Admission to two concerts at The Milestone this month comes with a choice: pay $10 at the door, or donate one or more new toys instead. Charlotte musicians are hosting the shows, dubbed Santa’s Nice List and Santa’s Naughty List, as a holiday toy drive benefiting patients at Levine Children’s Hospital, marking the second year local bands have organized the effort.
The Nice List show lands on Friday, Nov. 20, with Cheer Up!, Home for the Day, Twin Beds, Grimm and Ubiquitous Twist on the bill, delivering what organizers describe as pop-punk and alternative rock, according to WCNC. Grimm is set to play its first-ever show at that concert. The following week, on Black Friday, Nov. 27, the Naughty List show turns up the volume with Screwed Ends headlining alongside Marked for Death, Jawjacked, Yamaloka and 9MM Facelift, bringing heavier music to the same stage. The shows benefit Levine Children’s Hospital, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and music starting at 8 p.m., according to WCNC.
The Naughty List event listing on extrachill.com confirms the lineup and notes the show is for ages 18 and up, with valid photo identification required at the door. That same listing spells out the toy-or-cash admission policy: $10 or one or more new toys gets you in.
From One Packed Room to a Second Year
The toy drive traces back to Jon Sanchez, organizer and vocalist for hardcore band Screwed Ends, who put together the first Noise for Toys event in about three months last year, per the station’s report. That inaugural show nearly filled the venue, and attendees donated more than 320 toys and items to Levine Children’s Hospital in the process. Sanchez said the goal is simple: help kids have a good holiday season, the outlet reports.
Bands performing both nights won’t be paid for their sets, and several groups plan to sell merchandise at the shows — last year, some bands donated their merchandise sales straight to the cause, per the same account. Sanchez has said any cash collected at the door will go toward buying more toys the following day, rather than sitting unused.
What Levine Children’s Hospital Actually Needs
Levine Children’s Hospital serves teenagers, preteens and children up to age 17, and the hospital is specifically seeking items for its older patients — sports gear, makeup and room decor among them, according to the station’s report. Per Atrium Health, all donated toys and activities must be new with tags or in their original packaging, and the hospital separately requires that stuffed animals keep their tags and that other toys arrive unwrapped for safety reasons. Atrium Health notes the hospital is happy to accept donations for patients and their families and offers scheduled drop-off appointments for those who want to give outside the concerts.
For anyone who can’t make it to The Milestone on either night, new toys can also be dropped off at four locations around the Charlotte area: Old Crescent Tattoo and Real Fly Tattoo in Concord, Spellbound Salon in Charlotte, and Home Team Pest Defense, also in Charlotte, the station’s report states.
A Nonprofit Built Around the Music Scene
Both concerts will also feature a presence from HeartSupport, a nonprofit founded by Jake Luhrs of August Burns Red that promotes mental health awareness through music. The organization says it aims to show up everywhere from small club shows like The Milestone to Vans Warped Tour, and it offers free support to anyone who reaches out, plus a support wall where fans can write messages and receive replies.
Lindsay Toal, who leads HeartSupport’s Carolinas efforts, told the outlet, “It’s so much bigger than just music. It’s a whole community.”
A Bigger Need Across Charlotte
The timing lines up with a broader squeeze on holiday giving in the region. Toys for Tots expects to serve between 5,000 and 6,000 children in Charlotte this year, a jump from the 4,635 children the organization helped last year, according to Spectrum News 1. The group says gifts for children ages 10 to 16 remain especially scarce and is asking that toys reach Charlotte drop locations by Dec. 15. The Milestone concerts benefit Levine Children’s Hospital, while both efforts point to the same gap: older kids are the hardest ones to shop for come December.
For now, the two Milestone shows offer a more direct route for the city’s punk, hardcore and pop-punk fans to pitch in — one or more new toys, or ten bucks, at a time.
