The Alabama Music Box hosted one of its more unlikely bookings in March 2014: the Pizza Underground, a New York band devoted equally to pizza and to the Velvet Underground, with actor Macaulay Culkin among its members. The 9 p.m. show carried a $10 cover.
The band’s concept is exactly what it sounds like — the group performs Velvet Underground songs with the lyrics swapped out for fond commentary on pizza. The gimmick made the group a national curiosity, and rumors swirled before the Mobile show that boxes of pizza might go crowd-surfing through the venue during the set.
A stacked undercard rounded out the night, including Toby Goodshank, the Jackblind Band and the Super Nice Bros, the latter known for live shows that never go the same way twice.
The date also carried some local significance: it was one of the last shows scheduled for the Alabama Music Box’s original venue space, giving Mobile fans a final chance to catch a show in the room before the change.