Gorillaz End The Arena Drought

Gorillaz bring The Mountain to Spectrum Center on Wednesday, September 23, the first arena night Uptown has had in three weeks. Breakaway takes over the Speedway infield for two days, Charley Crockett and Flatland Cavalry split the Skyla weekend, and a kid from Hendersonville headlines the Underground on Saturday.

The Marquee

Three weeks is a long time for the biggest room in the city to sit out of the music calendar, and Gorillaz finally end it on Wednesday, September 23. They are touring The Mountain, the album they released on February 27, across 22 arena dates that opened in Orlando on September 17 and close in Seattle on Halloween night. It is their first real pass through North America since 2022, and Charlotte catches it in the first week, before a long run has sanded the edges off. The support is the part worth reading twice. Little Simz takes most of the dates, and Deltron 3030 open every single one, which puts Del the Funky Homosapien, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala on an arena stage playing a concept album they made in 2000 about a year that has still not arrived. Two full sets go by before the headliner, so the doors time on the ticket is not a suggestion this time.

Around The Neighborhoods

The Music Factory works all seven days and never books the same crowd twice. Yeat opens the week at Skyla on Monday, September 21, a date that slid all the way from July 27, so check the stub in your email rather than the one in your memory. Taste Of Chaos fills the Fillmore on Tuesday, September 22 with In This Moment and Hollywood Undead, while gnash plays the Underground downstairs the same night. Thursday, September 24 is the good one out on the lawn. Charley Crockett brings Durand Jones & The Indications, which is two very different ideas about American soul music sharing a bill and mostly agreeing.

The weekend splits the complex three ways. Julia Wolf has the Fillmore on Friday, September 25, Flatland Cavalry take Skyla on Saturday, September 26 with The Jack Wharff Band, and the Underground gets the night that matters most to this state. glaive grew up in Hendersonville, about two hours west on I-40, and the GOD SAVE THE THREE tour puts him in Raleigh on Friday and Charlotte on Saturday, back to back North Carolina rooms on a run that spans eleven countries. Sunday, September 27 closes hard, with Loathe upstairs alongside Fleshwater and Prostitute, and Michael Franti downstairs doing very nearly the opposite.

NoDa keeps its usual pace, which is to say almost every night. French Police start Monday at the Neighborhood Theatre, Cyril Neville brings a piece of the New Orleans family business on Tuesday, Hazlett takes Wednesday, and Benny G has Thursday. Friday, September 25 is the loudest of them, with Castle Rat and Unto Others turning North Davidson into a doom pageant, and Owen Riegling swings it back to country on Saturday. Sunday belongs to Stanley Simmons next door in the Tap Room.

Uptown has exactly one night besides the arena, and it is a good one. Lucinda Williams plays the Carolina Theatre on Saturday, September 26 on the fall leg behind World's Gone Wrong, her sixteenth record, which she put out in January on her own label with Mavis Staples singing a Bob Marley cover alongside her. A voice like that in a room that size is the argument for the whole restoration.

Out east, Ovens Auditorium runs two Latin and hip hop nights in a row, Ryan Castro on Thursday, September 24 and Mojo Brookzz across two sets on Friday, September 25. South End stays quiet until the last night of the week, when The Haunt plays Amos' Southend on Sunday, September 27.

Everything else happens past the county line. Breakaway Music Festival takes over Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday, which is worth noting for the room alone, since a two day electronic festival on a NASCAR property in Concord is a use of that land nobody drew up in 1959. The same Friday, Houndmouth headline The Amp Ballantyne with Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country and Molly Tuttle in support, which is the deepest single bill of the week for anyone who likes a guitar. The Blackbox runs late both nights, Kayzo on Friday and LYNY on Saturday.

The Comedy Card

The Comedy Zone has the heavyweight. Russell Peters plays three sets across Thursday, September 24 and Friday, September 25, which is a genuinely odd sight in a club this size given he has spent two decades filling arenas overseas. The late Friday set is the one where a room that small starts to pay off. Earlier in the week, Nasser Al-Rayess has Tuesday, September 22.

Duckworth's answers with the longer stay. Aida Rodriguez runs five sets on North Tryon from Thursday, September 24 through Saturday, September 26, doubling up on both Friday and Saturday. Five chances at one comic in one weekend means you can pick your room instead of your night, and the Thursday is the quiet one.

Next Week's Radar

Spectrum Center goes from three weeks empty to twice in a week. Kacey Musgraves plays Uptown on Friday, October 2 with Estevie, and Weezer follow on Saturday, October 3 with The Shins and Silversun Pickups, which is a 1990s and 2000s alternative bill stacked three deep. If you would rather stay in a club, Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail share the Fillmore on Wednesday, September 30.