby Fox score.
Greater Charlotte keeps the late hours. Level Up plays the Blackbox on Sugar Creek Road on Friday and again on Saturday, both at ten, two nights of heavy bass for the eighteen and over crowd.
The Comedy Card
The Comedy Zone has Michael Longfellow, with three seasons of Saturday Night Live behind him, for five sets from Thursday, October 22 through Saturday. At Duckworth's on North Tryon, Nate Meeker has one set on Wednesday, Joey Avery works five from Thursday to Saturday, and Steve Hofstetter closes Sunday, October 25 with the crowd work that made his clips famous.
The big rooms are busy too. Nurse Blake brings the But Did You Die? tour to the Knight Theater on Tuesday, a night that fills with hospital crews. Dave Chappelle plays Karmageddon at Spectrum Center on Wednesday, October 21, with every phone locked in a pouch at the door. Anthony Jeselnik brings Wrath of Man, an entirely new hour, to the Belk Theater on Saturday, October 24.
Next Week's Radar
Sombr plays Spectrum Center on Tuesday, October 27 with The Last Dinner Party and The Hellp, three acts that all broke big in the last two years. The next night, Wednesday, October 28, Victoria Monet brings the Frequency of Love tour to the Skyla lawn, only the second stop of the run.
