Charlotte’s Underground

Try being on stage. My band played at Charlotte’s Underground this past April, and it was the WORST experience we’ve ever had. We had to stop in the middle of a song several times, because we couldn’t hear each other, or feedback from the monitors would overbear our sound. I still have no idea whether we were on time with each other or not. The so-​called «sound engineer» had no clue what he was doing, and it made us look horrible. It was so hard not to just pack our shit up and walk off stage. Not to mention, we had to drive 3 hours (one member had to drive 5 hours) to play this gig, AND we gave their bar a TON of business, and we didn’t get paid a dime. From a professional standpoint, we would definitely play the venue again, just because it’s hard to find venues in NC for our style of music. But next time, I’m pretty sure we won’t even plug into their PA.

It would be easy to go into great detail about the inattentive door cashier, slow bar service, disappointing liquor selection and sketchy dance floor (meaning there’s a ledge right in the middle that attempts to kill everyone who walks across it).
In their defense, I will point out that the bartenders have to scurry frantically the entire evening because the bar setup works against them. With the right configuration, two bartenders could master a packed crowd no matter what kind of booze they are serving. But with the current layout more bartenders would only make it worse. And it’s never very crowded during the Saturday night prime-​time when I’ve visited.
It doesn’t help that management pretty much treats the bartenders like sh*t. I’ve heard them shout curses at their own staff on at least two occasions for completely pointless reasons. What a great experience that provides the customers too! The entertainment’s supposed to be on stage, not behind the bar.
The liquor selection just adds insult to injury. For example, they have two kinds of vodka, a «well» version you’ve never heard of, and Grey Goose. So you can order crap, or the cream of the crop depending on how rich you feel that day. They also don’t carry Red Bull, only an energy drink you’ve never heard of and they still charge $ 7 for it which is hardly a great way to promote value at a very low-​brow joint. There is absolutely no décor or style worthy of paying high prices.
They also use permanent ink on their hand stamps at the door. So you can reminisce about their customer service disaster for almost a week every time you look at «Chalotte Underground», yes, misspelled, on the back of your hand. I couldn’t wash mine off fast enough. This is not the underground. The underground is fun, cool and even a little scary. This is the underbelly, which is just gross.

Terrible venue for live shows. and probably for everything else too. The place is cheap looking, the bartenders were inattentive and slow, very limited beer selection, the sound system was awful, and the worst part was that none of the bands got paid because they weren’t consistent about taking money at the door. I will surely never go back again.