Kick Out the Jams: Staind at Whiskey Beach, Oct. 22

Band and venue clashed in an unprecedented juxtaposition of Vegas club swank and cheesy post-grunge Friday night at Green Valley Ranch Station.

Whiskey Beach, the rocking alter ego of the resort's trendy Whiskey Bar, is without question one of the coolest concert venues in the valley. The stage is set up poolside, the sound is decent, there are plenty of jumbo projection screens for everyone to see and plenty of bars for everyone to overpay for watery drinks, and you can even chill on one of those outdoor pornbeds and watch the show on a built-in TV monitor.

Unfortunately, presenting such plush amenities to the haggard skanks and goateed douchewagons of nu-metal fandom is like trying to get your dog to piss in the toilet--it's just going to make a big wet mess. Many questions were raised: How drunk do you have to be to plunge your fully dressed fat ass into the pool in icy temperatures just to throw some chubby-digit devil horns up to where Aaron Lewis can see them? And of all the places around town to get violently drunk, handcuffed and tossed for bitch-fighting, why choose the only site that is currently shooting a reality show on its premises? Yes, the Staind episode of "American Casino" should be a doozy.

As for the music, well, it was Staind. Singer/songwriter Lewis alternated between perching on a stool for some acoustic strumming during hits like "Outside" and "Epiphany," and rooting around the stage like a stone gargoyle and wailing on heavier tunes like "Mudshovel" and the climax of the concert, "Home." The foursome debuted a couple of new, unnamed songs from an upcoming album, and they sounded like, well, Staind songs--post-Nirvana angst from men eyeballing their 40s, complete with down-tuned, distorted guitars. I'm starting to believe it when this guy sings, "It's always raining in my head."

The still-unanswered question is: What was more depressing, Lewis' brooding lyrics or those crazy people polar-bearing into the pool? We may never know.--Brock Radke