Pretty Lights, Willie Nelson to bring tours to Columbia
Carrie Underwood
Saturday, Nov. 3 in Charlotte
She took the scene as the blonde-haired, blue-eyed “American Idol” country queen with a little hidden spunk. It wasn’t long before she traded the acoustic croon and sweet love songs for the bitter spite of “Before He Cheats,” her first big single. Now, on the heels of her fourth album, Underwood is in the middle of her North America “Blown Away Tour.” In the seven years since her first record, “Some Hearts,” the Oklahoma artist has owned the “Before He Cheats” sass and grown her career on her latest hits “Good Girl” and “Blown Away.” Underwood will play the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte on Saturday. Tickets range from $46 to $66, and the show begins at 7:30 p.m. There is no listed opening act. To purchase tickets, visit timewarnercablearena.com.
Pretty Lights
Friday, Nov. 9 in Columbia
Neon lights scan the crowd while hip-hop beats and bass lines move through the auditorium. Derek Vincent Smith, best known by his stage name Pretty Lights, creates electronic packages that span genres and work together classic songs and radio hits. His music takes what Girl Talk does and strips it down to the underlying beats — with pockets of lyrical hooks. Pretty Lights’ track “Finally Moving” swirled with a bit of controversy last year, when Flo Rida’s song “Good Feeling” blew up, with lifted vocals and guitar riff. Smith took to Facebook to say it wasn’t a collaboration. The Lights are regulars on the Township Auditorium stage, and will return next Friday, Nov. 9. Tickets are $32.50 for floor and balcony, and the show starts at 9 p.m. Township Auditorium is at 1703 Taylor St.
Citizen Cope
Saturday, Nov. 10 in Charlotte
Clarence Greenwood, or Citizen Cope, matches his scruffy, untamed dreads and full beard to rough, blues-y vocals. And it works. His singles “Let the Drummer Kick,” “Bullet and a Target” and “Sideways” have defined his career and introduced a new kind of melded, melodic edge to the scene. He matches hip-hop with slow, folk acoustics and a blues-y twang. There’s no pinpoint to his genre or sound. In 2010, Greenwood founded his own record label “RainWater Recordings” and released his latest album, 2012’s “One Lovely Day,” as a self-produced, Brooklyn-based artist. The record’s title song preserves the tried and true Cope flavor with a slightly more polished finish. Citizen Cope will play the Fillmore in Charlotte next Saturday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $26 and can be purchased at fillmorecharlottenc.com. The Fillmore is at 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd.
Eric Church
Friday, Nov. 30 in Columbia
The “Chief” of country music has been building his career since 2006. He came close with “Drink in My Hand” and hit it big this past summer with “Springsteen” — both off 2011’s “Chief.” It’s an ode to the Boss, with lyrics that tell the tale of a teenage summer romance with one line that has become a staple country quote: “Funny how a melody sounds like a memory / Like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night.” Church is closing his “Blood, Sweat & Beers Tour” and gearing up for his first acoustic album, due out in 2013. The tour stop will be Church’s first at the Colonial Life Arena. The show is Friday, Nov. 30, and tickets are $47.50 for the general admission pit, $42.50 for the floor and stage-circling sections and $37.50 for the upper levels. To purchase tickets, visit coloniallifearena.com. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Willie Nelson
Saturday, Dec. 8 in Columbia
Willie Hugh Nelson: the 79-year-old “Red Headed Stranger.” He’s held strong to his long, flowing gray locks and forehead-crossing bandana in his 56 years in country music. Nelson tours the country in Honeysuckle Rose IV, his biodiesel bus, and plays with his backing band lovingly coined the Family — his biological sister Bobbie Nelson included. His latest album, “Heroes,” houses classic country anthems as well as new songs he wrote with his son, Lukas, like his newest single “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” Lukas Nelson will open Willie’s show at the Township Auditorium Dec. 8. Tickets start at $35.50 for gallery seats and go up to $75.50 for the closest orchestra section. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.