The “new” version of Kings opened on Aug. 28, 2010 at 14 W. martin St after a nearly three year absence following the demise of the original Kings building. In honor of the 3rd anniversary of the opening, a very special weekend of shows has been planned for Fri 8/23, Sat 8/24 & Sun 8/25
The Friday lineup of Birds of Avalon, The Lollipops and Tonk is a fantastic representation of the diversity and strength of local bands that Kings has always been supportive of and been proud to have play our room. The show includes two bands that contain three of the four Kings owners (Birds and Tonk). Unfortunately, Polvo is not playing live at the present time or all of the owners could have taken a turn on the stage. Having not played Kings since November of 2011, Kings is excited to welcome the return of Birds of Avalon who are working on their 4th LP and will be joined by ex Love Language and Toddler Missy Thangs. Amazingly, in addition to her role as Birds’ guitarist, Cheetie Kumar has recently opened Garland – the restaurant (currently just a take out window) that is underneath Kings.
Tonk, who include a wealth or Raleigh’s best musical talent, are set to release their debut record of authentic sounding country tunes in the Fall. The Lollipops, Raleigh’s up and coming popsters, are also working on their debut release. Their two minute pop anthems are extremely engaging!
The Saturday night linup features the Olympic Ass Kicking Team reprising their amazing performance as ELO at last year’s Great Cover Up along with the fantastic Wusses. Each year during Kings annual benefit bash, the Great Cover up, there tends to be one or two bands that deliver an unforgettable set and OAKT was said band in 2012. If you missed them last year for the incredible (and difficult) performance of ELO hits, then you have another chance! Sharing the bill with them are Chapel Hill’s soft rock heroes, The Wusses. The Wusses also got their start via the Great Cover Up at the old Kings doing amazing sets as the Little River Band and Three Dog Night before adding more like minded band’s songs into an amazing set of 70’s smooth standards!
Sunday night will move away from our local talent and feature Alex Bleeker and the Freaks. Real Estate band members enjoy putting out solo records and playing on each other’s albums. R.E. Bassist Alex Bleeker is no exception. His new record’s collection of “freaks” includes members of Woods, Big Trouble, Real Estate (of course) and Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso & Mountain Man among others. His songs have a way of veering into Grateful Dead jammy territory yet retaining a pop song format. We think that he’ll provide a great conclusion to the weekend. Matt Northrup will open the show.
Kings is proud to have returned to Raleigh’s music community in 2010 and been able to continue to bring an array of bands and artists to the capital city. Looking back through the acts who have graced the Kings stage these first three years will reveal a diverse and interesting lineup of national and international acts. We were honestly surprised at the number and variety. For reference we have attached them here in alphabetical order. Booking started with the owners, but the addition of Michael Perros as “Duke of Booking” has increased the overall number and diversity of national touring acts while still having plenty local shows to help nurture our very vibrant music community.
