Ever since their self-titled 2008 debut album, Black Stone Cherry has been a staple on my playlist. Their no frills brand of hard rock with a distinctly southern vibe combined with excellent songwriting and top notch musicianship has led them up the charts and garnered them a plethora of fans. This year the band released their sixth album “Family Tree” and is currently out on tour supporting the new record. This past Sunday, they made a stop in Charlotte at The Underground treating fans to a fantastic evening of pure rock and roll.
The band took the stage promptly at nine kicking the night off with “New Kinda Feelin'” from their latest album. Frontman Chris Robertson led the band through a set that stretched well over the hour and forty-five minute mark running through new tunes, Black Stone Cherry favorites, and some awesome cover tunes as well. The band was in fine form with guitarist Ben Wells quickly getting the audience involved in the show, running, spinning, and kicking all over the stage as bassist Jon Lawton posed for the crowd and kept the bass lines grooving. Robertson possesses a voice made to sing southern rock and his vocals carried across the small venue with ease. A cover of Bad Company’s “Rock & Roll Fantasy” really heated things up as drummer John Fred Young was a force to be reckoned with behind the kit as he threw his drum sticks over his head catching them at will. Songs from “Family Tree” fit nicely in to the set and received a warm response from the audience where a majority of fans seemed to know the newer tunes as well as the older ones. “Me and Mary Jane” ramped things up to a new level as Wells encouraged the crowd to clap along and pump their fists in the air. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and there was a lot of dancing going on at the rear of the venue. Black Stone Cherry is a band that really steps up in a live setting, giving it their all whether they are playing to twenty people or 20,000 people and tonight was no exception. Young got his chance to shine with a drum solo and Robertson took a few moments to introduce the band before launching into a jamming version of “Blame It on the Boom Boom.” The end of the set was packed with hits and included a cover of Willie Dixon’s “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” before ending the evening with the title track off ‘Family Tree.”
Treat yourself to a great night of rock and roll and check out Black Stone Cherry when they roll into a town near you.
Set List:
New Kinda Feelin’
Born Under a Bad Sign (Booker T & The MG’s cover)
Tired of the Rain
Rock & Roll Fantasy (Bad Company cover)
Bad Habit
My Last Breath
Stir It Up (The Wailers cover)
Me and Mary Jane
Maybe Someday
Burnin’
Midnight Rider (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
In My Blood
Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)
Like I Roll
Cheaper to Drink Alone
Ain’t Nobody
Drum Solo
Blame It On the Boom Boom
White Trash Millionaire
I’m your Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon cover)
Lonely Train
Family Tree
We wanted to thank John Bambino from In De Goot Entertainment for the credentials to review the show.
