KRASHCITY Magazine Issue 10

It was a very cold Friday night at Hooligans in Jacksonville North Carolina.

Walking from the car to the venue in shorts and fishnets...leave it to me to not even care. We noticed there was no line, so that was a good thing. You wouldn't have thought there would have been a crowd until you got inside. It was definitely a packed house. We decided to hang around the bar area and wait for Black Stone Cherry to go on as where the concert area is was rows deep with people. To my knowledge there were three bands before the headliner. After each band, the crowd would pour into the bar area for drinks, socializing, or bathroom breaks. Either way, each place was crowded regardless.

Finally, it was about show time. Fighting our way thru the thick crowd with the record rep to get to the side of the stage behind the barricade was crazy. Everyone anticipated with cheers and cell phones ready to snap pictures. The band walks on stage , lights go on and the crowd welcomed the band with enthusiasm and excitement.

Black Stone Cherry opened with the song "Change" The song had so much energy. the vocals were clean and the music was tight. Chris Robertson; guitar and lead singer possesses a southern rock voice with deep meaning. Ben Wells on lead guitar just explodes with energy, running and jumping around everywhere. Jon Lawhon ; bass player.....let's just say that Ben and John definitely feed off of each others energy. They are like flashes of lightning that pours out amazing sounds of music thunder. And let me say that John Fred Young; drummer I have never seen a drummer like that. I called him "the octopus" It was hard to see he had two arms as it looked like eight to me. And hair flying everywhere! He was just amazing!

They then broke into the song "Star" When an unfortunate fight broke out...well attempted to. Amazingly enough the band stopped playing and the lead singer basically told it how it was, how they are not there for that. They want to rock and have a good time. Needless to say, whoever the imbeciles were that couldn't control themselves had some enemies, but the band made a joke or two and just continued on with the show. It was almost like the crowd had so much respect for the band stepping up to that situation. Which pumped the crowd up for more.

Black Stone Cherry played for a good 45 minutes. It was definitely one of the most interesting shows I've been to in a while. It's just one of those shows where you know is going to let you leave saying "Hell yeah! That was a great show!!" Black Stone Cherry exudes in getting the crowd excited and keeping them there. They really know how to put on a great show and leave the crowd smiling. As well as buying tons of merch at the merch table after the show as I noticed. If you get the chance to see them...do it!! I promise, you will not be disappointed.