Mark’s Las Vegas Blog - Your Source for Vegas Info

The day is finally here! Time for the Rush concert. Anyone that knows me knows that Rush is my all time favorite band. It was great to see them last August at the MGM and when they announced a second leg of the “Snakes and Arrows” tour I just had to get tickets again! No way I was gonna miss them!

For some reason this time they played at the Mandalay Bay Events Center instead of the MGM, which was ok with me it was my first time to check out that venue. They’re pretty similar really, basically an all-purpose arena.

I had a pre-show meal at one of my favorite places, the Burger Bar, which I reviewed here. It was great as always, only made better by many Rush fans also enjoying a pre-show meal! I chatted with several people & all were eagerly anticipating the show. I had my usual & headed on over to the venue.

Ahh but what about the show you ask? (Yeah yeah I’m getting to that!) After getting inside & checking out the venue I found my seat.  Seeing as I’m on the short side and the decent floor seats were gone quickly I chose a seat on the side section about half way back on Geddy’s side, almost the same seats I had at last year’s show but a little closer. I like sitting there you get to see over the crowd.

On the last few tours they’ve not had an opening act, just doing an “Evening with Rush”, which suits everyone just fine. Opening acts tend to not be received as well, plus it gives the boys more time to play!

At about 8:05 the lights went down and it’s showtime! They basically have the same show they played last year, save for a couple of changes to the setlist. Even though they’re playing a lot of songs from the latest album they are including some decent older stuff and some songs not played in quite a few years.

They played for about an hour and 10 minutes then took a 20 minute break, being that they’re “about a hundred years old” LOL

They kicked off the second set with 5 in a row from the new one and then got into some more older stuff. Also on the second set was the highlight of any Rush concert, the drum solo. Anyone whose not seen Neil Peart’s solo live really is missing a treat. “The Professor” lived up to his name once again. He has made his solos a lot more musical the last few tours, not quite as show off-y as in the past, which is a good thing.

All through my past days as a musician, my biggest influence was always Geddy Lee, and it’s always such an experience to see him live. You really are amazed at just how talented the man is with all the duties he has in concert. Being the lead singer, playing some of the most complicated bass lines, playing keyboards and also triggering stuff with his feet. Also his voice is in fine form still. They have to transpose a couple of the really older songs but for the most part he pulls if off.

Alex was his usual self, really enjoying the show, making faces and being the “class clown.” He’s the overlooked one of the group but not for lack of talent. He can shred with the best of them when he wants to. In some ways he helps hold things together, letting the other two be more adventurous, which is opposite from how a lot of rock bands are.

The show was about 85-90% sold out, pretty good considering they had played here only 9 months previously. A lot of people had come in from elsewhere, as is usually the case for Rush. I wish I had the opportunity to travel around and see shows in different places. Some people stayed for a few days too (c’mon you can’t just come to Vegas for 1 day!)

All in all it was a great evening. The one thing I really admire about Rush is they’re doing it for the love of music. They don’t need to do it for the money anymore. Plus you really get your money’s worth. It’s almost a three hour show, plus don’t forget they’re not kids anymore they’re all in their mid-50’s now! They have some of the most loyal fans and for 30 years now I’ve been one of the biggest.

I have heard rumors about them working on a new record next year, so hopefully we’ll get to see them again in a couple of years. And I’ll be right there cheering them on!

Here’s some cell phone pics:

One of the awesome things about living in Las Vegas is there’s always stuff to do. For free! As you all know I’m a big music fan and go check out live bands every chance I get.

 One that I saw was coming was the Queen tribute band “Queen Nation” . They were playing for a few days downtown on Fremont St. & I went down and checked them out. Out West there’s a ton of great tribute bands, the Atomic Punks being the most well known one. I had never heard of Queen Nation before but I figured what the hell, why not go see them. I’m glad I did! They kicked ass.

