The Offspring & Terrible Things @ The New Joint

13 years. Wow! That's a long time since seeing The Offspring. It was the Big Day Out in 1997 that I last saw The Offspring. And from vague memory it was a good show, but not as wild as the first show I saw at Selina's (where people were stage diving off the bar).

The night started with a young band from Pennsylvania, Terrible Things. Not sure how they got on this tour. Their music didn't really suit The Offspring's fans, and certainly did not set the world on fire.

The New Joint was not even half full when The Offspring came on (maybe everyone was at the MGM seeing Sting). This didn't stop them, declaring they didn't have a new album to push, the band spent the next hour and a half pumping out the hits. The only downside to the show was a song played solo on the piano (Gone Away) - not the way you want to hear it.

Overall a good show, but not the right venue. I'm still not sold on the New Joint. It seems to be a big, cavernous space and so far only No Doubt has been able to fill it properly.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 296th concert.

This is my 4th concert at The New Joint.

This is my 93rd concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 93rd concert in Nevada.

This is my 104th concert in the USA.

Terrible Things are the 366th band I've seen.
This is my 4th Offspring concert.

Henry Rollins @ Wasted Space

After being bedridden for a week, today saw an improvement in ABH. But today I also found out how sick she was. She passed on seeing Henry Rollins. Definitely not a good sign. She was well enough to let me go and so I met up with the Hills and Spooner at the Pink Taco before we headed into Wasted Space to see (my 7th) Henry's Spoken Word Performance.

This is by far the best venue I have seem Henry in. Small, intimate and not a crowd that could easily get to a bar, get drunk and try and ruin it for everyone (though there were some sound glitches at the start which threatened to shorten the show).

Henry proceeded to talk for 2 3/4 hours about anything and everything. Ann Coulter. Visiting Australia. Going to the Nelson Mandela Library in South Africa. Meeting Kurt Sutter (Sons Of Anarchy). Judging on Ru Paul's Drag Races. And much more.

As always he was hilarious and opinionated, but never did it fell like you wanted it to end. Again it is hard to review a comedian / spoken word artist, because you can't retell the story - you just have to be there. Can't wait to see show number 8.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 295th concert.

This is my 3rd concert at Wasted Space.

This is my 92nd concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 92nd concert in Nevada.

This is my 103rd concert in the USA.

This is my 7th Henry Rollins concert.

Cage The Elephant & 22-20's @ Wasted Space

I like to see bands that friends say are great. I love it when these bands blow you away, which is the case of Cage The Elephant.

The Hills invited me to see this band at Wasted Space, a great little (400 people) venue inside the Hard Rock Hotel, which, except for the wanky VIP section is a fantastic venue to see bands.

We walked in at 10pm to a near full house, already, with England's 22-20s just starting their set. They had a good sound and kept the audience's attention, which is no easy task in Las Vegas. I knew nothing of their music but liked what I saw, especially the song Shake, Shiver & Moan.

22-20's cleared their gear off and in no time the stage was set for Cage The Elephant. Again all I knew of them was from the 2 listens to the Live At Grimeys EP that I bought that morning (man it was good to be in a record store again - thanks Zia Records). But what I heard, I liked. Little was I to know.

To a relatively mild applause from a now packed room, maybe from a lack of recognition, the band strolled on and prepped to go. From the very first note, Cage The Elephant were on fire. HOLY SHIT! All 5 band members have such an enthusiasm for their music, and it shows in their live performance. It is energy plus for the next hour. This vibe is best shown through vocalist Matthew Schultz. His energy, passion and movement makes him the greatest front man since Iggy Pop (in my opinion). He did not stop for a blistering hour. And while his interaction with crowd was minimal (except for his sad $1 loss in Vegas and a couple of stage dives), he had them in the palm of his hand. There was not a moment in the set that Cage The Elephant wasn't racing at 100 miles an hour. In the end Cage The Elephant finished to thunderous applause - heightened by Shultz's one last stage dive and stand in the crowd. Many a people had been converted by the most energetically charged band I've seen in the last few years (The Hold Steady & Gogol Bordello excepted). It is now time for me to find more of their music and pray that they return to Vegas soon - preferably before they get as huge as they deserve to be.

Thanks to Erik & Shelley. You take me to this after we dragged you to an ordinary Arctic Monkeys show and I draw my usual freak magnet crowd. I definitely owe you one.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 294th concert.

This is my 2nd concert at Wasted Space.

This is my 91st concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 91st concert in Nevada.

This is my 102nd concert in the USA.

The 22-20's are the 364th band I've seen.
Cage The Elephant are the 365th band I've seen