HARDY Lights Up Charlotte

Quit!! Tour Rocks The Queen City

Country-rocker HARDY has been writing songs since high school starting out to impress a girl and broke into the business as a songwriting partner for the country music duo Florida Georgia Line. Since releasing his own music with 2018’s EP This Ole Boy, HARDY has blown up and become one of the biggest country-rock stars on the planet. He truly is the best of both worlds, half country and half rocker, offering up a little bit of something for everyone. His sophomore album The Mockingbird & THE CROW garnered over 4.6 billion streams and earned just about every industry accolade that exists and things haven’t slowed down yet. HARDY’s newest release QUIT!! is set for release on July 12th and it’s going to be amazing! To support the upcoming record, HARDY has been hitting the road hard bringing the Quit!! Tour to cities across the country and let me tell you the show is an absolute must-see! The tour recently rolled into Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion for an epic night of music with a sold-out crowd.

Fans were lined up, snaked across the parking lot early in the afternoon waiting for the venue doors to open on a hot summer day, totally stoked for what was to come. By the end of the night, they would not be disappointed. Things got started early with singer-songwriter Ella Langley taking the stage in the summer sun to kick off the show.

Ella came out, guitar in hand like a warm breeze and as soon as she began to sing, it was like a cooling breath of fresh air filled the hot and steamy ampitheatre. The Alabama native was a perfect fit for the tour as she has a lot of rock and roll spirit in her music. Her debut album hungover is due out this August and I’m looking forward to hearing some more of Ella. Put her on your watch list now as she is bound to be doing bigger things in the very near future.

Next up was one of my favorite country music musicians Travis Denning. Denning is another example of half country, half rock, and keeping true to that he took the stage wearing a Suicide Silence tee-shirt, gold Les Paul in hand. His set was absolute fire as he worked the catwalk jamming for the fans up front. Denning’s guitar talent is not to be overlooked and if he decides to take a break from country music, I’m sure there are a ton of metal bands who would kill to have him.

But of course, his roots run country deep and he treated the audience to a short but blazing set including his first single “David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs,” a real-life story about using fake i.d., and even threw in a cover of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Denning is one of a kind and if you’re heading out to see the Quit!! Tour make sure to get there early because trust me you don’t want to miss him.

After a short break, it was time for Kip Moore to head out on stage. We’ve been Up All Night with Moore since 2012 and celebrated his fifth studio album Damn Love last year. Kip and his band came out like a freight train, kicking up the energy level across the ampitheatre and giving fans a show like no other.

Moore sounded fantastic with his vocals soaring above the capacity crowd as he jammed on his guitar. He got the party going with “Beer Money” and took us back home with what else, a song about a truck with “Somethin’ Bout a Truck.” One thing worth noting is that Moore is an outstanding songwriter and when played live he has the ability to make those songs come to life for the fans in attendance. This was another terrific set and up until now the Quit!! Tour has definitely delivered the goods.

Of course, the show was far from over as we still had the main event yet to come and everyone was anxiously awaiting HARDY to make an appearance. The venue lights dimmed and the stage went black as we all held our collective breaths for a moment. A taped version of Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” began to play as fans began to dance and groove while chants of “HARDY! HARDY!” rang out across the hot, sticky night. The LED screen at the rear of the stage began to flicker, and an image of HARDY appeared as he began rapping the opening lines of “Quit!!” The band members appeared as silhouettes taking their respective spots on the stage and then all of a sudden it was on! The band began jamming, the LED screen changed to display the word QUIT as flames shot up from the rear of the stage. There was tons of pyro, going off like crazy then you could hear nothing but screams as HARDY himself made his way out to the center of the stage in his personalized Pantera tanktop. Woah! What a start to the show! We’re only a little over three minutes in and it was already epic as I stood drenched in sweat from the heat of the pyro. This was going to be one hell of a show.

From that point on, the night only got better and the energy more intense. “Rockstar” was next as the lights danced across the stage and lasers dazzled. My only thought was yep, indeed, you are a rockstar because so far HARDY’s production has been mindblowing putting many arena rock shows to shame. We had lights, lasers, plumes of smoke, a huge LED screen that changed images throughout the night, a catwalk, and even flames to literally cook the sold-out crowd. It was amazing in every way and I couldn’t wait to see what came next.

HARDY’s vocals sounded spot-on as he transitioned from rap to rock to soulful blues and country all night long. His band was on fire and the crowd was loving every single minute of it. We had crazy moments with the stage washed in red lights and more pyro for “Kill Sh!t Til I Die” with the word DIE emblazoned across the screen and we had a jam session as Travis Denning came out to join HARDY for “Southern Rock.”

There were quiet moments as well with a tribute to HARDY’s wife with “SIX FEET UNDER (Caleigh’s Song)” and some laughs as well as HARDY stopped playing mid-song to pick up a bra that a fan threw up on the stage as he wrapped it around his microphone stand. Hell, he even did a few Creed covers knocking it out of the park with “My Sacrifice” and “With Arms Wide Open.” The night wouldn’t be done without showing his country side as we all sang along to “Truck Bed.”

When the band exited the stage, nobody and I mean nobody was leaving their seats as the “HARDY” chants started back up, getting louder and louder as fans banged their seats back and forth in appreciation. He made his way back out for a three-song encore to finish up the night ending with an audience singalong and plenty more cryo cannons and pyro with of course “UNAPOLOGETICALLY COUNTRY AS HELL.” It was the perfect way to cap off an epic show as HARDY is definitely country as hell but also a definite rockstar. This was the show of the summer season folks. Do not miss it when it rolls through your town.

See the Full Gallery of the Night Here!

If you captured any shots of the night, feel free to tag us on social media at Shutter 16 Magazine and throw in #Shutter16 and #TwitFromThePit for the world to see.