Vegas native Sidoris rocks Golden Knights’ new theme song

Funny how these Las Vegas relationships work out.

Frankie Sidoris has never had a major sports team to call his own before the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights never had an official theme song until Sidoris wrote them one. This is how “GKG” (acronym for Go Knights Go) came to be.

The Las Vegas native and rocker who has performed with Slash’s band and Wolfgang Van Halen has penned the tune, which premiered Oct. 13, before the Golden Knights’ home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks. “GKG” plays before every Golden Knights’ home game.

The song’s debut was something of a Big Reveal. Sidoris was simply shown on the scoreboard’s LED screen as the Golden Knights took the ice, jamming to the new tune in a prerecorded clip. There was no announcement at all of what was going on.

The video continued to roll, showing such Vegas celebs as Wayne Newton, Steve Aoki, Carrot Top, Piff the Magic Dragon with Showgirl Jade Simone, Lil Wayne, Terry Fator and Blue Man Group.

Sidoris, who just reopened the vintage dive bar Hard Hat Lounge on Industrial Road, says, “The backstory is one of those crazy things that happens in Vegas.” It started in July, when Golden Knights in-arena announcer and ebter exec Mark Shunock simply asked Sidoris if he could rock up the VGK pregame show.

“Mark asked, ‘What if you write the song that’s like an in-your-face arena song?’ ” Sidoris says. “The very first I idea when I hung up the phone, became the idea, which is always cool.” Sidoris quickly contacted his close friend and producer Kane Churko, son of Kevin Churko, who has worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch, Hellyeah and several other famous rock bands.

“He’s such a next-level producer, he’s always busy, but he found time to work on this,” Sidoris says. “He loves me, and loves the Knights.”

And Sidoris loved the assignment, playing all the instruments aside from electric drums, which Churko played. The two teamed on the “Go, Knights, Go!” chant.

The song was finished in a single recording. That’s actually not such a shock. Sidoris is a prolific guitarist and composer, whether with Slash Ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators or with Van Halen’s Mammoth WVH rock outfit.

Sidoris’ Vegas underpinnings have been well-chronicled. He’s the son of Angela Stabile, original “Crazy Girls” cast member and co-founder with Matt Stabile of Stabile Productions (“X Burlesque,” “X Country,” and Piff in the company roster). Frankie is the son of longtime resort figure Frank Sidoris, these days working the casino floor at Resorts World Las Vegas.

The musician has been a Golden Knights fan since the teams inception. During a tour stop in August 2021, Sidoris famously posted a video while wearing his VGK and parading through San Jose’s SAP Center, aka the famed “Shark Tank.” This was his way of calling out the rival San Jose Sharks.

“I’ve never had my own sports team until the Golden Knights,” he said. “The Raiders are cool, but they’re not the Golden Knights to me, at all. They were homegrown. I’m homegrown. Now I have a team to root for.”

U2 is in

We are confident original reports of U2 headlining the first residency at MSG Sphere are accurate. We are also confident the shows open in the early fall of 2023, with a dozen performances set for Fridays and Saturdays.

U2 announced this month they are partnering with Irving and Jeffrey Azoff’s Full Stop Management. Irving Azoff is CEO of Madison Square Garden Company, which in 2020 spun off Madison Square Garden Entertainment, operator of MSG Sphere.

On the Holmes front

Clint Holmes and Kelly Clinton-Holmes are splitting their ticket on Saturday night.

Clint Holmes and multi-instrumentalist Christian Tamburr are partnering on “Sounds For Sculpture” at 6 p.m. Saturday at Myron’s. Written by Tamburr, king of the vibes and also the cool vibe, the music is inspired by the bronze sculptures of Seward Johnson. We saw its premiere in 2019 at the Lincoln Center, alongside the acutal Myron (Martin), and were blown away.

Kelly Clinton-Holmes is also hosting a show at 6 p.m. Saturday, the “Troops With Paws” fundraiser and cocktail party at The Stirling Club. The show benefits the organization of the same name, which helps disabled veterans acquire service dogs from dog rescues. Earl Turner and Ms. Monet co-starring. Go to TroopsWithPaws.org for info.

Leibow is back!

Ex-“Jersey Boys” cast member Jeff Leibow hosts the 12th annual “NF Hope Concert,” also at Myron’s, at 2 p.m. Sunday. The event was launched in 2011, and Leibow has been on a crusade ever since, expanding events to New York and Chicago, and even lobbying Congress for funding. But the need remains in the fight against NF, as it is known. It is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that causes tumors to form and grow on nerves anywhere in the body, at any time, without showing any pattern of development.

Jeff and Melody Leibow’s 12-year-old daughter, Emma, has battled NF since infancy.

Clint Holmes, Vegas’ “First Lady of Jazz” Michelle Johnson, ex-“Phantom” leading man Brent Barrett and ex-“Future Broadway Star” runner-up Breanna DeSantos are among the performers. My man Chet Buchanan hosts. Tickets are $49, go to thesmithceneter.com/nfhope for info.

Cool Hang Alert

The esteemed Jerry Jones, a dear friend and also co-founder of Fifth Avenue vocal act, marks his 60th birthday Friday night at Kenny Davidsen’s show at Tuscany’s Piazza lounge. The theme is … Cool Hang, I think. Anne Martinez, Chris Phillips of Zowie Bowie, Jimmy Denning, Bucky Heard, Christina Balonek, Al Bernstein, Tyriq Johnson, Cheryl Daro, Vincent John, Michael Shapiro, Steph Payne, Elisa Furr and yours truly will take the mic. The show runs 8:45 p.m.-1 a.m., or so. No cover. Spankings allowed, but not endorsed.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.