09.28.09 · 12:07 AM
Five things we learned at the Lifehouse concert
There was much to be learned at Saturday night’s Lifehouse concert at Mandalay Bay Beach. “This is one of the most interesting gigs we’ve ever played,” said lead singer Jason Wade. “I’ve never played on top of a wave pool. I kinda like it.” And we kinda like you, Jason. Don’t we ladies? 1. Lifehouse finished their new album last week. It should be coming out around Christmastime. 2. Guys: Chicks dig Lifehouse. More than they dig you, in fact. 3. ... Read more...
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Facebook09.25.09 · 12:47 PM
Chaos at Cursive
If you chose to skip out on Thursday night’s Cursive concert because you saw the Nebraska indie rockers three months back, you missed out. The band, venue and turnout may have been the same, but this time around Tim Kasher and friends brought a whole new energy to the stage at the Beauty Bar. Here are a few show highlights that reminded us why we love the band so much: -A flip-flop clad Kasher (who confessed to have forgotten to ... Read more...
09.23.09 · 3:54 PM
Instant popularity recipe
Begin prep in late ’08. Take five BYU students; mix synth, pop and new wave. Open for Kelly Clarkson. Set timer for June ’09, then transport Imagine Dragons to Vegas. Marinate in local scene, peppering heavy with Killers influence. Bring to a full boil at midnight on Beauty Bar’s stage. For vocalist Dan Reynolds, combine one part Anthony Michael Hall to one part epileptic seizure to one part maniacal air-drumstick soloist. For guitarist D. Wayne Sermon and bassist Ben McKee, ... Read more...
09.23.09 · 3:52 PM
Scene from a shuttle van
Bunkhouse, 10:15 p.m.: The Petals exit the stage. Sergio, 21, heads for the giant white USA Hostels passenger van parked behind the Bunkhouse; it’s the festival’s official shuttle. Zero passengers approach. “I drove around twice last night then stopped.” Why? “No one got on.” Why not? “They didn’t advertise it well.” Are there signs on the van that say, “Hey, this is the Neon Reverb shuttle,” so people don’t get into random child-molester vans? “They made some signs last night. ... Read more...
09.23.09 · 2:56 PM
If Gogol Bordello were a venue
There’s a towering totem pole, a pirate flag unfurled high above a tiki hut-slash-bar, a vintage-clothing store that might be mistaken for the Seven Dwarves’ guest cottage, a free-standing art gallery and light strings swooping from the full-size caravan/backdrop to a two-tiered, fabric-draped stage. Half musical tailgate, half Tijuana street fair, Katie Cewe’s Gypsy Den hands down wins the title of Best Neon Reverb Addition (Venue Division). Oh yeah, and bands Kid Meets Cougar, Cats From Japan and Pan de ... Read more...
09.23.09 · 2:52 PM
A dingo ate their drummer?
With skinsman Anthony Johnson called to New York on emergency, the four remaining members of dark-haired, dark-clad Australian shoegazers The Morning After Girls opted for comparatively free-form, ultra-dense, moody soundscapes. But heaviest of all? The fact that the 1:15 a.m. start cost them half their lead-in Beauty Bar audience. Read more...
09.23.09 · 2:49 PM
Serene don’t swing
So, a dozen numbers but nowhere to fit The Most Serene Republic song that would really hit home with locals? I mean, if you’d released a cover of Jim Lowe’s 1956 hit “Green Door” with the lyrics “What’s that secret you’re keepin’? … Don’t know what they’re doin’ … All I want is to join the happy crowd behind the green door,” you’d play it at the Beauty Bar, a mere 2.63 miles from the world-famous social club, right? Read more...
09.22.09 · 11:37 AM
Pet Shop Boys ticket giveaway
Get ready East End boys and West End girls, AEG Live and Las Vegas Weekly are partnering once again to give you free tickets to see Pet Shop Boys at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel Casino on Saturday, Sept. 26. Known for their hits “West End Girls,” “It’s a Sin” and “Always on my Mind,” Pet Shop Boys is a London-based duo with more than 50 million records sold and 42 singles on the UK Top 30 charts, ... Read more...
