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Three Sheets to the Wind played the city's first drive-in concert, hosted by The Broadberry.
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Concertgoers set up tables with snacks and drinks to enjoy during the show.
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Three Sheets to the Wind onstage
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Attendees watch the show from outside their cars.
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Guests arrived in over 100 cars for the drive-in show.
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Three Sheets to the Wind played an hour-and-a-half show in the City Stadium parking lot.
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A captain's hat, a common sight at Three Sheets to the Wind shows, sits atop a truck at the concert.
“I put my feet up on the dashboard barefoot, it was great,” says Angi Pannell, 52, with a laugh.
Last Saturday night, Pannell and other concertgoers in over 100 cars filled the parking lot at City Stadium, ready to sit back and experience a special drive-in event.
The delivery lead at Capital One and her husband, Rob, chose to pop the top of their convertible — nicknamed their “boat” — for the show from local "yacht rock" cover band Three Sheets to the Wind.
“This brought back a tiny bit of normal,” Pannell says, adding that she has been searching for alternative ways to experience music.
Lucas Fritz, co-owner of The Broadberry entertainment group along with Jessica Gordan, says, “It was such a breath of fresh air.” The side of their Broad Street venue is currently decorated with the slogan “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.”
The duo have spent the past few months rescheduling previously booked concerts into the spring and fall of 2021. In mid-March, amid COVID-19-related cancellations, they kept an eye on how the live entertainment industry abroad was adjusting. They noticed one thing in particular: “There were drive-in concerts,” Fritz says. “We saw that and figured it was something we could adapt for Richmond.”
As the sun set, Three Sheets to the Wind took the stage for what was dubbed the “Catalina Car Mixer,” an hour and a half of throwback hits from Hall & Oates, Steely Dan, and others, anchor-shaped lights shining behind the band.
“This is about the people who are here in their cars tonight,” lead singer and guitarist Max Power said during the show, before the band performed “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers.
When the concert was announced, the city was still in phase one of the governor's reopening plan, which would’ve restricted individuals to their vehicles, but by the time of the show, phase two offered a little more freedom for attendees, some remaining in their cars and tuning in to the live radio broadcast, others in lawn chairs next to their vehicles.
Fold-out tables were topped with snacks, families positioned themselves in the beds of their trucks, and a few children blew bubbles — a PG, less rowdy version of a tailgate party.
“When we left I actually said, ‘I could get used to this,’ ” Pannell adds. “It was something unique, something nostalgic. People are just happy to have things coming back that they miss.”
Also happy is Three Sheets to the Wind band member Topper Dandy, who can recall the exact date the tribute band played its last show.
“March 14,” he says without hesitation, noting that this is typically the band's busiest season, filled with weddings and fundraisers and events. Of the drive-in concept he says, “We thought, ‘Let’s just get this city back to seeing shows.’ ”
Proximity on their side, residents on Maplewood Avenue were also able to enjoy the show, sprawled across their front yards on blankets and in chairs for a free dose of music.
While the scene at a drive-in concert is undoubtedly different, Dandy says that, overall, it felt astonishingly familiar.
“We were kind of worried it would be a 'Wave your wipers in the air' kind of thing, or 'Honk if you hear me' — we made jokes about that, how will we interact and make this be special and unique?” he says. "In the end it was; a lot of the things we were worried about being absent were there. Emotionally, for all of us, it felt like a real release.”
Concertgoer Pannell remarks that the novel setup and social distancing actually helped alleviate typical annoyances at a show: hearing the audience talk while a band is playing and having people bump into you.
“It created that distance but didn’t seem unfriendly. We chatted with people before the show and after,” she says. “It took away some of the things that are less fun about going to live shows.”
Fritz says The Broadberry is planning additional outdoor drive-in events through the summer and fall, also eyeing The Diamond, which can host about 500 cars, as a venue.
Expect Pannell to be there. “I'm ready for another, let’s do it again.”