As you may or may not know, Queen was one of the biggest and best bands to come from the 70’s and 80’s, having several huge hits such as “Another One Bites The Dust”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, and the sports anthem “we Will Rock You.” Unfortunately, lead singer Freddie Mercury died of complications from AIDS in 1991. (Coincedently, Kiss’s drummer Eric Carr, who replaced original drummer Peter Criss, died on the same day of cancer, however, his passing was overshadowed by Freddie’s. Still it was a tough day for Rock ‘n’ roll.) He was one of the best frontman the rock world had ever seen, both vocally and visually. So, needless to say, a tough act to follow!

But Queen Nation came very close to the real thing. The singer did a fantastic job recreating the presence of Freddie, never an easy thing. He even resembled him to a certain extent The guitarist did an excellent job of pulling off Brian May, replicating his signature stage moves and even though he plays left-handed, he had one of Brian’s well known custom model guitars and his trademark curly hair. He was a great player, recreating his parts pretty much note-for-note.

The rest of the band was excellent too. The drummer had a flashy sparkle finish kit and the raspy voice Roger Taylor is known for. The bass player, while not really a look a like for John Deacon, covered his melodic bass parts with ease.

I’ve always been a huge Queen fan and they’re one of the bands I never got to see, being too young at the time they stopped touring. But Queen Nation did a tremendous job pulling off Queen’s trademark layered sound. They really are worth seeing if you ever get the chance!

I forgot to bring my real camera but I got some ok shots from my cell phone. Here ya go!

Woohoo! My favorite band Rush is returning to Las Vegas!

They announced last year that they were adding another leg of the very successful “Snakes & Arrows” tour which made a stop here last August.
I was hoping for another Vegas date & my wish came true! May 10 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

They’ve always played at the MGM Grand Arena so I’m not sure why this show’s at the MB. Maybe a scheduling conflict? Anyway I’ve never seen a show over there so that’ll be fun.

They also said they’re tweaking the set list a little which is good. The last leg of the tour they played just a couple too many songs from their latest CD. While it’s a great CD, they could have played a few more older songs. They did play a few gems that haven’t been played in years though so that was cool as well.

The awesome thing about the show is it’s just “An Evening with Rush.” No opening act. Just 3 hours of Rush. It’s amazing to see those guys, who are all in their mid-50’s now, to just absolutely destroy it for 3 solid hours, with a 20 minute break mid-show.

Tickets are on sale now so don’t miss out! Even if you’re a casual fan you’ll never forget the experience.

I went to the Lenny Kravitz show last night over at the Pearl theater in the Palms. I had seen Lenny before back when I was still living in Florida & it was a great show. I had almost forgotten about it being that day & just by chance was reminded. I jumped online & bought a ticket for willcall pickup. I hadn’t been to a concert in a while & figured “Hey good way to close out the week!”

Now here’s the crazy part. I’ve been to literally hundreds of concerts & never had seen one with a major equipment malfunction.

Until last night.

The show started off ok, but four songs into it Lenny stopped the show & went looking for “Tommy” who I guessed was one of the crew. After a few minutes he said they had some big problems & apologized. I assumed the monitors weren’t working & he had problems hearing himself. After a few more minutes of confusion he decided to carry on as best as they could.

The show transitioned into a kind of weird unplugged/acoustic thing & he was even taking requests! He said it’d be like some friends just hanging out, only there was 2000 of us!

From there it morphed into a crazy blues jam with Lenny taking over the bass for a bit then eventually ending up on the drums for a good while. It was actually pretty fun! His band is top-notch & never missed a beat. He made the comment “You’ll always remember this night as the night Lenny Kravitz lost his mind!”

He ended the show on an up note playing one of his biggest hits to close out the show “Are you gonna Go my Way” complete with Lenny on the Flying-V guitar.

All in all is was a fun night. He managed to salvage the night & actually made it pretty entertaining. 

It was my first chance to check out the Pearl venue too. It a great place to see a show, decent size but still a degree of intimacy.

There’s some shows coming up there I’d like to see. Hopefully they work out the gremlins before then!