Photos and writing by Dillon Reesor
On February 27, Dexter and The Moonrocks rolled their Welcome to the Donkey Flats Tour into The Fillmore Charlotte for a night that balanced local pride and straight-up rock catharsis. With Boone’s own Cigarettes @ Sunset opening the show, the energy in the room built early and never really let up. It wasn’t about spectacle, just volume, connection, and hard-hitting songs in a packed house.
Cigarettes @ Sunset came out swinging, putting on the kind of performance that makes an opener feel like a co-headliner. Their set had grit but also control, with tight transitions, a locked-in rhythm section, and guitars that filled the room without getting muddy. You could feel the pride in the crowd, too; plenty of familiar faces up front singing along, giving it that unmistakable hometown energy. The new songs from their upcoming record didn’t feel like test runs, they felt road-ready, bigger and more confident, like a band making the step into the next tier.
The venue floor was packed and buzzing with excitement by the time Dexter and The Moonrocks took over. There’s something refreshing about how straightforward their live show is; the production isn’t elaborate, there’s no overload of backing tracks, and no gimmick to it. Just loud guitars, heavy grooves, and songs that hit exactly the way they’re supposed to. For a band only a handful of dates into the run, they already looked comfortable in the headlining spot. There’s still that slight edge of looseness you expect early in a tour, but it worked in their favor. The set felt alive, not over-rehearsed, and the crowd fed off that energy and gave it right back.
When the lights came up, there wasn’t a ton to dissect and that might be one of the biggest strengths of this show. There wasn’t anything fancy. No frills. It was loud, honest, and unpolished in all the right ways. Sometimes that’s all you need.
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