We saw 5 different bands during 3 different shows... Sin City Sinners on Friday night at Fremont Street... Foreigner, Kansas and Styx at Mandalay Bay on Saturday night... and the awesome Steel Panther at the House of Blues on Saturday night after the classic rock triple header. All shows were great. I had no idea Steel Panther was playing there until we were walking by on the way to Burger Bar and I saw a sign. We instantly grabbed tickets and squeezed in to a packed house around midnight for a killer show. Hands down one of the raunchiest and most entertaining bands you will ever see. Highly recommended.
Back to the classic rock show, the only bad news was that for Foreigner, founding member Mick Jones was a no-show. In his place though was Doug Aldrich, so despite the fact that is technically not really a Foreigner show but a (very) talented tribute band, they completely rocked ass. Kelly Hansen is an awesome vocalist and the band was really tight. They played mostly their massive hits in their 1 hour set, like "Urgent", "Juke Box Hero", "Hot Blooded" and "Double Vision" but they also dropped a couple of songs from their new CD.
Wanna talk about my love for the 80s type bands... on the weekend as a whole between all the bands I got to see Brent Muscat (Faster Pussycat), Jimmy Crespo (Aerosmith), Kelly Hansen (Hurricane), Tommy Shaw (Damn Yankees/Styx), Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake), Jeff Pilson (Dokken) and Rob Cournoyer (Raging Slab). Also we went to Sammy Hagar's restaurant so that's something, watched a KISS video tribute on the ceiling of Freemont Street and a saw a band that's straight-up hair metal Steel Panther.
Styx was great as well. I guess it's the first time I've seen them in over a decade, but I saw them 3 times in the early 80s alone. They sounded good and had a great stage show. Tommy Shaw has always been one of my favorite musicians. Here's their setlist from the show:
Borrowed Time / Mr. Roboto / Rockin' The Paradise
The Grand Illusion
Too Much Time On My Hands
Lady
Lorelei
High Enough (Damn Yankees cover)
Suite Madame Blue
Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)
Miss America
Come Sail Away (dedicated to Ronnie James Dio)
* Encore Break *
Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)
Renegade
We spent most of Sunday just wandering around the strip shopping and gambling. We watched the fountains at The Bellagio and drank beer at both Sin City Brewing locations while working in some blackjack and slots, which I actually did well at both. It was a bit chilly out and we found a nice bar with some outside tables that had fire going in the middle, so we hung there a bit away from the gambling. The Suns beating the Lakers on Sunday night topped my winnings for the weekend off.
Many more stories and much fun to go into, but I'll spare you and just drop a few photos.
