Heidi Reid
the great cover up
On Friday, Jan. 27, Kings kicked off the first night of The Great Cover Up series, an annual charity event that invites local musicians to cover the greatest hits from big names in music — including vocals, instrumentals and costumes all within a 20-minute set.
Located at 14 W Martin Street, Kings has been hosting The Great Cover Up since 1999. This year, the series will take place over six nights and feature over 50 bands. All proceeds from night one benefited the Carolina Abortion Fund.
The line for entry to Kings wrapped around the block, and the event was at capacity only 30 minutes after the doors opened at 7 p.m. Emily Scott, who has been attending The Great Cover Up for over a decade, said the event is normally crowded, but many attendees don’t stay for the entire event, so the line continues to move as guests leave.
Curtains were drawn over the stage between each set to preserve the surprise of who the next band would be. Scott said the best part of the event is the reveal of which bands are being covered.
“I do not want to know anything about what’s happening. I just want to show up and be surprised,” Scott said. “There is a little bit of fun in watching. You can kind of see them setting up behind the curtains and trying to guess which band will be next.”
Each night features four to six cover bands. The first night featured Foo Fighters, Joy Division and The Velvet Underground with Nico, among others. Each performer dressed as their corresponding band member and mimicked their stage presence.
Local musician Eyn, who performed as Nate Mendel of Foo Fighters and Peter Hook of Joy Division, said many musicians were nervous before performing.
“This is the first one back since the pandemic, so there was a lot of coursing anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed,” Eyn said. “As soon as I started playing, I was into it; it just felt like playing another gig. It was just a lot of fun.”
Local musician Kevin Tannhauser, who performed as Ian Curtis of Joy Division, said the group had selected Joy Division to cover because they thought it would be simple, and they could add aspects of their own music while still respecting the original music.
“[Our bassist] was really about participating after doing Siouxsie and the Banshees in 2020, and he was like ‘I want to do a post-modern goth band,’” Tannhauser said. “I was like, ‘Let’s do Joy Division,’ because I can sing in that Ian Curtis baritone.”
David Eichenberger, local artist and designer of the 2023 merchandise for the concert series, said he has always been a huge fan of the event but could never participate because he wasn’t a musician.
“In 2014, the show started to get bigger, and people started to get more interested,” Eichenberger said. “As an artist, I thought I could do a poster, totally for free, because it’s all for charity. I’ve been making them every year. It’s just a great time.”
Scott said she has friends that she met at The Great Cover Up and only sees at the event.
“Once a year we see each other, and we hang out, and then we never see each other again until we are in line the next year,” Scott said. “It’s kind of like a little family reunion.”
The Great Cover Up will continue over the next four weeks with shows Jan. 28, Feb. 10-11 and Feb. 17-18. Tickets are $10 at the door, and all ages are welcome. More information about The Great CoverUp can be found here.