Charleston Pour House Lighting Director Shares His 10 Favorite Shows of 2022

Today we take our final look back at the best of 2022 as Owen Kowalski, lighting director at the Charleston Pour House shares his ten favorite shows that he ran lights for last year. With hundreds of shows at the iconic venue every year, running lights at the Pour House means helping to conduct some truly epic performances.

See what Owen thought was the best of Poho in 2022, in his own words, below:

1. Eggy Halloween (10/31)

It was definitely the most connected to a band I felt this year as it was their 5th show of the year at Poho and they are one of my favorite bands touring right now. And in the spirit of Halloween they all dressed as different iconic costumes of elton john and sprinkled in his songs throughout their 2 mega sets that night.

2. Dogs in a Pile (8/25)

My other favorite band touring right now came back for their second appearance at the Pour house, after hanging out the night before for dead on the deck with the Reckoning and a Runaway gin show on the main stage, they were ready to get their turn to bring it on the main stage.

3. Big Something w/ Of Good Nature (2/18)

A special one for me because Thibault from Life Is Art brought a GrandMA2 stadium full that was owned by Chris Kuroda from 2010 – 2019 which means it was on Phish tour for those years as well as Justin Bieber’s tour and Ariana Grande’s world tour and he was kind enough to let me run that light board for the talented opener Of Good Nature.

4. Ibibio Sound Machine (10/28)

After a day full of car troubles and needing 2 Uber XLs from Columbia to here with little to no sound check came in and had they whole crowd moving and grooving with a very unique electronic afro-funk from London. Their lead singer, Eno Williams, had such an unbelievable command over the crowd and directing their dance movements throughout the room in a way I haven’t seen since Andy Frasco, splitting the room to the friendly collide into each other moments later.

5. Motet After Party for PPPP Lot Show (4/29)

Was a funky show with a sit in from Jeremy Schon of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong that capped off a long day of hard work by all the staff who put on one of the lot shows in the back lot under the trees. It was also cool to see the guys from Pigeons just hanging out in the crowd enjoying the show after they crushed a show of their own.

6. Taz Takeover II – Night 2 (5/27)

It was a funky and soulful night with many great artists such as Nick Cassarino from Nth Power and some local horns of Chris Williams (sax), Patrick Marzett (trumpet), and Hank Bilal (trombone) contributing to a very fun and energetic show led by Brandon “Taz” Neiderauer in what I consider to be his best show I’ve seen here.

7. Circles Around The Sun – Night 1 (8/18)

First night of a rare 3 night run at the Pour House where they came out and set the tone for the next two days, with more disco balls in the main room than ever before, letting everyone know it’s going to be a fun dance party all weekend long.

8. Fireside Collective (10/14)

Simply had to be the best bluegrass / jamgrass performances I saw on the main stage this past year.

9. Joshua Ray Walker (11/8)

Just a pure and authentic country show with a great voice and heartfelt lyrics that held so much emotion and history in each and every one of his songs.

10. Iceman Special (6/10)

I was completely caught off guard by how good this group from New Orleans was with a unique sound and take of some southern rock and jams.