Images: David Bazan, Rusty Maples December 8, 2011 at the Beauty Bar

David Bazan really doesn’t like Las Vegas, and he doesn’t care if you know it.

\\

The singer/songwriter, best known as the frontman for indie rockers Pedro the Lion, played an intimate and surprisingly-crowded-for-a-weeknight show December 8^th at the Beauty Bar with locals Rusty Maples. He interspersed songs from his Pedro the Lion, Headphones and solo discographies (with a cover of Tom Petty’s “Climb that Hill” thrown in for good measure) with jabs at our city. These quips ranged from the relatively light (“I didn’t plan on ever coming back here”) to the overly harsh (exclaiming that the 9/11 terrorists were sent to Vegas to reaffirm their hatred of America before the tragedy). I felt that most, if not all, of these digs were examples of an extremely dry and unique sense of humor, but regardless of his intentions the crowd did thin a bit before the show’s end.

Insults aside, Bazan still put 100% into one of the best sounding Beauty Bar shows I’ve been to in recent years, his voice sounding sublime and the instruments crisp and clear coming from the chilly backlot stage. In classic Bazan tradition, the singer/songwriter answered fan questions between songs (it turns out he met his wife in a youth group and his favorite ice cream flavor is salted caramel) and one lucky, Pedro-tattoo sporting fan won a lifetime pass to see all future headlining dates from Bazan.

The singer later tweeted “to the 80..er..i mean 140 wonderful people who came out to our Vegas show tonite: U WERE AWESOME!! we’ll be back! (but FUCK the beauty bar!),” insinuating that his issues were more venue-based than city. Either way, I hope he does come back (and soon), because it would be a shame if this was truly the last time he plays here.

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