Thursday, December 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Best concerts of 2003

Newt Briggs

The Donnas at the Huntridge, Jan. 27. There's always a moment of sorrow when the Donnas rush the stage, and you realize--once again--that they are in fact as plain Jane as the pictures in their CD inserts. Fortunately, the girls' pigtails and skintight Ts are so bubblegum cool that the disappointment is only short-lived.

Slim Cessna's Auto Club at the Cooler Lounge, Nov. 3. With its suspect plumbing, fuzz-friendly PA and lack of regional microbrews, the west side's Cooler Lounge has never really established itself as an epicenter for hippie nation. But when Slim Cessna's Auto Club comes to town, the longhairs hit the lounge in droves, slurping down Newcastle and doing their funky hippie dance to Cessna's free-range blend of punk rock and religious revivalism. As always, corduroy is optional but encouraged.

Snoop Dogg at the Aladdin, April 26. Even though Snoop's become more of an icon than a hip-hop innovator, he still has some shizzle in his pizzle, dizzle. Or is that razzle in his tazzle, dazzle?

The Immortal Lee County Killers at the Double Down Saloon, Sept. 24. Any band with the gumption to cover Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman" with nothing but a Gibson SG, a pair of cymbals and a dozen feet of half-inch chain is too cool for words.

The Killers at Tramps, Nov. 16. The Killers are either (a) the most brilliant marketing ploy since Apple recruited George Clinton to say, "Think different," or (b) the best band to come out of Vegas since, like, forever. Either way, "On Top" is destined to be new-new wave's answer to the Strokes' "Last Nite."

Hot Water Music and Sparta at the Huntridge, Feb. 19. Lord knows when emo was conquered by self-loathing blowhards with names like Nathan and Zachary, but back in the day, it was one of the most asskickingest riots in punk rock. For proof, see Hot Water Music and Sparta.

The White Stripes at The Joint, Sept. 25. Say what you will about Jack White's liberal riff-borrowing and Meg White's "My First Drum Set" exuberance behind her kit, the White Stripes backed up the colossal hype over Elephant with a Las Vegas show that ravaged all but the most jaded blues-o-philes. Highlights: Jack's jester-worthy stretch pants, Meg's strobe-backed solo to "Seven Nation Army" and the pair's barnburning rendition of Leadbelly's "Take a Whiff on Me."

Brock Radke

1. Queens of the Stone Age at the Joint, Feb. 22. With the exception of the upcoming Strokes gig at Cox, the edgier, more critically acclaimed rock acts that come to town always seem to end up at the Hard Rock. I think this is because the Hard Rock doesn't want anyone coming inside who's not rich or sexy. There were some rich and sexy people at the QOTSA show, but also plenty who were neither rich nor sexy, which shows that stoner rock is equal opportunity music. In between side projects and Lollapalooza dates, the Queens found time to pound an appreciative Vegas audience with "No One Knows" and other stick-in-your-head power riffage. And for one night there was no Celine.

2. Deftones at Cox Pavilion, Oct. 30. Did you ever see the "Back to School" video? Deftones running rampant in some high school, causing a ruckus? Chino Moreno on top of a table in some Bunsen burner-heavy science lab, howling into a mic and blowing windows out? That's what it was like to see Deftones at Cox, which looks and feels like a school gymnasium ('cause it is, sometimes). Stephen Carpenter's guitar racket and Abe Cunningham's hyperactive kick drum rattled brick walls while Moreno twitched and writhed and played with his voice effects box. If nu-metal is dead, call Deftones something else.

3. The Used at the Huntridge, Jan. 11. The Huntridge has posted a few sellouts since its much celebrated reopening, but few had the passionate following of this one; screamo goes mainstreamo in the capable hands of The Used. Maybe you don't dig the desperate screams of Bert McCracken, ex-Utah drug addict and Kelly Osborne boyfriend, but all those shaggy kids in black T-shirts shuffling through your high schools sure as hell do. The Huntridge stage just wasn't big enough for this band, which makes me wonder: After the upcoming remodeling of the place, will the Huntridge be too big for all-ages favorites?

5. Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Oct. 8. Las Vegas loves the Chili Peppers, as evidenced by local crowds going apeshit for two overpriced, crowded shows at the Hard Rock last New Year's. Ten months later, the legendary L.A. punk-funkers dropped a similar set for an arena crowd, mining its modern-day mellow hits with some "Under the Bridge" action coming in the encore. The audience, spanning wildly in age from Hot Topic-clad teenagers to damn near baby boomers (and Penn Gillette!), was less receptive to the loud and playful indie-rock songs of the Flaming Lips, but any apathy dissolved when Flea and John Frusciante took the stage and jammed their way into "By the Way."

6. Glassjaw at the House of Blues, July 14. Long Island post-punk innovators Glassjaw weren't even the headliners at this sweaty summer show, as they were forced to open for Warped Tour-mates Thrice. But the dense guitar barrage of songs like "Tip Your Bartender" and "Cosmopolitan Blood Loss" left no question as to who were the real hardcore heroes in the house. Unlike most of the young rock bands jumbled into their genre, the guys in Glassjaw have the ability to take the tension and sweeping structure of their recorded material and drill it into your head in live performance. That's a good thing.