Last night was one of those concerts you really appreciate, intimate venue and musicians who you could tell were genuinely having fun. Plus the venue, Veil at the Silverton, is a really great place in Vegas to catch a show.
I was super excited not only to see Brett Dennen in concert once again but also the opening act DAWES and let’s just say neither disappointed. DAWES ripped through a 45 minute set playing a handful of songs off their new album Nothing Is Wrong, which came out two weeks ago, and work off their debut album North Hills including the crowd favorite “When My Time Comes.” Two little side notes, last night bassist Wylie Gelber could have been mistaken for the Treme character Sonny played by Michiel Huisman and please if you haven’t already, check out Taylor Goldsmith’s side project Middle Brother which I still can’t get enough of.
A quarter after 9 p.m. Dennen took the stage in Las Vegas for the first time. He definitely had the crowd dancing throughout while jamming on both his acoustic and electric guitars to deliver a 90 minute set that spanned his catalog and also included a couple sing-a-longs. As expected, he performed a lot of new material off his latest disc, Loverboy including “Dancing at a Funeral,” “Comeback Kid,” and “Sydney (I’ll Come Running).” The highlight of the show however was the four song encore which began with Dennen playing “Heaven” and “Ain’t No Reason” acoustically before being joined by his band and DAWES for a rocking cover of Steve Miller Band’s “Swingtown.” Closing with “Blessed” the song that put him on the musical map was a perfect way to cap the night.
Do You Hear The Music? 