Las Vegas Weekly

July 20, 2010 · 4:01 PM

Photos: Silver Lake stars Silversun Pickups headline at The Joint

By Don Chareunsy

Silversun Pickups perform at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel on July 16, 2010.

Photo: Hard Rock Hotel

By Don Chareunsy, Vegas DeLuxe editor

The rock show featuring Silversun Pickups, Against Me! and The Henry Clay People at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday night was a strong, loud and proud display of guitars skills and extended solos by Silversun Pickups, vocals by Against Me! and surprisingly high-level lighting for The Henry Clay People’s set, with an encore by Silversun Pickups ticking the evening past the 3-hour mark.

Best New Artist Grammy Award-nominated Silversun Pickups hail from the L.A. enclave of Silver Lake, also home of Rilo Kiley and the late Elliott Smith, and it was the band’s first headline show in town after opening for Muse at Mandalay Bay Events Center in April.

Wacky frontman Brian Aubert possesses one of the more unique and interesting voices in rock, one that ranges from softly piercing -- imagine Gollum from The Lord of the Rings singing a ballad (yes, it’s a compliment) -- to downright ravenous in his screaming upper range. It was the first show of the second half of their tour, and Aubert confessed to being “super hung over” and toasted the audience a few times throughout the night.

Vocalist and bassist Nikki Monninger was Zooey Deschanel Cotton commercial cute in her dress and light red sweater and was enchanting accompaniment to Aubert, who shared a funny incident about a missed engagement at the Double Down. Silversun Pickups saved their biggest hit, “Lazy Eye,” for last after an 80-minute, dozen-song set, whipping the crowd into a frenzy and then followed by an encore.

The crowd for The Henry Clay People was thin at the start of the evening, but the band was thankful for the reception from the crowd. The singer, either Joel or Andy Siara, who share vocal and guitar duties, admitted to being down a few hundred bucks from gambling. Against Me! performed a 40-minute set that rivaled Silversun Pickups in volume and skill and was thoroughly engaging. The punk rockers, clad in all black, included one member with an accordion, and their “I Was a Teenage Anarchist” was a standout.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

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