09.20.09 · 12:15 PM
Curtain call
Neon Reverb’s fall edition is finishing up strong, riding two elements vital to the festival’s future survival: a thick crowd and a powerhouse local act. Electronic duo Afghan Raiders are raging inside Beauty Bar and the crush of bodies is loving every second—seriously, it’s around 150 degrees in here and the walls are shaking so hard they might disintegrate at any moment. Opening with their own “Future Thinkers” and closing with a remix of Daft Punk’s “Technologic” that has the ... Read more...
09.20.09 · 12:13 PM
Not quite Themselves?
For the second time this year, Oakland hip-hop duo Themselves is onstage in the Beauty Bar backyard, headlining the Neon Reverb festival’s closing night. But tonight’s performance by the Anticon label pair could scarcely be more different than its March counterpart. Spit-fire rapper Doseone is still spewing out some 500 words per second, and cohort Jel is once again playing every beat in real time on an electronic drum pad with his bare hands. Where Themselves’ spring set was focused ... Read more...
09.20.09 · 11:07 AM
Preach it, brother Daniel
As the minute hand joined the hour hand signaling it was officially Sunday, the crowd at The Bunkhouse got a dose of the Gospel, the Gospel according to Leopold & His Fiction. The San Francisco trio who made a big splash at last spring’s Neon Reverb Festival was back with a fresh set list reminiscent of a bluesy church revival. Adding to the Sunday school vibe was one front row fan clad in white blousy garments akin to a priest’s ... Read more...
09.20.09 · 10:57 AM
Neon Reverb: The best of the Bunkhouse
Cow punk rockers The Clydesdale celebrated the release of their latest CD with an energetic party that only Neon Reverb could host. The show brought the band to the Bunkhouse along with The Mad Caps, Leopold and his Fiction and The Flametrick Subs. The music was great, and we couldn’t pick just one favorite melodic moment from the night. However, there were some obvious standouts. Now presenting, the Best… …dedication: “This song is for anyone who doesn’t like surf rock ... Read more...
09.20.09 · 10:49 AM
Observations while waiting for bands at the Double Down
-One of Lock N Load’s band members dressed for the occasion with his “I fucked your girlfriend” work shirt. -The new mural on the wall sucks. It’d be awesome at a rave under a black light, but doesn’t work at the Double Down. -Thankfully, the nasty-ass sofa is gone. “Something tells me there’s gonna be some moshing tonight.” - Scott Berry, photographer for the Double Down calendar. -A good way to kill time and entertain is to ask Berry to ... Read more...
09.20.09 · 12:23 AM
Anatomy of an Imagine Dragons super fan
A shock of blond curly hair bobbing above the crowd caught my eye at my first Imagine Dragons concert a few months back. Every band has a super fan. It’s the person who never misses a show, is always in the front row and sings along to every word. For local indie popsters Imagine Dragons, this fan is Weston Brown. Brown began following his friend Dan Reynolds as he started to make his way through the ranks of the Las ... Read more...
09.19.09 · 12:12 PM
Salt Lake City is the real Jerusalem, and other revelations from Neon Reverb
Jacob Smigel has a loyal fan base, and they like to shout at him. “I came all the way from Portland to see you,” one fan and friend belted out at the Bunkhouse on day two of Neon Reverb. Not impressed, Smigel replied, “Well, I drove from Phoenix to get here” and regaled the crowd with tales of a Dukes of Hazard-like jump over the Hoover Dam bridge in his rental car. The Vegas local, who now attends medical school ... Read more...
