Music

Three nights in Las Vegas: Tame Impala, Blonde Redhead and Death From Above 1979

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Photo: Erik Kabik

Remember when you had to drive to LA to catch your favorite indie bands? For lots of left-of-center sounds you still do, but times are getting better. Proof? Look no further than last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, when Tame Impala, Blonde Redhead and Death From Above 1979—the sorts of acts that rarely headlined here five years ago—did just that on three consecutive nights. And Las Vegas, by and large, responded appreciatively to the bookings.

Tame Impala, a psych-pop outfit from Perth, Australia, drew more than 1,000 bodies to Brooklyn Bowl for its November 13 performance, a somewhat surprising showing considering the band’s only real mainstream exposure came when 2012 single “Elephant” gained some FM traction and appeared in a Blackberry commercial. The Vegas crowd all but filled the floor and side-bar area, reacting enthusiastically as the five-piece put compelling live twists on cuts from its two studio albums, along with a few less-familiar tracks.

Blonde Redhead at the Bunkhouse.

Blonde Redhead at the Bunkhouse.

Time and again, leader Kevin Parker led the band through extended jam segments, without losing audience attention or musical momentum. A dazzling lights-and-video show contributed greatly to the overall experience, and it was nearly as fun watching the man running those visuals—full-body-rocking out at his controls—as taking in his colorful creations.

Blonde Redhead, which, unlike Tame Impala, had played Vegas once previously (early in the day at 2007’s final Vegoose festival), picked up the torch one night later at the Bunkhouse. The veteran New York trio, which began releasing records in the mid-’90s, sold the final tickets to the 250-capacity Downtown spot hours before showtime, and Blonde Redhead’s crowd, like Tame Impala’s, was speckled with local musicians.

The performers, Kazu Makino (vocals/guitar) and brothers Amedeo (guitar/vocals) and Simone Pace (drums), opted for a somewhat sleepy, largely downtempo setlist—much of it drawn from September album Barragán—but it was still a treat acoustically, with every dreamy note shimmering across the room. Even apparently blown monitors, which cut short an already marathon encore after three songs, couldn’t spoil the mood, particularly after Blonde Redhead had turned up the noise a bit for what proved to be its final and best number, “23” off 2007’s album of the same name.

Death From Above 1979 at Brooklyn Bowl in 2014.

Death From Above 1979 at Brooklyn Bowl in 2014.

The last in the touring triumvirate, Death From Above 1979, figured to be the most successful in terms of ticket sales, having earned a large cult following behind 2004’s beloved debut, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine—and with a recent top-25 mainstream-rock single, “Trainwreck 1979,” fresh in folks’ minds. Instead, a Brooklyn Bowl crowd roughly half the size of Tame Impala’s showed up—on a Saturday, no less—perhaps another indication Vegas has shifted ever-so-slightly from an alt-rock town to an indie-aware one.

Regardless, the Toronto duo, bassist Jesse Keeler and drummer/singer Sebastien Grainger, bashed through a relentless hour-long set the way they typically do, taking few breaks between noisy numbers and producing way more sound than two dudes have a right to. And if a lot of the songs sounded samey, well, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

So in the end, what did it all mean, this three-night homestand we used to only dream of? Hopefully, it can serve as a sign—to talent buyers at the sometimes-struggling-to-draw Brooklyn Bowl and the soon-to-be new operators of the occasionally empty Bunkhouse—that these sort of indie bookings can be part of the solution. Tame Impala, in particular, demonstrated that Las Vegas might not be 10 years behind on its listening anymore, and Blonde Redhead showed that veteran acts have veteran supporters here. And if Death From Above 1979 didn’t pack the place, perhaps that’s because locals are finally looking forward, to bands breaking new ground rather than those looking back.

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