This past week was a busy one for the Charlotte music scene with some fantastic hard rock and metal bands making stops in the Queen City. On Monday, the Atlanta metal band Sevendust brought their Kill The Flaw tour to Amos’ Southend for a night of rock guaranteed to chase the Monday blues away.
The show was a rescheduled tour stop as the original date was postponed due to the civil unrest in Charlotte a few weeks ago. With the city still a bit on edge, a killer rock show was just what everyone needed to unwind.
The evening started out with some local bands warming up the stage for the Pennsylvania rockers of Crobot. Led by lead singer Brandon Yeagley, Crobot was firing on all cylinders as they rocked the house with songs from their latest offering “Welcome To Fat City.” The band has a really, cool vibe with a bluesy, classic rock kind of sound. Their music is solid and Yeagley is a future superstar with an amazing stage presence to go along with his killer pipes. He was dancing and shaking all night long and everyone in the audience seemed to eat it up.
After a rousing set from Crobot, it wasn’t long before the Sevendust chants began in earnest. At about 10:20, the band hit the stage hard opening with “Pieces” and taking the capacity crowd to a higher energy level early on. Sevendust is one of those bands that I feel never gets the recognition they deserve. They are indeed the full package with excellent songs, top notch musicianship, and a live show that will literally knock you on your ass.
Frontman Lajon Witherspoon is the charismatic ringleader as he urged the crow to begin the “Sevendust has arrived” chant while bassist Vince Hornsby pumped his fist over his heart as he saluted the crowd. There was a family with two young boys maybe 7 or 8 years old in front of the barricade and Lajon had security allow them into the photo pit for the entire set which was a classy move and showed how much the band really cares for their fans.
Guitarists Clint Lowery and John Connolly let their fingers do the talking as they provided crunching riffage and blistering solos all night long. Backing everything up is one of the best drummers in the business as Morgan Rose pounded away behind the kit often hidden from the audience by a plethora of smoke and blinding strobe lights. Their set was a good mix of tunes from six of their albums with fan favorites “Ugly” and “Denial” getting the crowd pumped. About midway through the evening, Witherspoon took a moment to talk to the crowd and tell a little story about it being his birthday and calling his mother. He stressed the importance of family and not taking anyone for granted even reminding the young boys in the pit not to ever take their mother for granted. It was an emotional moment as he introduced the next song “Angel’s Son” with tears in his eyes dedicating it to his late brother. The song was a great showcase for Lajon’s vocals as he had many in the crowd in tears themselves with a beautiful and poignant performance. The rest of the night was adrenaline fueled rock as they blasted through hit after hit ending with a roof raising “Decay” that had everyone jumping up and down with their fists in the air. Lajon then took a moment to thank everyone for coming out for the last show on this leg of the tour and acknowledged the fans, crew, and some celebrity guests that were in the house including some members of Alter Bridge and Fieldy from KORN. The band then launched into their final song of the evening appropriately “Thank You” from their latest record “Kill The Flaw.”
The night was not quite over as a crew member brought a cake to Lajon a happy 44th birthday as they joked about 44 being the new 30. As usual, Sevendust never fails to deliver with their live show. If you have a chance to catch them out on the road, it is a concert you won’t want to miss. In the words of Witherspoon himself, Sevendust has arrived!
Set List:
Pieces
Face To Face
Hero
Ugly
Praise
Denial
Disease
Angel’s Son
Not Today
Home
Waffle
Shine
Decay
Thank You
We would like to thank Amanda Cagan from ABC PR for the credentials to review the show.
