What Happens In Vegas…Tour

The What Happens in Vegas…Tour 09

June 20, 2009 @ Chain Reaction Anaheim, CA

The Cab, The Secret Handshake, The Summer Set, Eye Alaska, Anarbor

Walking up to Chain Reaction, all I could see was a big line of girls, busses with trailers, and a couple fire marshals standing outside the building. The first thing I thought was,“oh gosh, some little girl just saw Alex Marshall from The Cab for the first time and probably fainted from excitement”…it was just a theory though…turns out there was actually way to many people trying to get into the venue and there was a scare that the tiny cramped space of Chain Reaction would surpass its maximum occupancy. Eventually they sorted everything out and fans were started piling into the venue

Just finishing their soundcheck, up first was the Pheonix, Az based band, Anarbor. They played songs off of their latest EP Free Your Mind, released in March 09 and their 2008 EP, The Natural Way. Their set was filled with energy and caused loving fans to ooze with giddiness as the band played just to them. The band ended their set with the song “Let the Games Begin,” accompanied by surprise guest. Cash Colligan, The Cab’s guitarist. Cash hopped on stage for an intense guitar solo, leaving the crowd with a sincere readiness for the next band’s intensity as well.

Next up were Orange County natives, Eye Alaska. With powerful lyrics and an amazingly unique sound, these boys were still for me, the best of the night. They opened with the commanding single “I Knew You’d Never fly” off their first EP Yellow and Elephant, released June 2008. The song went over well with the crowd, who seemed to sing and dance along to the medley of powerful pop rock. Vocalist Brandon Wronski, with his trademark backpack on, had some very unique dance moves and even had the crowd participate and do a few birdlike moves throughout the set. There was an entirely different atmosphere when they were performing, almost breathtaking. You can see the passion these boys had and it showed that they absolutely love what they do. The closing song was “Walk like a Gentleman,” the newest single off of their upcoming record, “Genesis Underground,” scheduled to release 7/7/09. During the final Chorus of the song, Brian Dales, vocalist of The Summer Set, came along on stage to help finish the song off. Without a doubt, the crowd enjoyed this special appearance as well.

Third up was The Summer Set. This 5 piece band from Scottsdale, Arizona made some definite impressions on the attendees. Female fans were going crazy left and right. John Gomez wore his trademark glasses with the lens’ popped out and apparently it was an inspiration to about 40 girls who did the same thing to their glasses that night…I found that very interesting to say the least. The band played most of their songs off their first EP In Color, and even played a new unnamed song off of their new album (which is also unnamed at the moment. Even through vocalist Brian Dales awkwardly dropping his mic chord during the song “Cross Your Fingers,” he still had the crowds support as they sang along for him.) The last song for them was the band’s cover of Usher’s “Love in This Club.” During the middle of the song, Eye Alaska’s vocalist Brandon Wronski jumped on stage and displayed even more unique dance moves to the show and helped sing the last chorus. Very, very entertaining to say the least.

Next was the 3 piece electronica pop band from Dallas, Texas The Secret Handshake. For being just a unit of 3, they had LOTS of energy, turning the whole room into one huge dance party. The band played a couple of songs off their newest album released April 2009 entitled, My Name Up in Lights, as well as a couple from their first album, One Full Year. To my pleasant surprise, they even performed their cover of Skee Lo’s “I Wish,” featured on Fearless Records “Punk Goes Crunk.” It was such a big dance party that vocalist Luis Dubuc decided to join in the fun and jumped into the crowd and enjoy the frenzy from down there for a bit.

Now for the Vegas bred headliners of the night; The Cab. Providing a very tasty and enjoyable set, they played nearly every song from their 2008 release, Whisper War. During “Can You Keep a Secret,” vocalist Alex Deleon decided to sporadically cover The Black Eyed Peas,’ “I’ve Got a Feeling.” After this sweet surprise, the band decided to slow things down a bit and sing a couple of acoustics, then raised the energy once again by performing their cover of Rihanna’s “Disturbia”. “If you got an ass shake it, that’s what they’re there for.” Those words were straight from the mouth of loveable Alex Deleon in an attempt to make the crowd even more hyped as they were. Wasn’t even sure if it was possible, but the statement caused quite the flurry from the crowd which left us all on cloud nine with a great night of music on our minds.