Review by Rock Over America
Phil Lewis and Scotty Griffin of LA Guns and Femme Fatale both played Count’s Vamp’d on Saturday, December 28, 2013.
When it comes to local music venues, none of them beat Count’ Vamp’d. This restaurant/bar/concert venue is owned by Danny “The Count” Koker (of Pawn Stars and Counting Cars fame), and over the past several years has become the ultimate concert venue in Las Vegas. The venue attracts everything from locally based cover bands to international touring acts.
In the world of 80s sleaze rock, LA Guns were the kings of the Sunset Strip rock scene. With so many rock anthems to their name, they had a time in the spotlight that was brief, but brilliant. Their lineup changed constantly (founding guitarist Tracii Guns had his own separate version of the band for many years), but almost all of the time the band included former Girl vocalist Phil Lewis. For the show at Vamp’d, which was touted as an acoustic/unplugged set, Lewis was joined by current LA Guns bassist Scotty Griffin, who has played in several other bands from the same era as well.
This was probably the part of this night of rock and roll that I was the most eager and curious about; LA Guns and its respective members are NOT the artists you have in mind when you think about unplugged material! Disappointingly, the show itself did not end up being unplugged (Phil Lewis humorously stated that his acoustic guitar had “fallen over” and had “been drinking.”) Despite this, the twosome managed to create an intimate setting with just their electric guitars and no other instruments (Lewis playing a 12-string, Griffin playing a 6-string.)
This intimate, semi-stripped down take on LA Guns songs actually ended up being surprisingly enjoyable. While Lewis is best known as a vocalist and Griffin best known as a bass player, both are excellent guitar players as well! Griffin even cracked some jokes about this between songs. The duo served up many of the LA Guns classics, including Sex Action, Over the Edge, Never Enough, and Rip and Tear. They even threw in a few deep cuts and other songs for good measure. A lot of the classics were MIA sadly (the band’s hit power ballad, the Ballad of Jayne, would have been great in this unplugged environment, but sadly did not get played), but when you have a headliner coming up after you, there are time constraints. This was an enjoyable set, even if it was on the brief side. Phil Lewis still has a great singing voice and, if you ask this fan, is one of the most underrated rock singers out there. Both Lewis and Griffin relocated to Vegas earlier this year, meaning you can expect to see the two of them around town rocking out on a more regular basis!
Femme Fatale was a seriously underrated rock band from the late 1980s. The group had endless potential, but sadly, numerous factors derailed their potential success, and they were only able to release one LP, in 1988. Singer Lorraine Lewis has participated in a number of other projects since then, and has since put together the current incarnation of the band, which consists of all females (despite the name of the band, the best known incarnation of the group was all males aside from Lewis herself.) The new, all-female version of Femme Fatale includes drummer Athena Lee (younger sister of Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee and former wife of Scorpions drummer James Kottak), and Courtney Cox (of all female Iron Maiden tribute the Iron Maidens.) This version of the band has done some light touring, and has also played the Monsters of Rock Cruise.
I was not entirely sure what to expect from a Femme Fatale show, having never seen the band before in any incarnation – in fact, singer Lorraine Lewis even announced that this was the band’s first Las Vegas concert EVER! Right from the beginning of the night to the final moments, Lewis and company grabbed the attention of the audience and did not let go. Despite a quarter century having passed since the band released their one and only studio album, Lorraine Lewis still sings great, and just as importantly, looks great too. It is very rare you find that band filled with sexy women who are actually musically talented, but this new version of Femme Fatale fits that bill nicely. The band played their signature hits, Waiting for the Big One and Falling In and Out of Love, plus a plethora of other, underrated songs as well.
Another thing that must be mentioned is the stage presence that these musicians have. Lorraine Lewis was having a great time on stage the entire night, and there was not a single second of this concert where that faltered. Wanting to turn the night into a party, she even began blasting the audience members with Silly String! I have my share of interesting concert stories, ranging from being drenched in blood by Lizzy Borden to being whacked in the head with a microphone by a drunken Phil Lewis, but this is the first time any rock singer has blasted me with Silly String (I did not even know they still made the stuff!) Definitely made the night all the more entertaining and memorable, though. At one point, Athena Lee even blasted the audience with a “party popper” of sorts, containing confetti and similar materials. An interesting way to keep the attention of the audience for sure, though I feel bad for the Vamp’d janitorial staff that would have had to clean all that stuff up at the end of the night!
The encore was probably the biggest surprise, and the most entertaining part of the night. The band played the KISS classic Lick it Up to close out the show, even bringing up some KISS member impersonators to sing it on stage with them! The whole night was nothing short of the ultimate rock and roll party, and there was not a single person there that looked bored or uninterested. It was definitely a fantastic rock and roll experience. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to Lorraine Lewis for a brief moment after the show as well, despite being a talented musician and great on the stage, she is a wonderful human being as well, and clearly appreciates the fans.
In the end, this stood as another night of fantastic rock entertainment at Vamp’d, a venue that always gets the best shows in Vegas, and has an ideal environment for putting on said shows. This was my last concert of 2013, and I can safely say that it was a fantastic way to close out the year. Here’s to 2014 being a year packed with more rock and roll excitement!