Black Stone Cherry @The Underground Charlotte, NC 8-26-18

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.