Giving thanks to Vegas music scene
We all know what you have to be thankful for as you gather around the dinner table with the family today: namely, this column.
In this space, I selflessly offer you all the joys that your loved ones sometimes provide, with none of the crushing disappointment of when junior fails to make the football squad yet again or your whiskey-defeated uncle passes out in the gravy bowl at dinner in a few hours.
But while I give, I also receive, and as such, this is what I have to be thankful for this year:
■ That the three-day dance music marathon Electric Daisy Carnival came to Vegas, generated more than $135 million in revenue for the city, and did so without any serious incidents. When the fest was announced, there were plenty of naysayers who predicted a mass intoxicated stupor (but we already have that here in Vegas every October when Jimmy Buffett hits town in a funnel cloud of empty beer bottles and barf). They were wrong, and next summer, the EDC is coming back. Both electronic music fans and the local economy will benefit.
■ That I got to witness the Drive-By Truckers, one of America’s most crucial bands, make their Vegas debut after 15 years in March. It was worth the wait, as the show was a firecracker with a long fuse that eventually detonated with a show-ending scouring of Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.”
■ The Warped Tour returning to Vegas for the first time in seven years. Yeah, watching the show on asphalt beneath the June sun made one empathize with a sausage on a griddle, but just seeing badass booze hounds Lucero in the daylight made it all worthwhile.
■ That I still have an outer layer of epidermis, somehow baked to a churrolike crisp, after seeing Rammstein breathe fire (literally) at the Thomas & Mack Center for 90 minutes in May.
■ That Doom in June came back for a second go-round of seismic riff rock. It was cool to see the Las Vegas Shakedown come back as well. Indie fests such as these are hard to get off the ground and usually require a few years of long hours and losing money to gain any momentum. But both events are worthy of being national draws.
■ That Big Friendly Corporation, one of Vegas’ best bands, has a new album due out soon.
■ The twice-a-year Neon Reverb fest still moving forward as a huge asset of the Vegas music scene, even if it doesn’t get nearly enough financial support and remains largely a labor of love — perhaps this is why it garners so much love in return.
■ That Nickelback is playing Detroit, not Vegas, tonight.
Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.