Images: Holding Onto Sound, The Skooners, One Pin Short, OLI and more May 13, 2016 at The Bunkhouse Saloon (Macro Fi Reunion)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the crowd for a local show lose their collective minds quite in the same way the Bunkhouse did last week. “Macro Fi ‘till you die” shouted Bennett Mains, the once again frontman for Holding Onto Sound, huge grin on his face as he followed with “and we’re not dead yet.”

It was on.

HOTS was just one of the bands reuniting for last week’s Common Ground throwback show at The Bunkhouse Saloon. Put on by Vegas-born collective Macro Fi, the gig was a flashback to an era before vape pens usurped cigarettes, cell phones were for playing Snake while waiting for your friends to arrive and the downtown music scene was a diverse and tight knit group of bands playing Beauty Bar or a pre-renovated Bunkhouse on First Friday.

As the night’s headliners, Holding Onto Sound were the most surprising reunion of the night (anyone who says Guns N Roses or The Misfits tops this needs to be given a copy of The Sea, stat). The punk rock band experienced an abrupt breakup in 2013, the music equivalent of ending your TV series on a cliffhanger (I’m looking at you, Veronica Mars). As such, their reunion set was something of a catharsis for both the band and their fans, who never got to experience a true final show (I’m looking at you, Veronica Mars: The Movie).

That promise of closure led to one of the best sets I’ve seen from the band, who alternated hit after hit with expressions of gratitude to the friends, family and fans who packed the Bunkhouse at 1 a.m. on a Friday. Those hits included “Tommy Boy,” “Outsider,” and “A Girl Called Lightning,” each eliciting circle pits, crowd surfers, and sing alongs. The atmosphere was rambunctious, and likely contributed to a few sore backs the next morning – we’re not kids anymore.

Sure, the band was a tiny bit rusty, having to laugh off a few restarts and missed lyrics, but it was worth it to hear Mains’ raspy voice once more, which sounded fantastic backed by Zabi, Bob and Vanessa. Even more so when backed by throngs of fans, who piled up front to sing “if you’d open up your eyes for the very first time don’t see the world in dollar signs” from Songs of Freedom opener “War” with him and the band.

Holding Onto Sound ended their pre-encore set with “Waves,” the venue’s laser light show seemingly borrowed from a Rush set, simulating the watery force of nature. There’s just something so fitting about what will in all likelihood be the last show this band ever plays ending with a room full of people singing “let these ships sail open seas let them finally find their home in the waves / we are finally free.”

Macro Fi completed their turn as Vegas Doc Brown by stacking the undercard with more retired Vegas favorites. Case in point The Skooners, who had the penultimate spot save an impressive, nostalgia-laden free-style from rapper Hasam backed by members of HOTS, The Skooners and One Pin Short. The Skooners’ first show in 7 years made it seem like they’ve spent no time apart, the indie/garage rock band (think The Walkmen, Spoon) putting on a captivating performance thanks to the highly entertaining state of perpetual motion frontman Blair Dewayne was in the entire set, joking at one point that he wouldn’t need to do any cardio for the next couple of months now. The highlight of their set came from their cover of “Shout,” which transformed The Bunkhouse into the Animal House, a packed room singing and dancing along.

The ska/reggae scene was proudly represented by One Pin Short. The band managed to pull off what mega hyped bands like Sheer Mag and Beach Slang couldn’t – fill the bar to its capacity. It was one person in, one person out and a line out to the street as the band took the stage to play a mix of covers, including Fastball’s “The Way” and Sublime’s “Garden Grove” and originals like “Waiting.” Frontman Shawn Garnett has the smoothest voice and a personality warmer than the sun and despite his claims that he was “getting too old for this shit,” the whole band sounded fantastic.

And rap/hip got its due thanks to Late for Dinner and OLI. Anyone who knows me knows that hip hop isn’t my forte. I like it, but when I try and write about it I sound like T.Swift attempting to rap in “Shake it Off” (case in point: my original draft mentioned those “sick beats”). But come on, when Late for Dinner asked the crowd to “make some noise,” you know I was happy to oblige and OLI had the most amazing light show this side of Laser Floyd. OLI said that they “came to party” and I think it’s something the whole crowd could identify with.

-Emily Matview

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