TV On The Radio & Arctic Monkeys @ Cosmopolitan Pool

Two great bands co-headlining, 1 awesome venue – as if I was going to miss this one. The Cosmopolitan Pool is a new favorite venue – outside, not too big, good sound and good bands. Though $10 for a beer – c’mon!

I caught the last 2 songs of the Smith Wesserns and wasn’t enthralled by what I heard.

I was surprised that the Arctic Monkeys opened (I think of them as a bigger band) but who cares. I think all the English in the crowd – and there was a ton of them – felt the same. But then again, the English probably aren’t used to seeing the Monkeys in such a small venue. The earlier the Arctic Monkeys album, the better, and unlike other shows of theirs I’d seen, they played a good mix from each of their 4 release. Obviously the new album, Suck It & See, was well represented (from the beginning with Library) but it was the stuff from the first album that sent people into a frenzy. I loved The View From The Afternoon, followed straight away by I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor. And it seemed like the band were really enjoying themselves – which is different from the last 2 times I’d seen them. The set finished with When The Sun Goes Down, and from the first strains of “Who’s that girl there???” It was the perfect ending to the set. 18 songs from an opener. Very happy with that!

Not sure why, but it seemed to take forever to get TV On The Radio onto the stage. And by this point I think all the English had left as there wasn’t near as many people around. But all the better for the rest of us. A totally different sound from the Arctic Monkeys, TVOTR are great in their own unique way. Not as many songs but a little longer that than AM, TVOTR the highlight came with the frenetic Wolf Like Me, closing the regular set. Only a 2 song encore as I think the late start robbed us of a couple of extra songs (but we’ll survive).

Great double bill, but that seems to be happening a lot in Vegas lately. Bring it on.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 321st concert.

This is my 2nd concert at Cosmopolitan Pool.

This is my 117th concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 117th concert in Nevada.

This is my 129th concert in the USA.
This is my 3rd Arctic Monkeys concert.
This is my 2nd TV On The Radio concert.

Rancid @ House Of Blues

It’s hard to beat a good Rancid show and tonight was no exception.

The House of Blues was PACKED – it was 2003, when the Foo Fighters played since I’d seen it this full.

I walked in as they started and then proceeded to be blown away by 37 songs over the next 2-and-a-bit hours. I think both the band and the crowd fed off each others energy and a good night was had by all. Roots Radical, Time Bomb, Olympia WA and Fall Back Down were highlights for me. I also liked the 3 song acoustic break in the middle of the set (last time they did this at the House of Blues was when they were forced to after blowing the power back in October 2006). It gave both the band and the crowd a breather.

A 3 song encore was finished with the awesome Ruby Soho – my favorite Rancid song. I felt like I didn’t want the show to end, which is always a good sign. And for the first time in a long time I bought a tshirt to take as a memento.

When are they coming back?

The Crap Facts:

This is my 320th concert.

This is my 37th concert at House Of Blues.

This is my 116th concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 116th concert in Nevada.

This is my 128th concert in the USA.
This is my 3rd Rancid concert.
Rancid are the 300th time I've seen an American band.