Essential Junk

Cowboy Junkies have routinely perplexed music listeners over the last twenty plus years with an ever evolving sound that somehow remains uniquely their own. On Friday night, the band played two sold-out shows at the Old Town School of Folk in Chicago with each set taking listeners on different but equally rewarding journeys through the band’s deep history.

Currently touring in support of the Nomad Series, a four album collection of songs with distinct personalities, the band divided each show into a selection of new songs followed by more familiar songs. Singer Margo Timmins apologized early for exploring so many new songs during the show but few in the audience could have cared. When the band locks into their dark groove and Timmins begins to sing, the sinister but gentle sounds they create are nothing short of magical.

The early show moved along a little carefully as the band settled into the evening on the final night of a busy tour with two full shows to conclude the weeks of travel. The band’s final installment of the Nomad Series, The Wilderness, is the album that comes closest to the band’s traditional sound and new song “Damaged From the Start” pulled back the instruments just a notch and allowed each word the space it needed to cast a spell of sad beauty. Shifting into the second half of the show, the band started with “our one happy song”, crowd favorite “Anniversary Song” and rewarded the audience’s patience with “Sweet Jane”. Coming out for an encore, the band shared some of their Canadian humor on “Fuck, I Hate the Cold”, something the Chicago audience could certainly appreciate.

The later show found the band settling into the shadows of the tiny hall and exploring the darker corners of their catalog. Paying homage to singer songwriter Vic Chesnutt on Demons, volume two of the Nomad Series,  Cowboy Junkies set the tone early in the set with “See You Around” and the emotionally broken “Square Room”. While the second half of the set included another run through of “Sweet Jane”, the set reached for less familiar songs that showcased the band’s ability to make subtle shifts without losing a mood. The extended blues of “32-30 Blues” allowed guitarist Michael Timmins and Jeff Bird on mandolin to trade blasts of distortion as Margo moved to the side of the stage to avoid the shrapnel blasting from the amps. Ending the night with an understated “Lost My Driving Wheel”, the band found the energy to return for a two song encore including fan favorite “Blue Moon Revisited” as the night, and tour, came to an end as the clock struck midnight in Chicago. The band’s new material more than holds its own with the band’s more popular early work and Margo Timmins has never sounded better as a vocalist. The band will be on the road again this summer and I will be seeking out tour dates to catch across North America. 

Imagine Dragons – Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas Strip

Playing before a hometown audience in celebration of the release of their major label EP Continued Silence, Imagine Dragons held a captive audience in their hands from the opening notes. Singer Dan Reynolds displayed all the mannerisms of a rock ‘n’ roll star while the band shifted through the multiple sounds that make Imagine Dragons an ever evolving, confident band. On the new EP, the band incorporates beats typically found in hip hop without losing their identity as an alternative band with stadium sized hooks. Bringing the new songs to stage, the band looped in the necessary beats and acoustic tracks to fill in the powerful impact of the band’s live sound. New song “Radioactive” had some deep drops that Skrillex would appreciate while lead single “It’s Time” had the entire audience singing along at the top of their lungs. The song felt very appropriate in the small club. With an upcoming stint at SXSW, Imagine Dragons are close to leaving the tiny clubs behind and will be filling much larger rooms in the not so distant future. Older songs like “I Don’t Mind” inspired even more adoration from the loyal fans who hung on Reynolds every move.

Less than a month old, the new EP has already found a place in the hearts of fans. On “My Fault”, everyone knew the words as the chorus built to Coldplay heights of emotion. As the buzz of Imagine Dragons begins to emanate from Las Vegas to the rest of the world, the band’s music has all the necessary ingredients to capture legions of new listeners. On stage, the passionate and spontaneous energy of each song turns every live performance into a collective celebration of music that few bands are able to match. During their all too brief set on Friday night, Imagine Dragons bid farewell to Las Vegas for now and left fans beaming with pride knowing that this might have been the last time they’ll see the band in such an intimate setting. 

