City council member's cover band to play at music festival
'Da704 is going to be saying that Post Malone opened for us,' council member Tariq Bokhari says
The following article appeared in the April 8, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
City councilman and his band will take the Lovin’ Life Music Festival stage next month; will event set Charlotte up to ‘become better than Nashville’?
Charlotte City Council member Tariq Bokhari, the guitarist and lead vocalist of a band called Da704, will play at next month’s Lovin’ Life Music Fest. Its first gig, above, was last month at Goldie’s in South End. (Photo courtesy of Tariq Bokhari)
Next month, music lovers will descend on uptown to see artists like Stevie Nicks and Post Malone perform at the Lovin’ Life Music Fest in uptown. Also on the lineup: a Charlotte city council member.
Tariq Bokhari, who represents District 6 in south Charlotte, is set to perform with his recently formed ’90s rock cover band called Da704.
The Lovin’ Life Music Fest, which will run May 3-5 and is being organized by Charlotte-based Southern Entertainment event and production company, will have one of its three stages dedicated to Charlotte-area performers. Some 90,000 attendees are expected in the 20-acre festival site in uptown’s First Ward neighborhood.
At the other two stages, artists including Stevie Nicks, Post Malone, Noah Kahan, DaBaby and 40 others will take the stage.
“Da704 is going to be saying that Post Malone opened for us,” Bokhari joked in an interview with The Ledger.
Bokhari said he expects the festival to become an annual attraction, “and it’s going to potentially take us into a spot of, over time, becoming better than Nashville" because of its emphasis on local music.
Bokhari is Da704’s lead singer and guitarist, along with five other core group members. They perform covers of bands like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Cake.
Lovin’ Life will be the second time Da704 has performed for an audience, Bokhari said.
The band’s name comes from a Call of Duty video game group Bokhari formed during the pandemic, which included then-city council member Larken Egleston and Charlotte Business Journal publisher T.J. McCullough. (Neither Egleston nor McCullough is in the band.) The name is also obviously a nod to the city’s area code. —Lindsey Banks
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