Bloc Party & Santigold @ Cosmopolitan Pool

Unfortunately the weather put a literal and figurative dampener on the evening.  A rare storm passing through Vegas meant that I was getting to the venue as Santigold was supposed to start.  Instead I was greeted with a mile long line through the Cosmo’s convention center, as lightning had prevented doors being opened for guest safety.  Finally got into the venue only for continued rain to keep the roadies busy getting Santigold’s gear ready, then protecting it with plastic covers.  After near an hour, an announcement is made that Santigold would be cancelled, to many jeers from the crowd. 

On the plus side this did thin out the crowd a little, while it took another hour to set up for Bloc Party.  And just when they were about to come on stage some water got into a keyboard and made a God-awful noise (another 20 minutes to sort this out).  Finally at 11.20pm Bloc Party take the stage and kicked off with Octopus from the forthcoming Four album.  It wasn’t until Positive Tension that the crowd reacted with a bit more fervor. The set was a great one, with snippets taken from all 4 albums, but mostly from my favorite Silent Alarm.  After a mere 50 minutes they finished off with Helicopter and took bows for the crowd.  I at least expected an encore but by the time they’d left the stage it was announced that Santigold would perform.

It didn’t take nearly as long for her set up, and with even less people in the crowd, Santigold was on stage by 12.30am.  Generally speaking this is not type of music I’d listen to, but, like when I saw Thievery Corporation at Coachella a few years ago, Santigold has a great presence and puts on a fun show.  About 4 songs in she invited anyone who could get on stage to come on up and it seemed like it was 50/50 to those still in the crowd to those on stage.  After about half an hour of heavy thumping bass, I was done – it was still an hour before I’d get home and this is waaaay past my bedtime. 

While the Bloc Party was shortened due to the weather, it still turned out to be a pretty good night, in spite of the start.

The Crap Facts

This is my 338th concert.

This is my 4th concert at Cosmopolitan Pool.

This is my 134th concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 134th concert in Nevada.

This is my 146th concert in the USA.

Santigold are the 405th  band I've seen.
This is my 4th Bloc Party concert.

Beck @ Pearl

I am worried that I have such high expectations going into this show I may be disappointed. Beck is renowned for putting on a great show and nowadays these shows are few and far between. Surprisingly the Pearl is not two-thirds full, and there is plenty of room on the floor – though I am with Erik & Shelly, so the freak magnet was still on in the form of a Michael Jackson dancing guy right in front of us.

Beck definitely started with a one-two bang with Devil’s Haircut & Loser to start the night. I am not too familiar with a lot of his songs, so I was wondering where he’d go from there. The entire set stayed solid, with a great Bob Dylan Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat cover (better than when I saw Dylan do it a couple of years ago). While Beck himself kept pretty low key, the band was tight and having a great time. New Pollution and the finishing Where It’s At were a couple of other highlights, before an awe inspiring 3 song encore including Mutherfuker & Girl.

While it was not the spectacle I was thinking of, this Odelay heavy Beck set was a great performance and I’m so glad I can tick him off a rock n roll bucket list.

The Crap Facts:

This is my 337th concert.

This is my 10th concert at Pearl.

This is my 133rd concert in Las Vegas.

This is my 133rd concert in Nevada.

This is my 145th concert in the USA.

Beck is the 404th band I've seen.