On Thursday, February 23rd, Cowboy Junkies will celebrate the completion of The Wilderness, the fourth album in their Nomad Series, with a free listening party at www.cowboyjunkies.com. The band continues to challenge themselves and the listener with an ever evolving sound and The Wilderness marks another high point in a critically unblemished career. It will serve as an excellent entry point for new listeners while igniting even more excitement from longtime fans. I recently swapped emails with guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins.

In the coming weeks, the band will release The Wilderness and complete the four album Nomad Series. I know you were aiming for 18 months but releasing four complete albums in twenty months is an incredible accomplishment. Looking back at the process, which album was the most challenging for you?
Tough question. They all had their issues…and all for different reasons. Renmin Park was difficult because it was so hard to start, we didn’t really know where to begin. Demons was hard because we were screwing with the work of a very unique artist. Sing In My Meadow was really fun to record but there were three or four songs that Margo really struggled with finding an approach and the mix was very tricky, because I wanted it to sound live, but still loud and powerful. The Wilderness was hard because we were running out of time and I really wanted to come in close to our deadline, so there was a time crunch.

The Nomad Series began to take shape during a stay in China when you were able to embrace the culture and explore their underground rock ‘n’ roll scene. From what I’ve read, your work with Chinese artist Zuoxiao Zuzhou on the Renmin Park album actually inspired the Beijing music festival the band played in  2010. How meaningful was that show to you as a musician?
When I left China in 2008 I was determined to come back with my band and perform but I had no idea how to do it. The fact that two years later we were on a stage performing in Beijing was a very proud moment for me. It was especially exciting because we got to hang out in Beijing for a week and I was able to watch the band and crew get as excited and enthralled with China as I was.

Living in China, how aware of Western rock ‘n’ roll were the people you interacted with? Were there any bands that seemed to have broken into China that they connected with?
I was in a small town so there wasn’t a lot of awareness of Western culture in general. But in the big cities like Beijing and Shanghai there are enormous art scenes that encompass and feed off of many of the same influences that influence New York or London or Paris.

I’m always struck by how the band isn’t afraid of exploring new sonic directions. Does this unfold naturally or do you enter the studio with the intention of pushing the music into unexplored territory?
It depends on the project. With Renmin Park there was a definite conscious decision to push the envelope, hard. With Sing In My Meadow, we had a very specific vibe and sound we wanted to capture. With Demons it was all about serving the song and the songwriter…and with The Wilderness it was a much more organic approach.

Going back to the 1980′s for a second, the band started with an album of blues covers by the likes of Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker that incorporated a lot of post-punk elements from bands such as Gang of Four and early Cure. Over the years, the band’s love of classic rock artists such as the Stones and Springsteen has also surfaced. When you started, who were the most immediate influences on the sound you were creating?
Consciously it was those traditional blues artist and then traditional country artists. But we were inspired to play by the late 70’s punk scenes in London and NYC and we grew up fans of Springsteen, Neil Young and all sorts of 60’s and 70’s rock. Alan and I had also seriously delved in to the experimental jazz scene, so whose to say what the most immediate influence was.

As a guitarist, you’ve never forced your way into a song and, on stage, touring musician Jeff Bird often takes the leads with his scorching mandolin. This has become a big part of the band’s unique atmosphere. On last year’s Sing In My Meadow, you really cranked up the distortion and recorded some of your fiercest guitar playing. How much fun was it to turn the amps to 11? Did you have any guitar heroes growing up?
11 is always fun. My main focus on stage is laying down the groove with Al and Pete…that is a lot of fun as well. I wasn’t a big guitar nerd growing up, so I didn’t have heroes. I think I’ve always been focused on the songwriter. That said, I’ve always loved Neil Young’s approach…others whose playing has truly inspired me (as a listener) over the years are; Lightnin’ Hopkins, Charlie Christian, Marc Ribot, Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Rupert Sumlin, Robert Quine, Rowland S Howard and many more.

