Photo Credit: Ella Nakos
Alternative Rock Singer Bailey Spinn Performs in Queen City on the Final Stretch of Scene Queen's Metalicious Tour
As an avid concertgoer and fan, I've noticed the uniquely difficult job of the first opener on tour. They are required to fill the space sonically and physically, if they can, if they have the material and musicianship; they build hype for the other bands after them and try to make the audience connect to the fans at the barricade who don't want to lose their spot for the headliner. I have seen first openers deal with statue-like audiences and speed through their set with little intentionality. When I saw Bailey Spinn's opening set at The Underground, I knew she was a star in the making as she performed like a frontman on a festival main stage in our tiny, industrial Charlotte venue.
With distorted guitar riffs and midnight vocals, Bailey Spinn is an emerging artist in alternative rock and pop-rock. Her EP My Worst Enemy (2023), debut album Loser (2025), and multiple singles explore mental health and emotional storytelling through a vulnerable lyrical tone. The sonic compositions move across pop, alternative, and metal genres and create heavy moods to match deeply intimate but universal experiences. To continue her songwriting journey, Spinn’s upcoming sophomore album death & devotion releases on November 13, and can now be pre-saved on streaming platforms.
Spinn and her touring band opened for Scene Queen’s 2026 Metalicious Tour, also featuring the UK electronic metal duo Wargasm, which traveled for three months across nineteen states. The tour hit Charlotte on October 22, 2026, at The Underground, an indoor venue located at the AvidXchange Music Factory nightlife complex. With doors at 7pm, Bailey set the mood and energy at 8pm, performing and telling stories until roughly 8:30pm. But her presence continued as she hosted a free meet-and-greet at her merch stand, which allowed for comfortable, personable fan and artist interactions that make real, lasting connections.
Photo Credit: Ella Nakos
After my ticket was scanned and I entered the venue, I pushed through the crowd formed at the stage. I got myself in the third row and was standing amongst scene outfits and boots stomping on the cement floor. The speakers were blasting electronica and hyperpop as pre-set music, but as the ceiling lights diminished and Bailey Spinn started her set with heavy distortion and a bass tone deep and oceanic, the atmosphere was magnetic.
The first section of Spinn’s performance featured her fan favorite single “Voodoo” and the tour premier of “The Best of Us.” With flashing red and purple lights illuminating the stage, “Voodoo” hyped up the crowd with Spinn’s vibrant voice as she sang about manipulative and obsessive signs in romance. In a surprising follow up, Spinn and her band were able to give an infectious metal energy fueled by punchy riffs and intense crashes with "The Best of Us", a song off Spinn's upcoming album; I was headbanging with the crowd on this one and feeling the beat in my chest.
In a short interlude, Spinn talks to us about her inspirations and vaguely highlights a band she's loved for years.
"I particularly love this band's singer. If you know this song," she says. “If you know the lyrics, then sing along!"
Since I was a post-hardcore kid listening to my iPod Touch in the mid-2010s, I recognized the song from the first few notes and lyrics: "She said she wants to end it all when she's all alone in her room / She cries… / How come no one heard her when she said / Maybe I'm better off dead”! I get pulled into the music and shout parts of the chorus with the rest of the crowd as Spinn artfully covers "Better Off Dead" by Sleeping With Sirens, an essential scene song that was definitely a crowd pleaser. In an excellent transition on the setlist, Spinn's next song, one of her popular singles, was “Long Sleeves in the Summer”, which features Kellin Quinn, the lead singer of Sleeping With Sirens. She led us in waving our arms during the chorus as she sang one of her most vulnerable songs with sincere intention.
Photo Credit: Ella Nakos
Spinn prefaces the end of her set. As the guitarist melodically sets the mood, she gives us her origin story: how she started posting covers and then original pieces online, until one song changed her life. “I'm kind of a hopeless romantic,” she says, as the drums and bass enter the gothic soundwaves and the audience cheers at the beginning bars of “happy ending”, Spinn’s 2023 breakout single. The metal-and-alternative composition blends with Spinn’s romantic tone and lyrics, moving the crowd and the space.
Spinn and her live band brought a confident performance to Queen City, and as her set ended, I left feeling energized and inspired to hear more. I’m not the only one because I spy a couple of audience members pull up her Spotify page where her next album is meant to be darker and raw, cementing a new voice in rock music.