Images: Authority Zero, Ballyhoo!, Versus the World, Shotguns N Gasoline June 1, 2013 at Time Out Sports Bar

On June 1^st, I checked out the Vegas stop of the Summer Sickness tour with Authority Zero, Ballyhoo!, and Versus the World. I’d never been to Time Out Sports Bar before, and I was surprised to find a really cool space with a great sunken stage area. This evening was also being celebrated as a one year anniversary for the bar, and I’m hoping there will be a lot more shows there in the future.

Opening up was local punk band Shotguns N Gasoline. They played a bunch of tracks off of their newest CD Premium, which came out back in February. First up of the touring acts was Santa Barbara, CA’s Versus the World. They last played Vegas in November with Unwritten Law, and I quickly noticed they’d changed out lead guitarists from Lagwagon’s Chris Flippin. This didn’t seem to affect the band’s sound at all as they blasted through the majority of 2012’s Drink. Sing. Live. Love. I can’t remember if I mentioned it the last time I saw them, but “A Fond Farewell” is an extremely catchy song. You should check it out if you haven’t heard it.

Co-headlining the tour was Aberdeen, MD’s Ballyhoo! This ska/punk band is stylistically very close to Sublime. Despite being a four piece with only one guitar, I was impressed by how full they sounded live. Their singer Howi Spangler sounded especially great on their recent single “Marijuana Laws” and I was in constant awe of drummer Donald Spangler.

I’m a hard person to impress when it comes to bands I’m not super familiar with, since I’ve always found it tough to really get into live music when I can’t sing along. However, I was completely blown away by AuthorityZero. From the first measure of the first song, they came out with an insane level of energy that didn’t wane the whole show. The crowd was packed with fans singing and moshing along, and it actually saddened me that I didn’t know more of the music. Their 90 minute set seemed to range their discography and they even finished with a performance of “Rattlin’ Bog” upon crowd request. I ended up right in front of the stage during their entire set, enjoying every minute of it.

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