On the short walk through the Palms Casino to their live music venue, The Pearl, I was already hearing the buzz around this event.  An elderly fellow glanced and shimmied past the entrance while leaning over to his wife with the comment,  “Well it’s obviously some kind of rock show.”   This comment could not have been more perfect to describe the people milling around outside the doors to the place where we were all about to taste some Chaos.  Only moments before, I had been in the parking lot, listening to a radio interview with one of the night’s headliners, Bullet For My Valentine. Apparently, this third time in Vegas would be no different than the last two, even with their newest record releasing at #4 this time around.  There was still going to be casinos and booze in their future, and they were pumped.
           
With a five-band lineup and art and music related vendors pitching and selling their wares, this tour had a lot to offer those with a penchant for balls-to-the-wall rock.  I rolled in just in time to catch the Japanese band, Mucc, who got their name from a character in a Japanese children’s TV show.  I immediately took notice of their fairly tight sound and intestine-rattling bass.  My next distraction was their appearance.  I saw some man-skirts being sported, as well as a pirate-esque shirt on lead singer Tatsurou.  Throw in the guitar player Miya’s Japanese mullet and a Primus t-shirt and the occasional use of an electric stand up bass by Yukke, and you don’t even realize they are not singing in English.  And they don’t need to.  With the skillful help of drummer Satochi, their energy was comparative to a religious experience and I didn’t care what entity was involved, other than the god of rock.  

Mucc formed in 1997 and have released 7 albums since then, their newest entitled,  “Shion”.   They were rough and ready to hit the vast terrain of the U.S.—all twenty-six stops on this tour.  And from what I could tell, this stop proved to be a prodigious one for this band.
           
As Mucc left the stage, the crew began to tear down their gear and set up for Bullet.  While this changing of the guard was going on, so was another Japanese group, the Underneath.  They were set up kind of over to the side of the stage and this gave me a chance to take a look around and dig through my purse for some earplugs, which I did not find.  I saw some chaperoning-moms, some beer-bellied old farts, and even some Mormon-looking fellows that might have been knocking on the wrong door.  The band, made up of Masaki on drums, Ryo on bass, Tal and Masaka sharing guitar duties, and vocalist Taka, seemed to step right out of the pages of modern Japanimation.  The stage prowess of the Underneath made itself known through multicolored hairdos, an abundance of black clothes and eyeliner straight to their crackling guitars and possible rock anthems.  Their moxie may have been due to the fact that they were on this tour with their first album, which came out just this year on Stirring Records, titled, Moonflower.  I am quite sure this exposure of Chaos will win them some new fans in the U.S.

The U.K. sensation, Bullet For My Valentine, finally hit the stage to some serious mitt-pounding and it wasn’t long till heads were a bobbing all over the place.  Teenagers, strippers and frat boys were all moving as one to the metal-core pumping from the stage.  Bullet has been touring steadily for the last two years with the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and Iron Maiden.  Their debut album,  “The Poison”,  did well and the subsequent video for  “All These Things I Hate”  reached number one on MTV2.  With their new record,  “Scream Aire Fire”  already well surpassing the success of the previous cd, the Welsh assemblage, made up of vocalist Matthew Truck, guitarist Michael Paget, drummer Michael Thomas and bassist Jason James, are riding high.  When Matt waved his flat black hair into their big radio hit, the crowd’s response was raucous.  This song, of course, was not the best they had to offer, but as the closest to a ballad, its marketability is incontestable.  The popularity of this band was visible to say the least, as I watched what seemed to be everyone but me clear out of the place when Bullet finished their set.  This was a bit unfortunate for the next act—that once again got to play on one side of the stage as the equipment was moved off and replaced for the next headliner.
           
With full-on synchronized head banging, blessthefall appeared as a mini-me tour de force.  I could have sworn these guys were in high school by their appearance, but certainly not from the musical aptitude.  Come to find out, the ensemble of Mike, Matt, Eric and Jared, was comprised of nineteen to twenty year-olds that had been together since their high school years.  Once their balls dropped and they had adept control of their hair dryers and flat irons, the band participated in the 2007 Van’s Warped Tour, which no doubt helped solidify their mark on the  “screamo”  scene.  I know they made a mark on their vocal chords for sure.  They may be lucky to have a voice left by 30.  They made a video for their song,  “His Last Walk”,  and their MySpace profile has been viewed over 5 million times.  Not too bad for a few youths from Phoenix.  Even though the crowd had thinned out after Bullet, the singer still managed to do a little crowd surfing after running full throttle from the stage to the pit.  They even managed to kick my photographer in the head, poor girl!  A few guitar twirls around their pretty, young necks and a final tossing of the guitar pick to the audience closed out their offering of the night.
           
As the crowd began to magically reappear, Atreyu took the spotlight.  Now this band, of all the others in the lineup, has had quite a few radio hits and the noticeable difference in their guise reflected that.  Displaying the  “more marketable”  short hair that went along well with the Orange County roots, did not keep them from sharing screaming duties on stage.  I did think the mention of   “shaking your butts”  seemed a little out of place on a tour promising chaos.  And they seemed more like California surfer dudes, trying hard to be hard, in my opinion.  I will say the crowd’s love of the hit  “Falling Down”  manifested itself in hollers, and all in all, they were pretty solid, musically.  

They should be solid, since they formed in 1998 and are on their sixth album,  “Lead Sails Paper Anchor”.   The group has delved into some interesting instrumentation for rock, utilizing trumpets, strings, piano, opera vocals, a Turkish Saz and pedal steel.  They have said they always wanted to do a country ballad, and I for one, say at this point:  “Go for it!”   Maybe they can conquer a whole new genre with the same voracity they have radio rock.
           
After an evening filled with witnessing lover’s quarrels, someone being removed on a stretcher, and almost getting into a bar brawl with a complete bitchy stranger, I was spent.  The diverse crowd and rigid rock kept my attention and the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour was a success and one that I’m glad that I didn’t miss.   SLV