Images: No Red Alice, Divided Heaven, Bradley Riot & more September 28, 2013 at The Dive

Vegas definitely has no shortage of fantastic folk punk musicians. Just a hair over a month ago I covered the great Drunk Goes Acoustic 3 show at Hammer and Ales, and now this month DGA alumni Mercy Music and Brock Frabbiele joined a bill at The Dive that included fellow Las Vegan No Red Alice (Sal Giordano) and his tourmates Divided Heaven, Bradley Riot and Brian McPherson.

Being a homecoming show for the touring Giordano meant that his friends came out in droves to support a guy who has given so much of himself to improve the Vegas punk scene. He showed no signs of fatigue during a short and sweet set that included an acoustic version of his band TheCore.’s “ThunderMakers,” a cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” and a couple newer tracks to whet fans (aka “Sal’s Pals”) appetite for his upcoming split with Mercy Music.

Mercy Music filled the penultimate spot, which left Giordano uttering the phrase filled at every MM show – “How am I going to follow that guy?!” That left Brian McPherson as the final touring act and holy cow, where did this guy come from (well, besides Boston)? McPherson blew me away with his smart, emotive style of political folk punk that reminds me a lot of Billy Bragg and older Frank Turner. He’s got a powerful set of pipes that left everyone in the room hanging on every note. If McPherson doesn’t get huge, there is something wrong with the world and I will eat one of Sal’s many hats.

Friend of the site Jeff Berman, better known by his stage name Divided Heaven, was back in town for his third Vegas show of the year (and he’ll be back at The Dive with Joey Briggs October 23). I’ve known of Divided Heaven for a while, I love his 2012 album A Rival City and I even filmed some acoustic sessions with him at the Toy Shack late last year, but due to circumstances out of my control I haven’t actually been able to see him perform live at a show until this night. If you get a chance to see him – and I’m sure you will since he’s a true road warrior – definitely do, because he kills it. “Born-Again Non-Believer” sounded especially fantastic and the new song he played from his upcoming full length sounds like it could be his best work yet.

The first of the touring musicians, following up the always excellent and charismatic Brock Frabbielle, was Bradley Riot. Based out of LA, the singer/songwriter and sound engineer was in the midst of a losing battle with laryngitis by the time the tour rolled through Vegas, but it actually lent to an urgent and gritty live performance that led us scrambling to find out more about him online.

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