Brennan Rock & Roll Academy (Boys & Girls Club) Fundraiser Las Vegas Show Reviewed – KISS, Vince Neil, Alice Cooper, Dee Snider & More.

Brennan Rock & Roll Academy (Boys & Girls Club) Fundraiser Las Vegas Show Reviewed – Featuring: KISS, Vince Neil, Alice Cooper, Dee Snider, Stephen Pearcy & More.

It took place at the Orleans Arena… with $100 for regular tickets and VIP tables set up on the floor. Capacity is about 10,000 and while the sections were “full”…. there were lots of empty seats scattered throughout.

The show was a benefit for the Rock & Roll Academy (Boys & Girls Club). I got my tickets for free. I wonder how many other people did too.

The house band was Hairball – who backed up the rotating lineup of singers – and were very good. The full lineup of KISS closed the show.

Here’s how it went…

Joey Tempest & John Norum
1. The Final Countdown
2. Rock The Night

Good way to kick off the show since Tempest looked and sang really good. He came across as a professional and not a joke which is the best way to start a show like this. It also helped that the first song is so familiar and began after the lights dimmed. Crowd was into it.

Jack Blades
Don’t Tell Me You Love Me
Rock In America

The acts weren’t getting introductions. So I think a lot of people didn’t know who it was at first. He tried hard to work the crowd. Sounded decent. Almost looked a little goofy since he’s short and his hair almost looks like a wig.

Kip Winger
1. Madalaine
2. Seventeen

Kip sounded good. A little screamy at times but good. Played it cool in a sport coat. He doesn’t take chances with his stage moves these days.

Stephen Pearcy
1. Lay It Down
2. Round and Round

Most forgettable act of the night. So forgettable I nearly forgot to put him in my review. Seriously. The first bad singer of the night. But not the worst he’s ever sounded. Kip Winger and Jack Blades came on stage at one point to sing backups for Round and Round. I think they were watching and thought “We should show him how to sing.”

Dee Snider
1. We’re Not Gonna Take It
2. I Wanna Rock

Totally stole the show. When the drums started…. people got up and Dee made sure they stayed up. Best performer of the night easily. And it was the only time my friends stood up. It didn’t hurt that his stage banter was funny. Between songs he said “This is a two song set so you know what’s next.” lol.

Tom Keifer
1. Somebody Save Me
2. Gypsy Road
3. Shake Me

I love Cinderella but Tom had a tough act to follow. Crowd energy was down after Dee. Tom was good but I think the crowd was a tad thrown off by his new singing style. Cinderella is also unusual in that their biggest uptempo songs weren’t mega hit singles. He probably would have benefited if he threw in “Don’t Know What You Got Til It’s Gone”. It’s so well known and he would have stood out as the only act of the night to slow things down.

Rob Zombie
1. Thunder Kiss ’65
2. We’re an American Band

Decent enough but I think he phoned this performance in. No passion behind it. He stopped the second song early so he could start it over from the beginning again “for technical difficulties”. Not sure what they were. Only person to do a cover.

Vince Neil
1. Kickstart My Heart
2. Wildside
3. Girls Girls Girls

Vince was into it and had the crowd. Not as good as Dee but had the crowd way better than anyone else so far. No surprises here. You know what you get with Vince. He wore a sport coat which didn’t help him look slim.

Alice Cooper
1. No More Mr. Nice Guy
2. Under My Wheels
3. I’m Eighteen
4. School’s Out

If it wasn’t for Dee, this would’ve been the best performance of the night. Alice has looked the same way for 30 years and moves around pretty good. I think something takes over his body when he puts that outfit and makeup on.

(intermission)

KISS
1. Shout It Out Loud
2. Deuce
3. Lick It Up
4. Detroit rock City
5. Calling Dr. Love
6. Rock & Roll All Nite

Intermission killed the momentum and the crowd was oddly quiet when KISS took the stage. Kind of how no one really focuses on the first wrestling match after an intermission.

They played well. Paul sounded fine (although if you didn’t know who he was you’d think he was a creepy old gay man). Gene looked like that action figure photo that was posted here not too long ago. Sport coat, jeans. His Wayne Newton face fits in here in Vegas. Paul was either going with his real hair or wearing one of his shorter wigs. Eric has very long hair so he must tuck it ender a wig when he does normal KISS shows. Eric was good and seemed more on fire than usual. Maybe he was happy to be himself for once and not playing the role of Peter Criss.

Nothing was wrong… but this performance just wasn’t completely clicking with the crowd for some reason and I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the lazy entrance. They could’ve picked a better opener than Shout it Out Loud. It looked like they were calling out songs without a setlist… and seemed to go into hits mode with Lick It Up onward to try and keep the crowd. There was a lot of pick throwing. A lot. To the point it almost looked like they were bored.

For Rock N Roll All Night, they brought some of the other singers onstage which actually made the song a little interesting for once. Vince sang part of one of the verses. When Alice came out… Paul told this story about seeing him in concert on the Billion Dollar Babies tour and called it one of the best concerts he ever saw. I swear I thought he was going to say “and that’s when we decided to steal the makeup”. But no. That didn’t happen. ha ha.

Overall, the show dragged just a little. The pacing would’ve been better with one less act. Maybe Rob Zombie or Stephen Pearcy.

Review By: Mister Freeze from the World Famous Gossip Board

Metal Sludge
Vegas Sludge