Las Vegas – Spinning Platters

Show Review: August Burns Red 20th Anniversary in Las Vegas

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks

Every band has an actual start date that they can say is their official beginning. Likewise, every album has an actual official release date. Somewhere along the way, some band somewhere was probably in-between albums and decided that their anniversary would make a great reason to tour… and well, the idea caught on, and is still going strong.

No one appears to like anniversaries more than August Burns Red. They have had quite a few anniversary tours — there was the 10th anniversary of their album Messengers in 2016, the 10th anniversary of their album Constellations in 2019, and the 10th anniversary of their album Leveler in 2021. For each of these tours, the entire album was performed. Now in 2023, there is the current 20th anniversary tour… not of an album, but of the band itself! Continue reading “Show Review: August Burns Red 20th Anniversary in Las Vegas”

Without a Phone in Las Vegas: A Silk Sonic Diary

When I left the Silk Sonic show at the Dolby Theater at Park MGM on Tuesday night, I made my way over to the official afterparty. There was a very short line to get in which they immediately steered us away from. All of us concertgoers were “guest list” which was a slow-moving, Disneyland-style mess of velvet ropes that I immediately noped out on. Why did I care about an official afterparty anyway? So I headed to the exit, only to run into the same Bay Area friend I had seen before the show. He introduced me to a friend of his who had come down from Portland for the event. He asked me what I was going to write about the show and I explained that I wasn’t going to write about it all, but then I spent the night not at the afterparty but thinking about what I should write about it. Continue reading “Without a Phone in Las Vegas: A Silk Sonic Diary”

Spinning Platters Interview: Mark Stern from Punk Rock Bowling

Punk Rock Bowling is one of the most exciting and unique music festivals running. This year, which happens to be their twentieth, is also one of their biggest! In addition to headliners NOFX, Rise Against, and At the Drive-In, we’ve got some rare visits to the US from legends including Norway’s Turbonegro and Canada’s DOA, not to mention too many other bands to even begin listing here.

Spinning Platters had a chance to pull founder Mark Stern from his busy schedule to talk about what it’s like to book a festival, which combines punk rock and bowling, and plop it in the middle of the desert at the beginning of summer. Lineup and tickets can still be found here! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Mark Stern from Punk Rock Bowling”

Festival Review: Punk Rock Bowling – Day 2 (Las Vegas, NV)

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!”

Choking Victim-8

Despite, or maybe in spite, of the heat I woke up for day two feeling refreshed and ready to go. The usual first day kinks had been worked out and entrance into the venue was faster, although I heard some rumor about ISIS threatening to bomb Las Vegas was flying around, which may have accounted for the somewhat increased security at the venue. Punks don’t take too well to the authoritarian attitude of aggressive security guards, so you can probably imagine a lot of grumbling and arguments were to be heard from the lines. Regardless I made it inside with plenty of time to grab a water bottle and head to the stage for the opening act of the day.

Continue reading “Festival Review: Punk Rock Bowling — Day 2 (Las Vegas, NV)”

Festival Preview: Punk Rock Bowling (Las Vegas)

Punk’s Not Dead Yet!

If you grew up in local punk rock scenes, it is impossible to not have heard about Punk Rock Bowling. The three-day festival has been bringing together a menagerie of fantastic punk bands in downtown Las Vegas for 19 years strong – that’s over half my lifetime – and this year’s line-up may be one of the best to date.

Continue reading “Festival Preview: Punk Rock Bowling (Las Vegas)”

Film Review: Jason Bourne

Jason Bourne returns for his darkest, most intense (and uncharacteristic) mission yet.

One of the consistently enticing aspects of the Bourne film franchise was the mysterious history of the title character, Jason Bourne. Slowly but surely, spread throughout three films, we learned bits about Bourne’s past and the reasonings behind his dangerous predicament with the CIA, and seemingly just about every government agency out there. After a failed attempt to handover the franchise to another actor, Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy — not playing Jason Bourne, mind you), we’re back with Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in…well…Jason Bourne. Non-ironically, this film reveals the most about Bourne’s past, leaving almost no mystery left by the time the end credits roll. Perhaps a little too much mystery is lost, in fact. Jason Bourne is still intense and darkly entertaining, with a welcome return to the brooding action spy hero for Damon.

Continue reading “Film Review: Jason Bourne“

Is It OK For Artists to Charge High Prices For Their Concert Tickets?

How much would you pay to see these guys?

This started with a Facebook post I made on my personal wall:

The cheap seats are $171 for The Rolling Stones at Oracle. $660 for the top price level (not including VIP which costs GKHM). Makes Prince look like a bargain.

To that, my friend and fellow blogger John Marcher of A Beast in a Jungle responded with a long post that started with the line, “Gordon, I want to debate this with you.” So over the next few days, we sent some emails back and forth doing just that, and getting into deep topics like whether career artists are truly artists. I promised him the last word, and he’ll have it between us. We do invite you, however, to post your thoughts in the comments.

John Marcher:

Gordon, I want to debate this with you. The prices are what they are, and they are fair. Is $250 too much to see Prince in a small venue? Absolutely not. He and his band deserve to paid for the show. The people setting up and tearing down the show deserve to get paid. They have to eat on the road and stay in hotels- and do you think Prince and his band are going to eat at fucking Mel’s Diner and stay at the Holiday Inn? Continue reading “Is It OK For Artists to Charge High Prices For Their Concert Tickets?”