PHOTOS: Charlotte Sands w/ Young Culture | 4.11.24 @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville

Charlotte Sands
w/ Young Culture, senses
Brooklyn Bowl; Nashville, TN
April 11, 2024

Photos by Gina Di Maio

One of Nashville’s most impressive alt pop and pop punk success stories in recent memory, longtime No Country favorite Charlotte Sands recently returned home to headline Brooklyn Bowl, marking her biggest Music City headliner ever (and first in over a year), and capping off a spring tour of the U.S. in support of her buzzworthy, long-awaited debut full-length, can we start over?, before she heads to Europe for a run of international dates next month. We’ve seen Sands everywhere from tiny clubs to emo night drop-ins to major festival stages at this point, and she never brings anything less than an electrifying, high-energy, and wonderfully authentic live show, channeling the energy and ethos of the 2000s pop punk that so heavily influences her sound, while fusing it with contemporary pop flourish and inescapably catchy hooks. Edgy LA pop rockers senses and New York pop punks Young Culture provided perfectly-matched support, for a night full of home city love, sentimentality, and celebration!

Hailing from upstate New York, Young Culture, like Charlotte, carry on the pop punk tradition of the 2000s and early 2010s, boasting soaring hooks, frenetic energy, and anthemic singalongs, but, also, live the evening’s headliner they aren’t afraid of some genre experimentation. Live, their songs hit just as effectively, with all the emotional resonance, catchy hooks, hard-hitting riffs, and in-your-face energy. Playing through favorites like “Party Girl,” “Kinda Over It,” and “Holiday in Vegas,” they got the crowd hyped, and ready for Sands!

Though she’d mentioned on social media feeling sick and fatigued towards the end of this tour, you never would’ve known it based on Charlotte Sands’ performance, which had every ounce of energy, enthusiasm, and showmanship we’ve come to expect at her shows. Backed by her talented band, and clearly ecstatic to be playing for her biggest Nashville crowd yet as a headliner (though at this rate, we’re sure she’ll be breaking that record soon), Charlotte was magnetic, and treated us to all ten songs from her great new album, along with some other favorites from her past few years of buzzy singles and EPs. The first part of her show was heavy on the new stuff, opening, fittingly, with new LP closer and title track “can we start over?” then hard-hitting “pity.” A cool part of the show- and a tradition at her recent live sets- came in the middle when she let fans select two requests from her “Burn Book,” which continues every song she’s released, to be performed acoustic, which, for this set, were “Sweatshirt” and “die in this room.” Staying acoustic for one more tune, she invited out fellow local artist John Harvie for “Beauty in the Bad Things,” his song which she recorded a guest feature on a couple years ago. The rest of the set was all bangers, ending, of course, with the song that shot Charlotte to viral fame back in 2020- “Dress.” Watching her career take off in the years since has been an amazing journey, and it’s shows like this that remind of just how special Nashville’s music scene and community is.

All photos by Gina Di Maio

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Setlist:

can we start over?
pity
Bad Day
dead body
on the outside
Every Guy Ever
Rollercoaster
get over it
Lost
Sweatshirt
die in this room
Beauty in the Bad Things
blindspot
use me
teeth
Alright
Spite
Dress