You’ve begun doing more work as a producer and you recently scored another film. Cowboy Junkies appear to still be gaining creative steam, as well. Is there a point where touring will become the odd man out in your career so you can focus on studio work and raising a family?
I hope not. I think touring keeps you young while it slowly kills you. Its fun and I never want to think that I have seen my last road trip. I do want to do more studio work, so my plan is to invent another month of the year so that I can squeeze it all in.

Finding time to listen to music as a fan must be tough while trying to record and release four records in under two years. Were there any records or live shows that crossed your path in 2011 that really stood out?
The biggest drag about being in “the biz” is that it slowly squeezes out that time where you can just sit and listen for pleasure. I try and keep up on stuff but it moves so fast. I haven’t heard anything new in the past couple of years that has made me want to listen to it again and again. I know there is something out there, but I just haven’t been able to find it recently.

It’s New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas and Guns ‘n’ Roses, aka Axl Rose and a posse of imposters, are headlining a sold out show at the Hard Rock Hotel. In the lounge of the hotel on a small stage, Sin City Sinners turn the amps on at 10pm and hit the stage in front of a packed bar. Featuring a revolving cast of rock ‘n’ roll royalty that includes Todd Kerns (who tours with Slash), Rob Cournoyer, “Doc” Ellis, and former Faster Pussycat guitarist Brent Muscat, the band mixes their own songs with the best of years past. On any given night, the band welcomes a few special guests and New Year’s Eve is no exception with Phil Lewis of L.A. Guns taking the stage for a few songs. The night before, Chris Kael (Five Finger Death Punch) was on bass guitar and Louie Merlino (Beggars & Thieves) almost always joins the fun.

The success of Sin City Sinners extends beyond a crowded bar in Las Vegas. The band’s work at building a rock ‘n’ roll community in Las Vegas has breathed life into a previously vacant scene. The band’s charitable efforts have given back to the city at a time when the decline in tourism has left many in need. For music fans, the best part of Sin City Sinners might be their electric live show that validates the new glam music of the late 1980’s. Quickly dismissed as vapid “hair metal” by many, there were a lot of great bands that suffered an unfair backlash during the 1990’s when commercial tastes shifted to the anti-rock star attitude of punk bands in Seattle. Thanks to bands like Sin City Sinners, rock ‘n’ roll is fun again. For those of us who grew up wearing out Poison and Faster Pussycat cassettes, it has been long overdue. As a music writer, I should probably pretend I was singing the praises of Husker Du in 1987 but I wasn’t even old enough to drive. All I knew is that when I eventually could drive, I wanted a Jaguar with Tawny Kitean on the hood and speakers loud enough to scare the neighbors with Appetite For Destruction. I still don’t have that Jaguar but I did have the honor of talking to Brent Muscat as the band wraps up one of their most successful years.

Sin City Sinners released a Christmas album last month (A Sinners Christmas). How did that project come about?

During the summer, we arranged “We Three Kings” knowing that George Lynch was going to play on it. We kind of tailored it to him and made a Dokken heavy metal version. It came out so good it inspired us to keep going.

Every time I see you guys, you have a special guest. Is that an extension of the rock ‘n’ roll community Faster Pussycat emerged from?

When we put Sinners together, we thought, let’s just have a jam band and get all our friends to come out. We evolved into an original band but the very beginning was about being a jam band with interchangeable members.

One of your recent special guests was Taime Downe of Faster Pussycat. How did that come about after all that he’s said over the years?

About six years ago we had a falling out. At some point, it came to a head and I had to decide if it was worth fighting over. I felt like it was beating a dead horse and I felt it was better to let it go and try something new. I’m glad I did because that led to the birth of Sin City Sinners.

One thing I love about a Sinners show is that you take the time to learn the songs of any guests. Has it been a challenge learning so much new material relatively quickly?

