Words By: Rob Lucchesi
June 6, 2022
The Fillmore in Charlotte, NC, is not, was not, and never was a big venue. It’s mostly used for quote-unquote “smaller acts” and shows that the venue doesn’t think will sell out the larger amphitheater in the backyard. The inside’s pretty lavish, giant crystal chandeliers, Shining-esque bars in three of the four corners of the building, and enough space to theoretically throw elbows for an entire set, but even I can be wrong from time to time.
Doors opened at 7PM for the 8PM show, and they packed that joint as tight as they could. Didn’t matter where you were, you either had someone standing on you, or you were doing the standing on, if not a mix of both. The smell of Louis V cologne is everywhere, and the kids (yes, kids, Sharpie’d X’s on their hands and everything) that had managed to sneak vapes and dab pens in were not about to let us forget they were in the building either. On top of that, the entire time I’m harassing Liam, who made the grave mistake of coming with me, telling him I’m going to open up the pit at the Still Woozy concert, which started to get a little bit concerning for the 40 pound high schoolers standing around us- had a lot of concerned side-eyes thrown our way, and for some reason no one ever stayed near us for very long.
8PM rolls around, and the show’s opener, Mazie, came out electric, running through all her hits, “all i ever wanted (was you)”, “no friends”, “make believe”, and even gave us a special sneak performance of some new tracks she and her bandmates, Ben and Joe, had tracked on the road the night before- incredible performance. The crowd was a super buzz-kill during their set though, totally left them hanging. Joe ripped solo after solo after solo during their set, with backing vocals and keys from Ben, who later performed a reach-around, no-look solo on Joe’s guitar- had me going nuts, the eight foot giants in front of us, not so much.
9:30, lights dim and the colors change, more artificial fog rolls into the sardine can, this time from the stage’s machines instead of the iron-lunged teens in the middle of the crowd. The speakers start to fill with the squeaky bed frame sample from the lead single off the band’s debut album, If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is. Tani walks out and runs the bass like a marathon, Harry Terrel, a.k.a. The Professor, beats the drums to death and back to life, and “Window” kicks Still Woozy’s set off right as the man himself, Sven Gamsky, hits the indigo-lit stage.
The band runs through “Rocky,” “Get By,” and “Lava,” and people are finally starting to get into the music. Phones are out, flashes and videos are blocking the view, the barricade is squeaking and straining to reach out towards Gamskey as he runs back and forth across the palm covered stage. There were clearly some All-In 20 Buck Ticket Holders in the crowd, “Did you know he looked like that?” “I know he’s just some white guy!” “Is that really him?” Lots of great chatter overheard in between songs, but nothing “Woopie” and “Wolfcat” couldn’t get them to overlook. Tani and Gamsky’s chemistry on stage was absolutely intoxicating.
When one wasn’t moving, the other would shake ass, kick rocks, and solo the absolute snot out of every song they played. And the Professor, oh the Professor, was keeping a beat Keith Moon himself wouldn’t replicate. Gamsky started throwing water all over the crowd, the two dollar Walmart balls that your mom would never let you buy were flying around the room nailing kids in the head with a big airy thonk, and the band took a second to address the crowd, telling them to get themselves ready to move as Tani picks the bass back up, trading the guitar back to Gamsky for the opening chords of “Woof.” I glanced over to my left, and I knew that Liam knew that I knew that he knew exactly what I was going to say to him. “Dude. I’m going to open up the pit at the Still Woozy
Concert.”
The chorus gets rocking, the crowd is screaming “you wouldn’t last a day in my head,” but they wouldn’t last 30 seconds in the circle. The most movement Woozy got out of “Wolf” was some hands waving and myself middle-left trying to get as jiggy as I could with six square inches of foot space, and the giants in front of us would not stop turning around to give us up and down, and the girls on our right kept shoving each other and yelling. Woozy gets to “Get Down,” a song that you would think would get people’s feet moving, and still nothing! Lots of fratty yelling from the side sections, Michelob Ultra fueled whining about it being hot during “Maybe She” and “Lucy,” all the way through “Kenny” and “Foolsong,” two songs you’ve got to shut the fuck up for. They finished out the set with a beautiful riff-heavy rendition of “Habit” and a head-bobbing, drum heavy version of “WTF.” The crowd screams for an encore, and Still Woozy races back on stage, with Mazie, Ben, and Joe close behind, for one last song- the song that put them on the map- “Goodie Bag.”
The crowd exploded, end time 11PM, and without opening a single pit, not even throwing one tiny elbow, we exited the Fillmore sweaty, happy, and exhausted. The warm night air smacked us in the face like we’d been locked in a walk-in freezer all night, and everyone started filtering out to the parking lots across the street. And even though I was unable to get my bit off the ground, Liam and I made our way across the bridge to our free parking spot down the road in total agreement on a show well spent.
Rob Lucchesi
Still Woozy
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