Dan Goes To Concerts In Vegas

Las Vegas, Sin City; remember, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Except for this entire blog post...In my large handful of times being to Las Vegas, I've been to a small handful of concerts. The first time I found myself in Vegas was actually on a concert mission. The mission was to see John Cougar Melloncamp open for the one and only Bob Dylan. Despite how amazing that show sounds, it wasn't as great as you might think. John Cougar really put on a good show, he sounded great. Aside from the fact that he didn't play 'Jack and Diane,' I really enjoyed his set. Unfortunately, Bob Dylan was the disappointment of the evening. I say that with a broken heart, because it was absolutely incredible to sit before him, and I deeply appreciate his music contributions. But the whole performance fell flat for me. Bob Dylan essentially sat down at a piano the entire time banging out song after song. He sounded out of shape and winded. I'll accept his age as a contribution to his tired sound, but I've seen plenty of older guys jam out with twice as much as Bob Dylan gave. I don't recall him even taking a moment to speak with the audience. He also left out some massive hits out of the set list. Considering that these tickets weren't cheap, I felt like I was taken for a ride. The set was minimalistic and the lighting wasn't anything special. It felt like two big names took the money and ran. Bob Dylan didn't even perform 'Like a Rolling Stone'. Not that he had to, but on top of not being conversational with the audience, it felt like a poor effort from a legendary performer. The rest of that Vegas trip was plenty fun to make up for it. Me and my friend John got into plenty of trouble while in Vegas.

My second concert in Vegas was a free gig on Freemont street. I mentioned this in my County Concerts post. Basically during the week of the American Country Music Awards there was a show put on by a surprising list of artists for a free show. This thing was packed. People everywhere in cowboy hats and Daisy Dukes. At one point someone dropped a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper on the ground essentially destroying a good proximity of standing area. He just stood there and watched it gush out of the bottle... I was not amused, first: that's a waste of perfectly good DP and secondly I don't like *squish squish* with every step I take.

As I said in my 1990s post,
   The Mandalay Bay puts on a summer concert series where various bands play poolside.
Well, this particular lineup was Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Smash Mouth. A dynamic 90s nostalgia explosion in a beautiful Las Vegas setting. Nothing like sipping on a Budweiser surrounded by people having a good pool party time.
                                         (as I'm writing this post I realize how many shows I've seen in Vegas)
  
My fourth concert going venture in Vegas was to see Shania Twain. I actually surprised my girlfriend Alex with a pair of Shania Twain tickets. This was just one of many spectacular things that happened that Valentine's weekend. That performance wasn't even the performance that brought us to Vegas that weekend. Our original purpose was to see CeeLo Green, and I will get into how awesome that show was in a sec. First, the Shania Twain show, what an epic show that was, bare in mind I'm not entirely that into country music, but then again... Shania Twain isn't entirely country. Shania Twain is the best selling female country artist of all time, but she also crossover into mainstream radio during the 90s. Her performance was jam packed with nostalgic award winning mega hit songs. The band was note for note perfect, and there were dancers! It was a full tilt Vegas show, with moving set pieces to boot. It was a high energy captivating show full of audience interaction, recommencement story telling from Shania. She's also not afraid to get a little vulnerable on that stage talking about heavy things. This is why I am so excited to see her on her tour. I know it will lack the Vegas atmosphere, but she completely won me over in Vegas.

Then it was time for CeeLo Green. With special guest Boy George. WHaT?? I know, not only did CeeLo Green dazzle the audience, but Boy George came out and brought things up to 11 with a quick mash up of Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? That was a fantastic surprise. But back to my man CeeLo, wow... His voice is so completely on point. I hope it wasn't Vegas magic, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. That performance was so good tho, just everything about it. From his amazing multi-color moo-moos and his crazy falsetto voice. I wasn't as completely captivated by this show as Shania, but I did still really enjoy it. There was just no set, not much to look at. It was mostly just CeeLo being amazing, there wasn't enough flair for my taste.

 

So who did I see in Vegas last? Oh yeah, Jimmy Buffet. Suck on that.
There's nothing to say about Jimmy Buffet shows that hasn't already been said. But I'm officially a parrot head.