The 9th Time Warner Cable Annual Blues, Brews & BBQ moves to the N.C. Music Factory on Sept. 9. The new location means the free three-day festival will boast higher profile acts and more entertainment, according to an announcement today by Center City Partners and N.C. Music Factory co-owner Noah Lazes. Although the N.C. Music Factory has more than 3,000 free parking spaces the event will also have a free shuttle. The Y is sponsoring the Piggyback shuttle which will run along the Gold Rush route.
To celebrate the new location, there will be preview event on Sept. 8 at the Wells Fargo Plaza. The first 300 people receive a free lunch by Mac Speed Shop or Stallings’ Rock Store Bar-B-Q.
This year’s headliners include Jimmie Vaughan and Tilt-A-Whirl Featuring Lou Ann Barton on Friday, and Buddy Guy on Saturday. (See full schedule below).
Charlotte Center City Partners CCO Rob Krumbine credited the new location and the partnership with Time Warner Cable and Live Nation with creating the opportunity for revamped entertainment.
“We are actually able to step up on our entertainment,” Krumbine said. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for nine years.”
“Having that partnership with Live Nation and Ark Management is spectacular and it’s only going to take us to the next level,” Krumbine said. “The success of this one is truly going to drive us so that next year who knows who you might see out here.”
N.C. Music Factory’s Lazes said the festival will encompass the entire entertainment complex. People will be able to listen to music while sitting on blankets in the Time Warner Cable Amphitheatre rather than standing on asphalt. Along with better regional bands such as Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band there will also be carnival like attractions at the festival. Charlotte Rollergirls will have a dunking booth. There will be pig and dog racing. There will also be a preview of the Queen City Car Wars, a car show slated for November.
Organizers say the new location will help make the festival a Southeastern destination.
“If we want to have a real jazz festival (or) a real blues festival we have to have a facility that an older demographic will feel comfortable coming to,” Lazes said.
See how much fun I had with former My92.7 personality Frankie Stone last year:
Judging Delish Food at TWC Blues, Brews & BBQ
BAND SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
Doors: 5pm
HARVEY DALTON ARNOLD BLUES BAND: 6:00 – 6:45 PM (30 min change)
SWINGIN’ RICHARDS RYTHM and BLUES REVUE: 7:15 – 8:45 PM (30 min change)
JIMMIE VAUGHAN AND TILT-A-WHIRL FEATURING LOU ANN BARTON: 9:15 – 10:45 PM (Jimmie will do 75 minutes plus encore)
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
Doors: 11am
NITA B & THE SWINGIN’ SOIREE 1:00 – 1:45 PM (30 min change)
THE CONTAGIOUS BLUES BAND 2:15 – 3:00 PM (30 min change)
HALDEN VANG 3:30 – 4:15 PM (30 min change)
LUCKY FIVE 4: 4:45 – 5:30 PM (30 min change)
JOHN WESLEY SATTERFIELD & HIS DAMN FINE BAND 5: 6:00 – 6:45 PM (15 min change)
ALAN WOODY WOOD 6: 7:00 – 7:45 PM (15 min change)
YO MAMA’S BIG FAT BOOTY BAND 8:00 – 9:00 PM (30 min change)
BUDDY GUY 9:30 – 10:45ish PM (Buddy will do 75 minutes plus possible encore)
Tickets will be required for reserved pavilion seating. $20 for one day and $30 for two days. If you’re seated in the lawn area there’s NO charge.