It’s a huge challenge. Some of the stuff, I could have never imagined playing. By learning these songs, it has really opened up my mind to other types of music.

Is there any one special guest that pushed you the most as a musician?

When we had to learn “Mr. Scary” to play with George Lynch, it was, like, holy cow, how am I ever going to do this. I just took a piece of it each day and learned it piece by piece. Another really difficult one was when we played with Kip Winger. Some of the stuff he played was just amazing.

Going back to 1987’s Faster Pussycat debut, a song like “No Room For Emotion” stands out to me as having an early 70’s Rolling Stones vibe. Who were your influences as a musician?

When I wrote “No Room For Emotion”, I was listening to early Rod Stewart albums. That whole era of early 70’s Stones and Rod Stewart. Our influences were Aerosmith, Stones, and then a little punk rock. So we had the young punk attitude but pulling off our influences Stones, Aerosmith, and NY Dolls. We were rediscovering 70’s glam. A band like Hanoi Rocks came out and influenced everybody.  There wouldn’t have GnR, there wouldn’t have been Faster Pussycat. Even Motley Crue wouldn’t have had that look they had on Theater of Pain without Hanoi Rocks coming out. Hanoi Rocks was taking NY Dolls and mixing it with English punk like The Clash and Sex Pistols to create a hybrid of new rock.

The music scene changed quickly in the early 90’s. Was there a point when you looked around and realized everything was changing?

By the 90’s, there were so many bands signed from L.A. and MTV was oversaturated with that. Nirvana and Pearl Jam came out and times were changing. The 80’s were all about partying and people were having a good time. Then the 90’s came around people weren’t in the mood to party anymore. The first Gulf War happened and the economy was getting bad. The mood of the record companies changed and they decided it was done and they’d market this instead.

Being a musician playing during the peak years of the L.A. scene, is there an album or band that best represented what was going on outside of what you were doing with Faster Pussycat?

I’d say Appetite. The first Faster Pussycat album represents the scene. I think Poison’s first album because that’s what was really going on. When Appetite came out, we were like, holy cow, we need to crack down and write heavy songs and really play well. For us, between albums we were learning and growing.

Looking back on all the tours, what were the most memorable bands to be on the road with?

Motley Crue was, of course, great. One of the most fun for us, and me, was KISS. There were a ton of young girls who would come out. And the guys in KISS were older so it was easy for us to get all the girls. Kiss were all businessmen and not into partying as much. We were opening for KISS and they are a great band but I felt like our energy and what we were doing was blowing them away. It was a highlight!

I hesitate to call the following ten albums the “best” of 2011 as any such list would be subjective and I didn’t listen to Justin Bieber’s Christmas album. For all I know, it blows the following music out of the water. However, I’m fairly confident these albums have made an impact on more than just me and many will populate the “Best of 2011″ lists currently flooding the internet. Happy listening!

10. The Soft Moon – Total Decay (EP)
Luis Vasquez remains the lone (lost?) soul at the center of The Soft Moon’s creative process and Total Decay compresses the best parts of 2010’s excellent debut into a 14-minute nightmare of electronic uneasiness broken into four songs. ‘Repetition’ builds around a static bass line as electronic noise ebbs and flows around it until a tribal wave of percussion crashes into the music. ‘Alive’ rises from the darkness with a threatening guitar line that pulls the listener further into the unknown. Vocals are dispensed as noise throughout, with lyrics often whispered and rarely distinguishable from the surrounding din. In this way, The Soft Moon are providing a soundtrack to your own emptiness and leaving it to you to fill in the meanings.

9. The Kills – Blood Pressures
On Blood Pressures, The Kills forsake the dance-floor catchiness of songs like ‘Cheap and Cheerful’ from 2008’s Midnight Boom to create their finest album to date. The jagged blues meets snarling punk in Allison Mosshart’s voice has never sounded better, navigating the sonic minefields created by Jamie Hince. The band’s ability to style a mood remains their greatest strength and ‘Future Starts Slow’ rumbles forward at the outset with a taut sexual tension. The garage blues vibe of ‘Satellite’ meshes with a reggae beat to add a new layer of noise to the band’s sound. The Kills have packed a lot of ideas and sounds inside the album but they have never sounded more focused.

