Blondie & B52s @ Mandalay Bay Beach

Ohhhhh Yeah! This is how every concert in Vegas should be. Ankle deep in water, not crowded and full of people just having FUN! For our first ever concert at Mandalay Bay Beach, ABH and I joined Spoon and headed into see the B52s open for Blondie. A bit of a nostalgia trip, and not sure what to expect, but this was to be a blast of night.

This outdoor venue gives the option of standing back a ways on the sand or actually being in the pool to get closed to the stage. We opted to cool our heels in the middle of the Vegas summer and relaxed into the evening.

Once the B52s came on stage everyone was in party mode (especially the muscly dude in the pink dress and matching beehive who we'd seen earlier in the night eating dinner inside Hussongs). There is nothing complex in what the B52s do - its just fun, dance music. Even the songs which I didn't know - which was most of them - were catchy enough to keep the crowd moving. They finished the main set with Love Shack - and yes the girls can still hit those notes - which lit the place up. But for me the highlight was definitely their encore ending Rock Lobster. I rate seeing that song live up there with seeing Smells Like Teen Spirit and Killing In The Name Of live. It was spine tingling.

How were Blondie ever going to top this. Unfortunately they weren't, but they did hold their own. I enjoyed the set when I knew the songs (Hanging On The Telephone, Rapture, Call Me, Heart Of Glass, One Way Or Another, The Tide Is High etc), the songs I didn't know lost me (and I think the crowd). Still a great show. It was also great watching a storm roll in from the south east and travel east of the Strip, yet the concerns of lightning forced everyone out of the pool for the (probably shortened to) 1 song encore of Blondie.

2 legendary bands now ticked off my bucket list.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 297th concert.

Mandalay Bay Beach is the 80th venue I've seen a concert.

This is my 94th concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 94th concert in Nevada.

This is my 105th concert in the USA.

The B52s are the 367th band I've seen.
Blondie are the 368th band I've seen.
Blondie are the 150th time I've seen a band in Las Vegas.