Concert Review: Blind Rebels Residency In Vegas

I was lucky enough to be on hand for the first of the four weeks of residency shows in Las Vegas for the Blind Rebels, and let me tell you rockers it was quite the show!

The band hasn’t been heard from publically since the debacle onstage at Madison Square Garden just over a year ago, when Mavrick Slater tackled Rebels guitarist Callum Donogue onstage three songs into their co-headlining tour with Diminished Capacity and local supporting band White Wedding.

The four-week residency was announced just a month a go, and tickets sold out within hours for the first half of the shows in Vegas.

The venue, HARD, is an off-strip venue that no one’s heard of until these shows. How it was picked or why, no one knows. But I did talk to the owner for a bit before the show- it’s new and owner Harden is hoping to use it to bring rock and metal bands back to Vegas. The club is clean, modern, and has a well stocked bar in the back, so it has all the makings of a great venue. I’m told that it doubles as a rock & metal hangout when not being used for concerts.

There was a nervous energy that surrounded the show, many fans wondering if the Rebels would actually take the stage and if they did would they make it through the show without going fisticuffs again. With intimate club setting and excitement surrounding the first time seeing Rebels on stage in over a year, fans lined up three hours before doors opened. I hoped to get backstage to talk to the band before the show, but they aren’t doing any official media for this run of shows. However I did get a glimpse of Sammy Denton and Mav Slater out greeting fans, taking selfies and signing things for giddy fans.

The opening act was Vegas band WatermelonX. Their show was pretty standard local band fare. They played a quick five song set and there were a few locals wearing their gear, which was not on display anywhere in the venue, so they must have been fans of the band. They got the typical opening act reception of a small core group of fans at the front of a half full venue.

By the time the Rebels took the stage ,about fifteen minutes late, but pretty standard for the Rebels the club was at capacity. Mav opened the show with his famous yell from offstage and the band went right into the set like they hadn’t been missing from the limelight at all. They ran through a set of their most famous songs, throwing in a couple of B-sides and lesser known songs, but the fans were singing along with them all night long. You could tell their response thrilled the band. The Rebels changed up their usual middle of the set cover song from AC/DC to Aerosmith’s Back in the Saddle. And let me tell you, Mav’s voice was on point all night long.

Callum shredded on guitar and outdid himself during his solo. Killian and Sammy kept the band in time and grooved perfectly throughout the ninety-seven minute set.

If you weren’t lucky enough to get tickets for the first half of the residency shows in Vegas, keep your eye out next week. I’m told the rest of the shows will be available for purchase within the next week. Keep Rockin’- Carla

Update: The wildly popular Blind Rebels residency was extended two weeks!