Images: Red City Radio, Rayner, The Stand Alones, Divided Heaven May 25, 2015 at Beauty Bar

The folks at Red City Radio’s debut Vegas gig were more than tired. This was past hour 96 of Punk Rock Bowling weekend. The festival was over, the bowling trophies had been given away, Dropkick finished Do or Die.

The Beauty Bar was filled with music fans drenched in mud and sweat propping each other up, drink in one hand, newly-purchased Pears shirts in the other. So it’s all the more amazing that this ended up being the best show of my weekend.

Ears perked up and people were back on their feet, though slightly wobbly, when Van Halen’s party rock anthem “Jump” blared over the speakers. Drinks were downed, cups were tossed, and Red City Radio took the stage wearing tacky plastic Vegas necklaces and huge smiles on their faces.

Day-ending yawns turned into cheers, and cheers transformed in the huddled mass of new friends locked arm in arm to sing along with a set heavily focused of the band’s new, self-titled record. But when frontman Garrett Dale announced that they’d be playing “Spinning in Circles is a Gateway Drug” from debut The Dangers of Standing Still, the audience found their second, third and even fourth winds, erupting in a circle pit that stretched from the sound/light booth to the sink in front of the stage (hey, don’t ask) that acted as a makeshift barrier.

The uplifting final lyrics sang by Dale, “We’ll be whatever we choose to be,” became the retroactive mantra for the weekend, representing a time when teachers, chefs and realtors can go back to being rowdy kids for a few days.

Though Dale is really more of a crooner than a singer. His voice marries the swooning sounds of Vegas’ Rat Pack past with the gruffness and bravado of Bender Bending Rodriguez, and I’m pretty sure he could drink them all under the table.

And it’s too much fun singing along with him and the guys, whether it’s “When you find yourself in a hole stop digging” from “Show Me on the Doll Where the Music Touched You,” shouting “I just want to get high and play my fucking guitar” from “In the Meantime…” or trying to hit those harmonies they pull off effortlessly in the chorus to “Electricity.”

The whole band sounded extremely tight and I loved the stop-on-a-dime pause in “Two for Flinching.” That song also gave Ryan Donovan, the latest addition to the band, his chance to shine. His voice is much cleaner than previous guitarist Paul Pendley’s, but he still sounded great singing “But until then I’ve chased the darkness in my life / Antagonized before I fled the fight.” And the audience pitched in and helped on the line “Together we can burn this fucking city to the ground.”

Now there’s a line made to be sung with sweaty, tired friends at a bar on a Monday night.

Speaking of friends, we all made a few during Rayner’s set, the lone locals on the bill. I was stoked when the guys got added to the show, and that excitement was rewarded. Frontman Dany  is just so charismatic, peppering songs with stage jumps and amp climbs. The band even had their own little circle pit going, one that briefly turned into a scene from Animal House when a fan started eating his own beer can.

The Stand Alones brand of street punk would probably be a better fit for a show with locals The Civilians, with their working class anthems and heavy The Business influence. The highlight of their set was a faithful cover of Cock Sparrer’s “Watch Your Back.”

And speaking of covers, longtime friend of PIV Divided Heaven closed his set with an acoustic rendition of Replacements’ “Bastards of Young.” And from the reaction that songs got I think we can all join together in saying “Hey Stern brothers, it’s time to get The Replacements on PRB.”

-Emily Matview

Photos by Anthony Constantine | https://www.facebook.com/anthonycphotography