Kacey Musgraves Opens October Uptown

The Marquee

Kacey Musgraves plays Spectrum Center on Friday, October 2, about six weeks into the Middle of Nowhere Tour, a run that started on August 21 and does not wrap until February 2027. The album it is named for came out on May 1 on Lost Highway, her seventh studio album and the follow up to Deeper Well. Dry Spell and Mexico Honey are the ones the arena will know. Estevie opens. A Friday arena night Uptown means the decks fill early and the Blue Line is the calm way in, so leave the car at a park and ride and let the train do the worrying.

Around The Neighborhoods

Uptown doubles up. Weezer follow Kacey into the same building on Saturday, October 3 on The Gathering, their 32 city arena run, with The Shins and Silversun Pickups both on the bill. That is three bands whose best known records all landed between 1994 and 2006, which is a lot of the same crowd's life in one evening. A few blocks up Tryon, the Carolina Theatre has its own odd pair. Mariachi El Bronx play Thursday, October 1 on the back of Mariachi El Bronx IV, which came out on February 13 and was their first album in more than a decade, and Vitamin String Quartet close the week on Sunday, October 4 with Girl Named Tom, the sibling trio who won The Voice in 2021.

The Music Factory has the story of the week in a smaller room. Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail open The S&M Tour, which they headline together, at the Fillmore on Wednesday, September 30. Not a stop on it, the very first night, a run of 19 dates that ends back in North Carolina in Wilmington on October 24. Opening nights are loose in the best way, and Charlotte gets to see which songs survive. Downstairs the same evening, Ryan Beatty plays the Underground on his Arms Over Armor tour behind Sweet Fortune, the June record he made with Ethan Gruska and a guest list that includes Clairo.

Friday, October 2 at the Fillmore belongs to Duelo, 26 years into a career on the Gravedad Tour, and they play Raleigh two nights later, so the state gets them twice in one weekend. Saturday, October 3 splits the complex. Dermot Kennedy takes the Skyla lawn with Jonah Kagen, touring The Weight of the Woods from April, while Lily Rose plays the Underground, still riding I Know What I Want, the full length debut she waited five years after Villain to make. Earlier in the week, Starbomb bring their video game rap comedy to the Fillmore on Tuesday, September 29, and Noah Rinker has the Underground on Friday.

NoDa runs every night but one. The Bros. Landreth start it on Monday, September 28 at the Neighborhood Theatre, Austin Meade takes Wednesday, and Saxsquatch has Thursday, a costume and a saxophone and a crowd that knows every cue. Jammy Buffet turn Friday into a parrothead party, Gable Price and Friends play Saturday with Stephen Stanley, and Sophie Hunter closes Sunday, October 4.

South End has one night, and it lands on Thursday, October 1, when Brenn! plays Amos' Southend.

The Comedy Card

Arnez J runs the Comedy Zone from Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, five sets in all, with doubles on Friday and Saturday. Not Gonna Stop, the YouTube special he put out in 2025, was his first in ten years, and it is a fair preview of how much of the act is physical. A club this size puts you close enough to catch all of it. The Sunday set is the only one that night, and usually the easiest ticket.

Duckworth's gives the long weekend to Shannon Fiedler, five sets from Thursday, October 1 through Saturday, October 3 with doubles on the weekend nights. Leah Lamarr takes the Sunday, October 4 early show on North Tryon.

Next Week's Radar

Olivia Rodrigo plays Spectrum Center twice, on Wednesday, October 7 and Thursday, October 8, on The Unraveled Tour behind You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, with Wolf Alice opening both nights. Charlotte comes less than two weeks into the tour. Then on Friday, October 9, Phoebe Bridgers takes the same building with Alex G, which makes three arena nights in three days and one very busy week for the Blue Line.