Images: Lawrence Arms, Red City Radio, Sincere Engineer May 2, 2018 at the Beauty Bar

I was apprehensive heading into the Lawrence Arms show.

Let me explain.

The Chicago-originated punk rock trio has long been a favorite band of mine. If you’re reading this, you probably know that already. To paraphrase Brooklyn 99’s Captain Holt: “You don’t work with [Emily Matview] for three years without knowing who the [the Lawrence Arms] are.” I mean, I have a big Arms tattoo on my arm!

So why was I so anxious?

Well, the band hasn’t always had the greatest turnout in Vegas. When bassist/co-frontman/Twitter celeb Brendan Kelly’s supergroup The Falcon played the same venue on the same day a few years ago the turnout was… not great. It had been more than a decade since The Arms had played a non-PRB show in our city and even longer since a headlining spot.

Thankfully, my natural state of worriedness was unwarranted this time around.

There were dozens of 30-something punk rock fans tightly clutching their PBR tallboys and whiskey cokes when opener Deanna Belos, also known as Sincere Engineer, took to the outdoor stage. Maybe that number seems small, but since it was the first song of the first musician of the night, it filled me with promise. Belos was great, playing tracks like “Corn Dog Sonnet No 7,” “Ceramic Tile,” and “Shattering” from her excellent debut Rhombithian acoustically (unlike on the album, where she has a full band backing her). The stripped-down style suited her raspy voice impeccably and allowed the emotional impact of her honest, confessional lyrics like “Could have been a doctor if I cared enough / But I didn’t have it in me” shine.

More than a dozen flannel-covered music fans poured in just in time to catch Oklahoma punks Red City Radio in the night’s penultimate spot. Frontman Garrett Dale is practically a local at this point, having played 3 solo shows in the past year alone. His soulful croon sounds great no matter the setting but it was nice to finally hear him backed by the tight harmonies of his band again. The band blasted through old favorites from their three studio albums, with “Two for Flinching,” “In the Meantime…,” and “Joy Comes With the Morning” among the night’s biggest highlights, inciting massive sing-alongs for those in attendance who were already familiar with the band’s big vocal hooks. Tracks from the more recently released SkyTigers also sounded awesome and just made me more eager to finally get another full-length from these guys (three years is too long for the impatient fan).

Right before the Lawrence Arms took the stage (to a sea of “Hen-nes-sey” chants aimed at the band’s drummer Neil), PIV photog Aaron Mattern and I discussed how the Beauty Bar must have really kicked up their promotional game. This was the third weekday punk show in a row we attended that wasn’t just “full for a Wednesday,” but legitimately full! My heart grew in a manner not seen since the Grinch (but since it was big to begin with from being at a show with three bands I love, I guess that could pose a real popping danger). I was so wrong to be doubtful.

I didn’t have time to think about that anymore, as guitarist/co-frontman Chris McCaughan started singing, “My eyes opened to the emptiness / My face was nothing but crooked lines.” The opening lines to “The Slowest Drink At The Saddest Bar On The Snowiest Day In The Greatest City” put people up front just in time for the song to kick into high gear, a circle pit erupting right after McCaughan sang, “I guess somewhere I really fell behind.”

From there, it was hit after hit. Which makes perfect sense, as the band was out in support of their career-spanning retrospective We Are the Champions of the World (“Think ‘Greatest Hits’ for a band without hits,” joked the band). Of course that meant drunken sing-alongs to classics like “Great Lakes/Great Escapes,” “Beautiful Things,” and “Like a Record Player,” with the band sounding absolutely flawless the entire time. But it also meant digging deeper into the band’s catalogue, with “Brickwall Views,” “Chapter 13: The Hero Appears,” and “Quincentuple Your Money” (the last of which was played as a birthday request) being welcome additions to the band’s set.

Unfortunately, the band still ignored their debut record, as well as their highly underrated sophomore album Ghost Stories. All I want is to hear “106 South” live! Were the “Hen-nes-sey” chants not enough to get the drummer out from behind the kit for his sole lead vocal performance? And a fan request for “Light Breathing (Me and Martha Plimpton in a Fancy Elevator)” sadly went unplayed. Considering many of the older songs appear on We Are the Champions, this would have been the perfect chance to pull them out of live retirement!

Still, this is a minor complaint about a near-flawless show. Lawrence Arms still play with a ferocity that would cause bands half their age to wheeze, and the outdoor setting, at a bar, was the perfect way to see them.  No time was that more evident than when the band closed with their signature song, fans slipping on the beer soaked concrete floor for a chance to get closer and sing, “This is our year, for sure” with the band.  Let’s hope that it’s not another 15 years until the next show!

-Emily Matview

Photos by Aaron Mattern | https://www.flickr.com/photos/akmofoto/