Images: Alkaline Trio, Bayside, Off With The Heads April 27, 2013 at the Fremont Country Club

Hundreds of fans flocked to Downtown Las Vegas last Saturday to see Alkaline Trio, Bayside, and Off With their Heads at the newly-opened Fremont Country Club. The sold out event was the venue’s first “rock” show and despite long lines which caused several fans to miss openers Off With Their Heads, everyone seemed to leave happy.

Off With Their Heads is no stranger to Las Vegas (you can see coverage of their last Vegas show here), and the band has garnered a sizeable group of local fans who were excited to sing along with frontman Ryan Young’s gruff yet poppy tales of despair. Unfortunately, a kink in getting the doors open on time and some line issues caused the band to have to cut their set a little shorter than planned. But what we did get to hear was a sizable chunk from new album Home including the infectiously catchy “Nightlife,” and the classic “Fuck This, I’m Out.”

Bayside opened their set with hit “Devotion and Desire” and fans went nuts from the very first note. The New York-based band definitely received the best crowd reaction of the night, with many attendees obviously there just to see them. Sounding better than ever, they played a diverse setlist spanning the majority of their catalog with the exception of their 2008 album, Shudder, but that void was filled with tracks from their latest full-length, Killing Time. The highlight of their performance was the intimate ending to their set, when frontman Anthony Raneri put his guitar down during “Dear Tragedy” to focus solely on vocals, much to the delight of the fans crushed against the barrier singing along.

As the Bayside cult dispersed and the Alkaline Trio fans made their way to the front, the headliners took to the stage. They opened with the first two tracks from their latest full-length record, My Shame is True (“She Lied to the FBI” and “I Wanna Be A Warhol,”) and they sounded as clean as ever, with bassist Dan Andriano especially on point. The setlist struck a good balance between old and new treating us to three songs from 2003’s Good Mourning and two from From Here to Infirmary including “Crawl” which were all well received by fans. The band ended their set with “This Could Be Love” before coming back out for a two song encore that included their hit “Radio” (per audience request; according to the setlist, “97” was originally intended to be the closer).

Despite the line issues that left more than a few fans grumbling, this was a really great first rock show at a brand new venue. Here’s hoping promoters and city officials can keep this venue going so Downtown shows as awesome as this one can continue to happen.

– Ian Caramanzana

Photos by Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/