09.19.09 · 11:49 AM
Scenes from The Square Apple
7 p.m. Something’s not right. Tables and chairs in the lounge area are pushed together to create two large walkways leading to the stage, where a dozen or so people mill about. Instrument cases lie on the ground, and static blares through the speakers while someone attempts to correct sound system issues. This Neon Reverb show is definitely not starting on time. In fact, the band now expects an “around 9 p.m. or so” start time. This might be devastating ... Read more...
09.19.09 · 11:49 AM
Reeling ’em in
Being away from the Vegas scene doesn’t seem to have hurt The Skooners’ popularity any. Despite going on last, around 1:30 Saturday morning, the sometime-local pop-rockers—who skipped town for California earlier this year—have drawn the Aruba’s largest crowd (yeah, bigger than that for the festival bill-topping Warlocks). And that crowd doesn’t seem random; judging from their rabid response, these are fans, who showed up specifically to dance and sing to The Skooners, clocks be damned. The set mixes old favorites ... Read more...
09.19.09 · 11:48 AM
Mutual appreciation society
Las Vegan Bobby Martinez is front and center for The Warlocks’ Friday night Neon Reverb performance in the Aruba Showroom, but he could be even closer. The ex-member of the Los Angeles psych-rock outfit says he was asked to rejoin the band—and nearly accepted—earlier this summer, before opting to remain in Vegas and pursue his own project, Vietnam Cowboy (The Warlocks’ Facebook page actually lists Martinez as its current bassist). Martinez has to bail on his mates’ densely layered, three-guitar-topped ... Read more...
09.19.09 · 11:47 AM
Busy feet
And the Neon Reverb award for most tricked-out equipment bundle goes to: Woven’s Steve Abagon. Along with his guitar and mini piano, the self-described “pedal jedi” (seriously, dial up the Los Angeles band’s MySpace page) has arrived onstage at the Aruba Showroom Friday night with a giant board packed with effects pedals; we count more than 20, and he’s using pretty much all of them to some strange sound-enducing extent or other. Not to be outdone, lead singer Ory Hodis ... Read more...
09.18.09 · 4:20 PM
Free Creed ticket giveaway!
AEG Live and Las Vegas Weekly are teaming up once again and bringing you tickets to see Creed at The Joint on Sunday, September 27th! After selling over 35 million albums worldwide, Grammy Award-winning rockers Creed are coming to Las Vegas where they’ll likely perform hits like “With Arms Wide Open,” which won them Best Rock Song in 2001. The band took a brief break in 2004, but today they are back together, preparing to release a new album in ... Read more...
09.18.09 · 12:33 PM
Adventures in spaz-dancing
“That was like being in a tornado,” Jackson Wilcox declares after descending into the crowd toward the end of Neon Reverb, Night 1 at the Bunkhouse. Appearances by his local indie band, A Crowd of Small Adventures, are typically fidgety audience affairs, but a bizarro moshpit inhabited by lanky inebriates jerking through a series of Monty Python silly walks? Hey, there’s a first time for everything, right? The head lunatic comes precariously close to taking out Wilcox’s mic stand and/or ... Read more...
09.18.09 · 12:26 PM
New Cloud rising
Vegas’ Mike Weller released one of the best-ever local albums just a year ago, his folk-rock group’s eponymous Hungry Cloud. So naturally, Weller isn’t playing anything from it tonight at the Bunkhouse. It’s a risky move, but an understandable one, given that Weller has been playing his old tunes for a couple years now, first solo in coffee houses and then electric with a full band behind him. He and that band have spent weeks working up the new material ... Read more...
09.18.09 · 12:07 PM
Unusual dreams
Strange to look onstage during a Dreaming of Lions performance and not see Joe Ervin at the mic. Not that it’s the first time. Singer-songwriter Chris Leland says he’s done a few DoL shows over the years without his longtime cohort, but it’s certainly far from the norm. Never fear. Leland explains that Ervin simply had to work tonight. So for this Neon Reverb, Night 1 set at the Bunkhouse, the Vegas-based folk group consists of Leland, Wyatt McKenzie (who’s ... Read more...
