Venue Review: Label

David and I headed to the beautiful Charlotte for dinner and a free "concert" for Lookas. At least I thought it was a concert going in. I'd never heard of him before but the clip I found on Soundcloud was promising. Well because I expected things to take longer than they did David and I ended up wandering around Charlotte for about three hours before the event started. David was displeased because he wasn't feeling well. But we saw some pretty cool stuff!

Label is located in an area called North Carolina Music Factory, which I gotta say is pretty hella awesome. There's plenty of free parking for a beer garden, sand volleyball courts, bars, an outdoor concert venue that you can watch from the street, The Comedy Zone, and the Filmore, which has concerts and other large events. Plus various others we didn't even see.

After exploring the Music Factory and grabbing a beer it was time for the concert to start. We headed to Label to get in line behind 2 dozen or so 15 year-olds. Wait, this was supposed to be an 18+ event. Gosh, I felt so old. Either they all got fake ID's and didn't bother to try to get in on the over 21 side, or I really am getting old and 18 year-olds look like high school freshman now. Sigh. Well, we headed in.

The venue itself was pretty impressive. Just one large, open floor, a raised floor with couches (which I assume was VIP), and a second level with couches which was blocked off for the night. Sprawling bars on either end. The venue radiated purple from the lights that hung from extensive light scaffolding on the ceiling. Overall, my impression was that it is a quality venue for concerts and clubby events, and very, very clean.

Did I really call the venue clean? Well, there really was no one in there when we walked in. So I can't say anything for whether it would stay clean or not. Weren't concerts supposed to start (generally) on time? Not here - apparently there was an opening DJ who played for the first hour to an hour an a half before the main guy came on. And all of the older attendees planned accordingly by not coming at open. You know how you never get to a party right when it starts? Well, I never really seemed to learn that concept lol.

We stood awkwardly for a while, watching a nearly empty room of teens awkwardly standing, awkwardly dancing, and grinding (sigh). At this point I felt horrible for dragging David around Charlotte for hours when he didn't feel well, so we left about 45 minutes after we got there. We did have an hour and a half drive home after all. I'll need to give Label another shot, but this time without the expectation of a concert-style event (cause I guess it wasn't really a concert...) and with a less sick David.

My Final Verdict: Cool venue, but geared more towards concerts and clubbing. Entirely too clean and wholesome.