Arcade Fire and more, Las Vegas, Nevada

 April 12-15 2011

Given that I don't much care for gambling or strippers Las Vegas has never been my favorite destination but over the years I have found myself occasionally bouncing around The Strip. In  this instance the National Association of Broadcasters convention was held (as it always is) in Vegas and since I had a good reason to attend this year I found myself in Sin City once again. I have always found good music difficult to come by in Las Vegas and that hasn't changed a great deal. If you are into Celine Dion, Barry Manilow or Donnie and Marie, then this is the place to go.

Arcade Fire 

However, in recent years both B.B. King's  Blues Club and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville have opened franchises in the city and while not perfect, they offer some outlets for decent music. The other happy musical coincidence was that Arcade Fire, recent Grammy winner for Album of the Year, had a concert scheduled for The Joint a the Hard Rock Cafe during my visit.
Arcade Fire put on a great show. They are a band that cultivates an obvious Indie vibe but with an arena rock kind of energy that I hadn't seen in years. As you will see from these videos, I was about 20 feet from the stage. I could feel the waves of bodies ebbing and flowing around me in beat to the music. It was particularly interesting to see the odd instrumentation the band used introducing kazoos, violins, bass fiddles and I think a hurdy gurdy into the mix. It also appeared that everyone in band got a turn at playing drums with two drum sets going at once on  several occasions.
Beyond Arcade Fire the rest of the music I ran into was a mixed bag. Some decent party bands and some talented entertainers. Of course it is impossible to check out all of Las Vegas in a few days because it is so difficult to navigate around the constant traffic, gamblers with oxygen tanks and the hookers so I won't pretend that I investigated every decent musical venue. I'll start the videos with three from Arcade Fire. You will notice the use of an interesting multimedia display that was on evidence during the entire show.

The Los Angeles band Local Natives opened the Arcade Fire concert with an appropriate amount of musical fury. I liked the energy and the musicianship of the band but, as I told Dr. Mark Chase during the concert, they couldn't write a decent hook to save their life. This clip is representative of their sound. Notice the use of multiple drums again. The obsession with the drums reminds me of Adam and the Ants. Does anyone remember Adam and the Ants?

Grant Garland was the guitarist Wednesday night at B.B. King's Blues Club. He is an excellent blues/rock guitarist out of Memphis. Here is his rather unique take on an old Hendrix standard.

The Bashers is a great rock party band that plays most weeknights at the Carneval Court. This is their version of a White Stripes song.

This band was at Carneval Court on Friday and I still haven't figured out the joke. The lead singer is pretending to be a Nazi Stormtrooper while the rest of the band wear Devo hats. You'll notice they have the same lead guitarist as The Bashers which leads me to think they are really the same band with a girl vocalist added in for the afternoon crowd.

This band was playing at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville on Wednesday night. You will notice the lead singer is trying to signal me to do something. Apparently he didn't want me to take a video and the bouncers almost kicked me out. I guess this band is very protective of their intellectual property rights as they relate to their interpretation of a Poison cover.

This band is called Mr. and Mrs. Smith and they were playing at Carneval Court on Friday night. They are an odd rap/hip-hop/rock mash-up and seem more concerned with getting people to drink than their music.

I soon tired of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and wandered down the Strip only to end up in a crummy little casino called O'Shea's which had a couple of surprisingly good bands. This was the closing band for the night. They are a cover band but at least they do it well and with enthusiasm.

This was the first band I saw at O'Shea's. A little cornier and but still entertaining and a better use of time than  losing your shirt at the roulette table. Overall, Las Vegas remains a town that is primarily about gambling and breasts and that probably is never going to change. At least there are a few interesting musical experiences available for those of us that are looking for such things. And of course, there is always Donnie and Marie.