09.18.09 · 12:03 PM
Banter at Boomers
Here are three comments we heard during the Nobunny, Monster Zero and Mapes show at Neon Reverb. 3. “More cowbell!” Normally, we love hearing this pop-culture catch phrase shouted out by audience members. It’s the modern-day equivalent of requesting every band to play “Freebird.” However, when someone in the Monster Zero audience expressed a fever for which the only prescription was more cowbell, the only thing we could think was: “Isn’t the keytar enough?” We love the tackiness of this ... Read more...
09.17.09 · 12:09 PM
Win free tickets to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!
Who wants to play a fun game of “What the heck is Karen O wearing?”… for free? The Weekly is teaming up with Citi Private Pass again to give away a pair of concert tickets, this time for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs! Brian Chase and Nick Zinner will join Karen—though significantly less sequined—live at the Pearl at The Palms this Saturday. You’re undoubtedly familiar with the indie trio or you probably wouldn’t bother reading about this contest. But just to ... Read more...
09.16.09 · 11 AM
Score free tickets to Kid Rock!
Citi Private Pass and Las Vegas Weekly have done it again. We’ve got your free tickets to the hottest shows of the summer, so you know we had to bring you Kid Rock on Thursday, September 17th at The Pearl at The Palms! This Kid lives a life of no rules. An eclectic mix of heavy metal, rap, rock, blues and country, this Devil Without a Cause is all about rocking out and having a great time in the process. ... Read more...
09.15.09 · 3:43 PM
Neon Reverb: The complete schedule
What do Poor Kids on Glue, Shark Speed and Black Beans ‘N Hippy Liver have in common? They’re all bands performing this weekend at Neon Reverb, the local music festival that’s back for its second annual installment and bringing four nights of fantastically named bands and hometown favorites. With 13 different venues in the mix, the festival has expanded to encompass additions like South Padre and Texas Station, Boomers, The Square Apple and The Meet Lounge, but Downtown Las Vegas ... Read more...
09.14.09 · 5:45 PM
Nobunny loves (and scares) us
The inboxes of the Weekly staff are no strangers to the absurd. From inquiries into our relationships statuses to offers of first-born children in exchange for a music review by Spencer Patterson, we hardly bat our misanthropic eyes anymore when checking our E-mail. Just when we thought nobody could entertain us, Nobunny did. Not much stood out in the promotional E-mail we received from the promoter of Nobunny’s upcoming Vegas show. All of the necessary information was included: 21+ show ... Read more...
09.12.09 · 2:07 PM
Me and Mariah: An encounter with the diva after 16 years
Until last night’s performance at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms it had been about 16 years since I’d seen Mariah Carey. If I had been within cheek-pinching distance of the songbird diva, I might have been tempted to give her a slow head shake and a, “My, how you’ve grown!” Good thing I was in the upper deck; I can’t imagine 39-year-old Grammy-winning singers enjoy getting those from anyone but their grandmothers and maybe Aretha Franklin. A lot ... Read more...
09.11.09 · 3:02 PM
Oooh baby, I love your free Frampton tickets!
Citi Private Pass and Las Vegas Weekly have your tickets to see Peter Frampton live, Friday, September 18th at the Pearl at the Palms. Peter Frampton, originally a member of the bands Humble Pie and The Herd, is a British entertainer who’s much more than just a musician. Frampton sings, writes, produces and is known for playing multiple instruments. After splitting from his previous bands, Frampton continued a success career in music, producing live albums like Frampton Comes Alive!, which ... Read more...
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SMS Alerts
Featured Cocktail
May 15, 2013
by
Sabrina Chapman
The Golden Pillar: An architectural cocktail built for XS
This Sunday, XS nightclub celebrates the grand reopening of its after-dark pool party, Night Swim. Along with the bash comes a new offering of signature cocktails served by the pitcher, ...
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