8. Raphael Saadiq – Stone Rollin’
A modern soul classic that wears its influences well, Stone Rollin’ is sticky in all the right places and cool in all the others. ‘Radio’ shakes, rattles, and rolls around the dance floor while ‘Good Man’ possesses enough swagger to make Saadiq the coolest cat at the party. The perfect groove and vocals of ‘Movin’ Down the Line’ couldn’t be executed any better even if Marvin Gaye took the mic. Album opener ‘Heart Attack’ ups the ante on the retro soul movement with a scratchy guitar that Ike Turner would have loved. Stone Rollin’ dips into a lot of different record collections and reminds us that everything from soul to rock traces its roots back to the early rhythm and blues sound. One of the finer qualities to Stone Rollin’ is that it feels like a complete album, the kind of recording that you put on a turntable without worrying about which song is next. Raphael Saadiq builds upon his influences and the retro vibe never threatens to lessen the importance of this new music.

7. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
Lykke Li’s 2008 debut Youth Novels endeared itself to the world with a charming blend of indie pop that hinted at even better things to come. Wounded Rhymes is undoubtedly the better thing to come but few could have predicted how it would sound. The album sounds huge, like Phil Spector’s wall of sound filtered through Swedish dance/pop. The results are familiar structures arranged at slightly new angles. ‘Get Some’ casts Li as a prostitute over a jumpy rhythm and guitar stabs that reveals a woman as strong as she is fragile. The quiet doo-wop of ‘Unrequited Love’ unexpectedly moves a corner in Bronx, NY into the heart of Swedish pop. ‘Sadness Is A Blessing’ could be this generation’s ‘Be My Baby’ and the Ronettes are a band that comes to mind several times when listening to the music that surrounds Li’s openhearted writing. Dark but never depressing, Wounded Rhymes is expertly written album by a young woman discovering that what happens after love is never as good as the promise of what love will be like when she finds it.

6. Cowboy Junkies – Demons
Volume Two of a four album series the band began with the challenging Renmin Park in 2010, Demons finds the band taking on singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt’s underappreciated career and opening up there sound in the process. The thick fuzz of Michael Timmins’ guitar rides atop a droning organ on ‘Wrong Piano’ and transforms Chesnutt’s acoustic original from Is The Actor Happy? into a driving rocker that maintains the loose spirit of Chesnutt’s best recordings. There was never a certainty of direction when Vic played and the band manages to sustain that spirit of adventure in larger arrangements. Maneuvering through the dark corners of Chesnutt’s lyrics falls on Margo Timmins who rises to the challenge with tender resignation. The distraught music Chesnutt left behind in 2009 is taken in new directions by Cowboy Junkies who turn the album into a celebration of his life and another admirable chapter in their long career.

5. Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
On 2009’s addictive Face Control, the synth-pop duo acted oblivious to the fact that lo-fi bands building hook-laden tracks around a drum machine don’t regularly embark on stadium tours. How else to explain the gigantic choruses Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry unleashed at every turn on the record? On Sound Kapital, the band creates an even bigger sound that overflows with more synth hooks than 1986. Much of the album was inspired by the band’s travels through Burma exploring the underground music scene. On album opener, Boeckner sings – “When I get back home / I won’t be the same no more.” Everything about this album holds true to that statement. There is real passion circulating through the sweeping keyboards and mechanical rhythms. ‘Memories Of the Future’ floods the open spaces with emotion instead of the cold detachment one would expect of a song that shares its DNA with new wave explorer Gary Numan. Surpassing any of Boeckner’s work with Wolf Parade and the previous Handsome Furs albums, Sound Kapital is an essential album of 2011 and raises the stakes on what we will expect from this band in the future.

