Hotel Carolina - Day Two - Evening Set
Artists: Andrea Nardello / Riley Etheridge Jr / Caleb Hawley / Curtis Peoples / Matt Duke / Tony Lucca
Venue: The Windjammer / Isle of Palms, SC
It was another fabulous night at Hotel Carolina and I honestly can't believe I'm awake after not getting in bed until somewhere in neighborhood of 3 a.m. Good thing my body is still on west coast time so it only felt like midnight. Meanwhile, 7:30 a.m. felt a lot like 4:30 a.m. and I'm definitely going to need a nap at some point. I don't even want to think about what tomorrow morning is going to feel like. Anyway...enough whining...on to the review of last night's show!
Andrea Nardello kicked things off and she was fantastic! I listened to a little of her music online before the show and really liked her voice. I expected her set to be pretty mellow and fairly folksy but it was incredibly upbeat and definitely more rock than folk. Her voice was strong and she played beautifully. She told great stories and had a great rapport with the small crowd that was there to start off the night. I was definitely impressed and will be procuring her cd at some point today. Apparently the cd package turns into an airplane...not sure that could be any cooler.
She turned the stage over to Riley Etheridge Jr and his band and as you know from my review of night one I was not a huge fan of his. He was a little too folksy for me that night but last night he was a little too country. He has a great voice and is definitely a good storyteller but it's just not my favorite style. His band was amazing and I don't think I've ever seen a more excited bass player or a less excited keyboardist. They were very entertaining to watch. Seriously. The keyboard guy didn't change his expression during the whole set. So while the music itself was good and pretty rocking, it just wasn't my favorite style of singing.
Another new artist to me was up next, Caleb Hawley. I heard some folks talking about a set they'd seen him do earlier in the year and was intrigued by their comments. He had a drummer and a keyboard player with him and they sounded great. I'm not sure what style his music is...I wanna say it's something like old school soul or something from the early days of rock and roll...it had a nostalgic feel to it and it was really good. He was also very entertaining and clearly likes to have fun. Their acoustic cover of LMFAO's I'm Sexy and I Know It was freaking amazing and I know I'll never forget it. I really enjoyed his set and will definitely have to get some of his tunes into the rotation.
There was a definite shift in the night after Caleb left the stage...like it was getting turned over to the veterans, the Hotel Carolina masters if you will. It was getting later and the crowd was getting bigger and you could just sense that it was time to rock.
Curtis Peoples started off the second half of the night and he was absolutely fantastic. I'd seen him live for the first time a little over a year ago and was incredibly impressed. He's extremely talented and writes amazing words to go with his melodies. I'm definitely a fan. He played a couple of songs on his own before being joined by a band that included Todd Carey. The added energy of the bass and drums, not to mention the electric guitar awesomeness of TC, took Curtis' set to a new level. The level of ROCK. He played a couple of songs from his forthcoming album and wow...they were phenomenal. I can't wait to own them! He closed out his set by adding Tony Lucca and Ernie Halter on keys and vocals for an aMAZing cover of Centerfold (J Geils Band). Wow. The amount of talent dripping off the stage was ridiculous and definitely set the tone for the rest of the night.
Matt Duke was up next and after his crazy cover set from the night before I was excited to see him sing his own stuff. Much like the night before he brought everything he had to that stage and truly melted our faces off with his rock awesomeness. Wow. He holds nothing back. When he started the set he strapped on an electric guitar that looked awfully familiar then uttered these words, "I don't always play electric guitar, but when I do, it's Todd Carey's." Yep. Pretty funny. In his own words he "borrowed Tony Lucca's band" (a bass player and a drummer) and they were amazing musicians in their own right. This was rock at its finest and the energy in the room was high.
Todd got on stage and took his guitar back for a great, great, great version of The Father, the Son and The Harlot's Ghosts, one of Matt's songs I do know and love. This version was about 23 times more rocking than the cd version and I absolutely adored it. Tony Lucca got in on the action next and the night just kept getting better. I wish I could explain it in words but there's just no possible way. If you weren't there, there's no way I could articulate the energy and amazingness that was in the air. Matt Duke has definitely made me into a believer.
Tony Lucca was the night's closer and much like a closer that comes in to finish a baseball game, he brought it home in style. If you don't know who Tony Lucca is then you probably didn't watch the last season of The Voice. He was Adam's final contestant and Christina's favorite person to critique. He didn't win the show but certainly won a host of new fans, me being one of them.
Tony picked up the energy Matt left on stage and added his own to make his set one for the record books. He opened with one of the songs he sang on The Voice, How Do Ya Like Me Now, and you could just tell the next hour or so was going to ROCK. He's loaded with talent and was backed by his bass player and drummer who basically had to learn two sets of music for the night and are therefore my heroes. Wow. So, so good. In addition he invited Jason Spiewak to sit in on keys and he was also fantastic.
At some point he just started calling people to the stage to play along...Todd, Curtis, Ernie Halter (who brought his dad on stage and he could not have been cuter!), Bracher Brown...Matt jumped back up at one point too...it was crazy, unadulterated, face melting, body shaking awesomeness. I go to a lot of concerts and I can honestly say it's rare that I get the feeling that I got from the full-on jam session that took place last night. I'm not even sure I can handle whatever's going to happen tonight. Goodness.
Someone asked me between sets last night if I was glad I decided to come to Hotel Carolina and I told her I definitely was, but I probably thought about it for a couple of seconds before answering since I was a little tired at the time. That was before Curtis, Matt, Tony and friends threw down. If someone asked me that question right now I'd likely interrupt them before they even finished and say, "Hell yes!"
I'm told the afternoon jam session scheduled for later today is not to be missed and I know that tonight's set with Ernie, Todd and Brendan James will be just as ridiculous and amazing as last night's was. I can't wait!
