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Tuesday, September 07 2010 |
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| 4/6/07 Teddybears/Army Of Anyone/Chris Cornell/Big & Rich |
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Artists: Teddybears, Army Of Anyone, Chris Cornell, Big & Rich with special guests Cowboy Troy and Lil Jon.
Venue: Fremont Street Experience - Las Vegas, NV
Date: 4/6/07
After a long day of screaming fast cars, nothing is more satisfying than a high octane concert. The Vegas Grand Prix set up an incredibly diverse show for their free Friday Night Party event that took place on the 3rd Street Stage at the Fremont Street experience. The lineup included sets from indie group the Teddybears, super group Army of Anyone, singer-songwriter legend Chris Cornell and country sensations Big & Rich with guest Cowboy Troy.
The Teddybears, a three piece from Stockholm, Sweden opened the show. It took a minute for the crowd to digest their entrance. Dressed in black suits and huge teddy bear heads, the musicians took their places. Interestingly, two drummers accompanied them, each with a full drum kit. As they launched into their rock/electronic/dancehall style, the crowd started to loosen up and soon people were dancing along. The Teddybears had three special guest vocalists perform with them. The first, Rigo, an MC raised in Stockholm, Sweden stormed the stage and warmed up the crowd. Rigo was then joined on stage by a second MC who performed the popular Teddybears single, “Cobrastyle”. The last vocalist was a female who came up and sang “Yours To Keep”. A great mix of styles and sounds, the set was fun to watch and certainly entertained the crowd already gathered.
Army of Anyone was next to take the stage. A successful super group consisting of the DeLeo brothers Dean and Robert (guitar/base) formerly of Stone Temple Pilots, Drummer Ray Luzier (David Lee Roth) and Filter lead singer Richard Patrick. The group plowed through a number of their own songs from their self-titled debut release as well as paying homage to their original bands. Only a few songs into the set, the crowd was treated to a rendition of Stone Temple Pilot’s “Vaseline” and later to Filter’s “Hey Man Nice Shot”.
Lead singer Patrick prowled around the stage, hovering over monitors and belting out his lyrics. Dean DeLeo expertly moved through his music, letting it read through his face as well during solos. Robert, the picture of controlled peacefulness let his bass talk for him. Drummer Luzier lit up the set, twirling sticks and beating the skins to keep time. They closed the set with their single “Goodbye”.
Chris Cornell was third to take the stage and the energy in the air was palpable. Backed by a complete band – two guitarists, a bassist and drummer, Cornell took the stage to a barrage of cheers. He opened the show with Soundgarden staple “Spoonman”. He then went into Hungerstrike, one of the hit singles from the 1990 release “Temple Of The Dog” a tribute to fellow rocker and friend Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. Next he treated the crowd to “No Such Thing” a new track off of his upcoming release “Carry On” due in stores in June. Solid thus far, Cornell launched into “Like A Stone”, an Audioslave tune from their self-titled 2002 release. He followed with a second Audioslave tune “Doesn’t Remind Me” from the 2005 release “Out Of Exile”. He then launched into his own slow bluesy rendition of Michael Jackson’s hit “Billie Jean”. “Black Hole Sun” followed, ramping the crowd up again. To close the set, Cornell announced that they were going to play a song that had not been play in a long time. The guitarists then launched into “Jesus Christ Pose”. The audience reaction was a mixture of excitement and awe.
The last act to perform for the night were country stars Big & Rich. Country, being completely out of my musical universe, I had no idea what to expect. An individual known as “Two Foot Fred”, who certainly lived up to his name, introduced the act. He announced the winner of an online contest and then psyched the crowd up for the show.
The crowd started to get excited as the pre-recorded introduction started. There were several additional musicians on stage, comprising a complete backing band that played everything from mandolin and fiddle to slide guitar. Big & Rich took the stage and as soon as I saw Kenny Alphin (Big Kenny), I knew the show would be entertaining. Tall and skinny, dressed in black pants, a grey t-shirt with a skull and crossbones, a stiff brightly colored patchwork ringmaster style jacket and a top hat with two feathers, an eagle and the word “Love” on a band around the top, Big Kenny was quite the sight to see. His partner in crime, John Rich was much more conservative, sort of. Rich took the stage in an obligatory black cowboy hat, black shirt and jeans, which sparkled along the seams. What followed was a high energy, extremely entertaining set. The duo moved through songs, stopped to talk to the audience and each other. They sang what they said was the first “Big & Rich love song” a track off of the new album. They also sang, “Holy Water”, “Coming To Your City”, “Love Train” and “8th of November” during which they had veterans from the 173rd airborne division on stage with the flag. Rich stopped at one point to comment that Big Kenny had written what is the #1 country song on the billboard charts and that he was going to sing it. Kenny noted that he had actually written the song right here in Las Vegas. He then launched into “Last Dollar (Fly Away)” a song off of the new Tim McGraw album “Let It Go”. The duo also played “Rollin” during which Cowboy Troy came out on stage and helped out, singing and dancing around to the delight of the crowd. The most unexpected guest of the night was Atlanta based rapper Lil Jon who came up on stage to help out with the hit single “Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy). 2 Foot Fred also came out to help out as well. During the set they also changed up guitars a few times. Each new guitar had something written on the back of it. Big Kenny’s said “Love Everybody”, and “Louder”. One of them even had the message written in glowing green neon lights. The backs of Rich’s guitars said things like “Scream” and “Country Rocks”.
A rollercoaster of fun and excitement, the show finally ended with Rich pretending to smash a guitar on 2 Foot Fred’s head. Big Kenny then yelled, “Who wants to see Rich smash a guitar?” Rich then provided a swift death to the guitar with “Country Rocks” on the back. That completed, he picked up 2 Foot Fred and walked off stage.
Incredibly diverse, the Friday Night Party concerts proved to be an excellent combination of fun, energy and great memories.
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