4. William Elliot Whitmore – Field Songs
Placing this on the best of 2011 list feels wrong. Stamping a date on this collection of rural folk tunes almost diminishes their value. When I first heard Whitmore’s voice over a lightly strummed banjo, I wrongly assumed it was a long lost country blues album recorded by an obscure man long removed from this earth. The skeleton arrangements are usually limited to a single acoustic guitar or banjo and the ambient sounds of nature; such as birds chirping on the outskirts of ‘Bury Your Burdens In the Ground’. The album is rooted in the pastoral traditions of early folk and any modern designs have been carefully stripped to the bone. The simplest work of the Avett Brothers feels over produced in comparison. While his first three albums followed dark roads through death and despair, the mood on Field Songs sparkles with flecks of hope like rust on an old plow. When Whitmore sings “But still I know that all I see/Someday soon will cease to be/But I am not feeling any pain”, his voice sounds scarred and worn but ultimately resilient. With kick drum beating under his blues guitar, ‘Don’t Need It’ grabs its tools, heads out into the fields, and leaves the worries of this world behind. This album is your passport to the same.

3. I Break Horses – Hearts
Stockholm’s Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck join the shoegaze revival with an intoxicating haze of blurry guitars and pinging synths. It’s perfect background music for getting lost in a foreign city on the darkest nights. The mystery of ‘Winter Beats’ aligns nicely with modern acts like M83 (who they will soon tour with). The sounds that lie hidden in the reverb-drenched music reward repeated exploration. ‘Wired’ opens with a linear bass line that grooves along the crevice where Joy Division met New Order before the influence of My Bloody Valentine begins twisting and turning the effects pedals to take the song in new directions, often at the same time. ‘I Kill Your Love, Baby’ opens with a throbbing heartbeat to create a beautifully unguarded and unexpected moment of peace within the tempest of sound that makes Hearts such an engaging album. From Slowdive to Mazzy Star, indecipherable lyrics delivered by an enchanting siren within a swirling cloud of reverb has been done many times before. I Break Horses add to that tradition with a stellar work that I find myself listening to more often that I expected.

2. Dolorean – The Unfazed
Singer-guitarist Al James’ comes across as an honest, introspective friend sitting near you at a Portland coffee bar. The intimacy of this record can almost be unsettling at times as you are drawn into his personal relationships. On one of the year’s best songs (‘Country Clutter’), James provides an indie-folk version of Cee Lo Green’s ‘Fuck You’ with more devastating results. The arrangements are intentionally sparse with plenty of empty spaces to contemplate love and life. On ‘Thinskinned’ that means hitting the open road with an unsettled lover in hopes the relationship finds better footing in new places. James’ honesty on ‘Sweet Boy’ – “I said I could wait for your past to fade away / I had no idea what I was talking about” comes from a place that you can only reach with someone who has seen you at your worst. These disarming truths are littered across the beautiful, carefully paced arrangements on The Unfazed. Released in January, I’m still listening to it in December with a warm cup of coffee as I watch winter color the desert hills around my home. For anyone who wears the scars of love in 2011, this album offers up a soundtrack to the moments you’re stuck with nothing but your thoughts.

1. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
Exceeding the hype they earned in 2010, the highly anticipated debut album kicks down the walls of influence and channels the soul of rock and roll. From the loud/soft punk dynamics of The Pixies to the stadium shaking power of the E Street Band, The Joy Formidable unveiled an album that will sound fresh long after the Best of 2011’s lists have been forgotten. Album opener ‘The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie’ runs almost eight minutes with a sweeping coda of swirling guitar and thundering drums before yielding to the brief intensity of ‘The Magnifying Glass’. The band keeps the listener on edge throughout with every song threatening to come undone in an explosion of effects pedals turned to eleven. On ‘Whirring’, the band sets the song spinning faster and faster as drummer Matt Thomas brings a refined chaos to the proceedings. Most bands would end the song after the last chorus but the band spends three additional minutes obliterating speakers with an avalanche of noise. ‘I Don’t Want To See You Like This’ brings together everything wonderful in The Joy Formidable as Ritzy Bryan’s voice floats over the brightly colored din until it all fades away; taking with it little pieces of rock and roll’s past and pointing the way to rock and roll’s future.

