The Allman Brothers Band, one of the bands that made me love music the way I do (also the band that sings my favorite song of all time). Last week it was Gregg Allman who descended upon Las Vegas and setup shop at Pearl at Palms for a night. I can honestly say that the show was fantastic and a tip of the hat to Allman for delivering a heck of a performance for everyone in attendance. Check out my review in the new issue of Vegas SEVEN.
It was another music filled weekend in Las Vegas and I had the chance to catch shows at three of my favorite venues in town. First up was Young The Giant at The Joint where the Cali kids rocked it and sounded fantastic during their 40 minute set. Opening for Incubus put them in front of a great crowd and I’d say garnered them a heap of new fans.
Next up was ditching Incubus to race up the road to The Cosmopolitan to catch the Smashing Pumpkins, a band I had never seen live until Saturday night. They sounded good but it was all new material so not hearing the hits I had grown up listening to was a disappointment but good friends and hanging out made the evening complete.
However last night was the highlight of my weekend as I ventured over the Pearl at Palms to catch the main man, Lupe Fiasco. The Chicago MC tore through his catalog of hits including: “Words Out Of My Head,” “Show Goes On,” “All Black Everything,” “I Gotcha,” “Kick, Push,” “Go Go Gadget Flow,” “Superstar,” “Daydreammin’, “Hip-Hop Saved My Life” and a whole lot more. The only disappointment on my end was not hearing “Paris, Tokyo,” my favorite Lupe jam. Also Ashanti Floyd, his violinist was off the hook and really left his mark not just on me but the entire crowd.
First two Young The Giant photos by Scott Harrison of Retna, Smashing Pumpkins photos by Erik Kabik of Retna (@Erik_Kabik on Twitter).
Holy concerts! Vegas is stacked this weekend with a ton of great shows. For me, it’s simple; I’ve been waiting a while to see The Avett Brothers and they are the Friday night selection. Tomorrow, I can’t stray from one of my favorite artists, G. Love. I’m starting to lose count on how many of his shows I’ve been to and if his performance is anything like it was at Bonnaroo, oh man are we in for a treat. Both are performing at the Silverton inside Veil which is almost as intimate of a venue as you can get in Vegas.
Also on Saturday, Queens Of The Stone Age play Cosmopolitan, Soundgarden is back and rocks out at The Joint, INXS is at Pearl at Palms and local jam band about to make it big, Moksha is at House of Blues.
Recently I was presented with an amazing opportunity and was asked to write a feature on Live Music Venues in Las Vegas for 944 Magazine. Below is the four page story which ran in the April issue, highlighting five of the top venues in town as well as a side bar with a handful of other places to check out live music. If you want to view the digital version, click HERE and go to page 76.
(originally appeared in 944 Magazine Las Vegas – April 2011)
Big thank you to everyone for the support of my blog because without it, I wouldn’t have had the chance to turn my hobby into something more and end up writing a feature story for a magazine.
Cheers!
Craig
