The Fourth of July is a celebration of the freedoms generations of service members have defended, and there is no better place to honor that spirit than at a bar built by one of them. Off The Wagon is a veteran-owned and operated dueling piano bar in the heart of downtown Asheville, where Independence Day comes with a little extra meaning.
Asheville turns into a citywide party, and when the daytime events wind down, the pianos at Off The Wagon are just getting warmed up.
In Asheville during July and August, the humidity wraps around you like a warm blanket, and temperatures push well into the 80s and 90s. Even a short walk through downtown can leave you searching for the nearest air-conditioned refuge. The good news is that you do not have to sacrifice an incredible evening just because it’s too hot. Some of the best summer entertainment in Asheville happens indoors, where the AC and the fun are cranked up!
Asheville has always shown up for its veterans, and every year the Memorial Day long weekend becomes one of the most meaningful times to visit the city. If you are a veteran, an active service member, a reservist, a guardsman, or a first responder, there is one place downtown where your service is honored with a door held open, year round. That place is Off The Wagon, a veteran-owned dueling piano bar on North Market Street, and this Memorial Day weekend we want to tell you exactly why we do what we do.
Walk into Off The Wagon Dueling Piano Bar on any given night and you'll notice something right away: this isn't a place where people sit quietly with their drinks. The room is loud. People are singing. Strangers are laughing together. And somewhere in the middle of it all, two pianists are feeding off the crowd's energy and playing whatever the audience throws at them.
That's the magic of a dueling piano show. There's no set list. No predetermined playlist. Just the crowd, the performers, and a wild mix of requests that can swing from Chappell Roan to Garth Brooks inside of ten minutes.
If you're planning a trip to Asheville and wondering what a night at Off The Wagon actually sounds like, this list gives you a pretty good idea. These are the 20 songs our crowd requests most — and they say a lot about who walks through our doors.
There is a moment that happens at nearly every show at Off The Wagon Dueling Piano Bar. A song kicks in, a few voices rise, and within seconds an entire room full of strangers is singing in unison, laughing, and leaning toward one another like old friends. If you have ever wondered why that happens so effortlessly, or why you always leave feeling lighter than when you walked in, science has a very satisfying answer.
The psychology of music is a rich and well-researched field, and group singing in particular triggers a cascade of neurological and emotional responses that explain everything from the warm buzz in your chest to the way you suddenly feel connected to the person next to you at the bar. Dueling piano shows take advantage of these responses and create a perfectly engineered environment for them to flourish.