Returning to Las Vegas for their third performance in the last six months, The Joy Formidable displayed their growing power as a live band on Wednesday night at The Joint. When they last visited Las Vegas, the band was still touring small clubs across North America in support of their debut, The Big Roar. More recently, the band joined the Foo Fighters for a North American run that brought their thundering live show to larger audiences including a show at Madison Square Garden. It was quickly evident on stage that Ritzy Bryan, Rhydian Dafydd, and Matt Thomas are destined to be headlining those larger arenas in the not too distant future.

Opening with ‘A Heavy Abacus’, the band’s energy quickly won over a crowd that may have been disappointed by the cancellation of headliner Jane’s Addiction. Extending their set in lieu of Addiction’s absence, the band played for a solid hour but it flashed by in minutes as each wave of sound crashed into the next. ‘Magnifying Glass’, a slice of high adrenaline punk, was one of the few songs that didn’t erupt into a thunderous coda. One of the best songs of the year, ‘I Don’t Want To See You Like This’ came on the heels of a new track (which sounded promising!) and highlighted the band’s significant talent as musicians. In particular, Thomas pounds the drums with an evil glee full of rapid fire fills and accompanied by a lightning storm of cymbals. Ritzy Bryan’s guitar is never tuned to subtle with stunning amounts of distortion being ripped from each string. All of this wonderful chaos came to its peak on closer ‘Whirring’, a song that has evolved on stage and record since the band’s early days. As the band laid waste to a giant gong and a stray kick drum, the guitars were tossed into amps and effects pedals were twisted and turned to create a final tidal wave of noise that moved through the night like a fire breathing dragon. The future of rock and roll is safe in the hands of The Joy Formidable.

Wasting no time, Morrissey launched into ‘I Want The One I Can’t Have’ as his devoted following roared their approval. The Las Vegas show unfolded in this way with each song starting as soon as the previous one ended and the crowd erupting with excitement. Dressed in jeans and a fitted black shirt with white trim, Morrissey looked every bit like the divine rock idol his rabid fans adore. ‘You’re the One For Me, Fatty’ arrived early in the night and Morrissey’s magnificent voice stood above the band’s faithful playing in the sound mix. Though not built for concerts, The Cosmopolitan’s Chelsea Ballroom sounded fantastic and the ease of movement within the venue made for an easy night of live music.

Morrissey’s band wore matching clothes that gave them a rockabilly gas station vibe and many of the fans displayed similar fashion. It is the relationship between Morrissey and his Latino fans that has made his solo career such an interesting experience for those who remember him as the solemn British front man of The Smiths. The trumpet solo on ‘When I Last Spoke to Carol’ hinted at the ranchera music of Mexico and such flourishes were sprinkled throughout the night.

This tour is garnering strong reviews and his backing band is a big part of the success. The dark rocker ‘Maladjusted’ displayed their ferocity while the restraint of ‘I Know It’s Over’ allowed Morrissey’s voice plenty of room to dig deep into sorrow and loss. Never one to concern himself with being subtle, Morrissey wielded a heavy hand with ‘Meat Is Murder’ as black and white footage of meat packing plant atrocities played behind the stage. While such moments are a huge part of him as an artist, it ran too long and took some steam out of the set. As the cattle scenes faded out, the band struck up Lou Reed’s ‘Satellite Of Love’ and the momentum resumed.

For the casual fan, the set may have been missing some familiar songs but seeing Morrissey is an experience that should not be missed. The devotion of his fan base rivals that of any artist in music and creates an experience whether you hear ‘Everyday Is Like Sunday’ or not.