The Last Vegas at the House of Blues – 02/27/10

It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to see a great up and coming rock-n-roll band live.  It’s even more rare when the opportunity presents itself to see such a band that

arguably had one of the best rock releases in the past decade.  And it is almost unheard of that such a band would also have a dynamic stage show that it would capture the raw essence of said release.

The band.  The Last Vegas.

Opening for Tesla at the sold-out House of Blues is no easy feat.  The vast majority of fans in the audience wanted to hear old-school Tesla.  They would have no patience for Tesla playing newer material from their most recent and stellar release, Forever More, let alone material from a band that has never released an album on cassette.

Surrounded by the mongoloid screams of “Free-bird”, hair straight out of Dynasty, “Tesla Troops” members and the stench of Bud Light filling the air, my apprehension for a band that brings the sleaze, glam and punk worthy of the Sunset Strip and best heard at the Rainbow or Roxy was high.

It started out a little harsh with the mix on the opener.  I’m not sure what the song was, but presumably it is something off their next album or perhaps an extended sound check.  Things got whole lot better as they went to what should’ve been their opening track  of “Whatever Gets You Off” and the crowd began to warm up to them as a result of the infectious energy inherent in this track and the somewhat manic gyrations of lead singer Chad Cherry.

The energy grew as they moved into the next track “Dirty Things You Do” as even inpatient Tesla fans appreciated Chad’s description of “she wants to fuck on a bed of money”.  In addition to Nate Arling’s crushing drumming driving this track, Chad threw in a good scream and tonality reminiscent of Axl Rose circa 1988.  It is apparent that the band enjoys playing this track live.

The band then moved into another track even the great Boondoggle was not familiar with. Something sounding like “What you take it now”, that had a great bass line and Chad began to finally interact with the audience.  Unfortunately, his interaction was to announce they were going to then perform “Apologize” to which an apparently “Signs” loving Tesla fan behind me screamed “Apologize for sucking”.

However, once “Apologize” started the crowd immediately forgot their desire to hear “Modern Day Cowboy” for the 6,432nd time and started to sing with the chorus.  I’d have to say this was probably the turning point in the set, as the energy in the crowd seemed to palpitate to The Last Vegas.

Two new songs were next with “Devil in You” an obvious crowd favorite and the bluesy but grammatically challenged “Living Ain’t Easy” building on the momentum of the set.  After the set in a discussion with Nate, he mentioned that they were in pre-production on a new album and if these two tracks are representative of the follow-up to “Whatever Gets You Off”, rock fans around the world are in for a treat.  If a true measure of a songs greatness is whether or not you like it the first time you hear it — these two new tracks passed that test for me.

Ending the set with the instantly familiar “I’m Bad” and “Love Me Bad”, Chad really began to connect with the audience almost daring them to not enjoy themselves.  Throwing off his glasses, performing with authenticity that would not be seen later in the night and with an urgency of a band possessed with the skills to turn the crowd.

As the set ended and I walked back to the bar, an unusually wide man wearing a NASCAR jacket looked at me and excitedly exclaimed, “That little dude reminds me of Mick Jagger”.

Mick Jagger, indeed.  And if you could put Jagger in a blender with Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Guns-n-Roses, Motley Crue and add a fifth of Jack Daniels you’d have The Last Vegas.

But their album immediately, if not sooner.  You won’t be disappointed.

* World famous 13 Stupid Question Interview with lead singer Chad Cherry