Images: Lagwagon, Cobra Skulls, Nothington March 4, 2012 at the Las Vegas Country Saloon

Whoever has been booking shows at the Las Vegas Country Saloon has been doing a great job as of late. After a lengthy lull in shows, the venue is coming back strong, following the fun Adolescents/Youth Brigade/The Vermin show with a headlining set from Lagwagon that also featured two of the best modern punk bands on support – Cobra Skulls and Nothington.

Nothington was up first and got early-bird fans singing up against the barrier right away with “A Mistake,” the opener to their 2009 album Roads, Bridges and Ruins. I mentioned in my review of their latest album Borrowed Time that co-vocalist Jay Northington has never sounded better, and this has definitely translated to their live show. Part of the enhanced live vocals is due to new bass player Ryan Donovan (also of Escondido, CA’s The Getdown), who lends his voice to the already-tight harmonies of Northington and guitarist/co-vocalist Chris Matulich. It really gives an extra kick to the “whoa-oh ohs” in “Where I Stand” and “on and ons” in the Matulich-led “Not Looking Down.”

The venue filled considerably as Cobra Skulls took the stage. Sharing a label (Fat Wreck Chords) with the headliners has given the band some much needed exposure, as the amount of people singing along to newer songs like “Iron Lung” and “Solastalgia” from last year’s Agitations were more than the entire attendance of last year’s Cobra Skulls show in the same venue. Of course fans of the older material were still in full force, with my personal favorite “Thicker Than Water” and show closer “Faith is a Cobra” eliciting their fair share of fist pumps and dancing.

A crowd-wide chorus of “Lag – wag – on” morphed into thunderous applause and cheers when Joey Cape and the boys came out on stage (bassist Joe Raposo looking particularly dashing in his Punks in Vegas shirt – thanks, Joe!). Of course that was nothing compared to the non-stop pit that engulfed the floor from the edge of the stage to the tip of the mechanical bull in the back, when the band launched into the first two tracks of the set, (and the first two tracks from their fan favorite Hoss) – “Kids Don’t Like to Share” and “Violins.”

The passion never died down during the blistering two hour set, whether the band slowed it down for “Sleep,” went poppy for “Angry Days,” or sped things up for “May 16.” Being that all of those songs came from very different periods in the band’s recorded output, it was pretty cool to see the fans so clearly well-versed in the band of the night. They finished off the evening with a punked up cover of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” that had the whole room singing along.

-Emily Matview

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

and Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens