CHARLOTTE — Before Luke Combs took the stage last weekend at Bank of America Stadium, he was thinking of his childhood.
At age 8, Combs’ family moved from Huntersville, near Charlotte, to Asheville. Combs asked his parents why the family was making the move.
“And my parents told me, ‘Well, you know, nothing bad ever happens in Asheville,’” Combs recalled. “There are no tornadoes, there are no hurricanes, there are no this, no that. It was this safe haven. And my dad always told me he loved the mountains so much because he felt so safe there. He felt like he was, you know, in some ways, wrapped in a warm hug by the landscape.”
It’s why Combs and another child of the North Carolina mountains, Eric Church, decided to act when something bad happened in Asheville after all.
The duo organized Saturday night’s Concert for Carolina at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium, a one-night fundraiser to help fund western North Carolina’s recovery from the damage rendered by Hurricane Helene.
“Half my year, we live in Banner Elk, North Carolina,” said Church. “And these are my neighbors. These are my community members. And to see what happened where the Elk River came through there is just beyond anything that I could have ever imagined.”
Both singers had families in the area and had some frantic moments in the days immediately after the storm.
“I think that the thing that was really scary for me, personally, was that I didn’t hear from anyone for a few days,” said Combs. “As you all know, cell service was down. Internet was down for quite some time, still being affected in some ways. And so that was really shocking because you’re in the boat of ‘Well, is everybody OK?’ You don’t know.”
“To echo what Luke said, the scariest part was the silence for a period of time when people were trying to get in touch with people,” said Church. “And we’re still trying to find people. So I think that’s the big, devastating part. The biggest thing, I think, for Luke and I, most important part, is we continue to shine a light on this. This concert’s a great way to do it, but these people are going to need help long after tonight and long after next month and long after six months. So it’s about how can we continue to put this up front to make people be aware of what happened there.”
The concert came together quickly and was able to raise more than $24 million for western N.C. relief, with money going to several agencies and charities providing aid to the area. It’s required round-the-clock effort from Church and Combs.
“It’s been a complete melee of communication and planning,” said Combs. “These things, a show like this, usually takes a year or a year and a half to plan, and we were able to get it done in three weeks.”
They received help from several other people around the state, perhaps most notably Panthers owner David Tepper, who offered Bank of America Stadium completely for free.
“We did what we had to do,” said Tepper. “When Luke’s people called up and say they wanted to put this thing together and do it fast. … In a way, it was an easy ask because we really wanted to do it.”
Many of the biggest names in music made appearances, including Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, as well as North Carolina products like the Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery and Chase Rice. There were also surprise guests brought onstage, including Randy Travis and Urban’s wife, Nicole Kidman.
Perhaps the biggest name was also one of the toughest to land.
“We both kind of went through our phones and tried to figure out who we could get to,” said Church, “and I had to get James Taylor. I just had to hear ‘Carolina In My Mind’ in this stadium. So I made it my mission, and I’m pretty sure, after talking to James last night, that I think I stalked him for a period of a week or two.”
First responders from western North Carolina were provided free tickets for the show, and despite a delay due to — of all things — the threat of severe weather — the five-plus hour concert went off in front of 82,000 fans and thousands more watching the livestream.
“North Carolina is both of our homes,” said Church. “The small communities that specifically make up western North Carolina are these strong, independent, proud communities. I’ve said many times that they’re the exact community that when the community next door is in trouble, you can count on that community to come help you. And in this situation, there is no community next door. It’s all been destroyed. So what you’re seeing tonight is we are the community next door. The people that are in this stadium are the community next door.”
