Lunatic's Serenade
Thousand Foot Krutch/Sunflower Dead
Vinyl Inside the Hard Rock Hotel
Las Vegas 02/12/2016
The Rock Radio Convention came through Las Vegas bringing all kinds of talent through the doors of the Vinyl inside the Hard Rock Hotel. Tonight, I set my focus on two groups. Thousand Foot Crutch, a band that I have been into for over ten years, and Sunflower Dead; a brand new band whose debut record I reviewed a few months ago.
In my opinion, Sunflower Dead should’ve gone on later in the lineup. A couple of bands couldn’t keep rhythm and got lost when they had technical difficulties. Not the case with the Sunflower Dead. When the lead singer’s mic went out, he jumped over to the guitar player’s while the stage hand switched out the bad one. The distraction that can come when extra dudes are on stage didn’t affect the performance and the mayhem of the stage act. They powered through their half hour set playing tunes from the new record to rave response from the crowd.
Sunflower Dead had an amazing presence on stage and are the manifestation of their record title, It’s Time to Get Weird. Their makeup adds to the horror movie vibe of their music. The singer picked up an accordion and played a few spooky riffs on a couple of songs, the drummer kept busy keeping up with the insane guitar playing, and the bassist (that my daughter said looks like The Joker) kept the beefy bottom end pounding. Once this crazy bunch of undead guys started rockin’, there was no stoppin’. They were one of three bands that played with the best sound and near flawless performance to match. They acted professionally when a problem occurred and kept things moving along. Please find where they’re playing or who they’re supporting and you don’t wanna’ miss the weirdness.
“What made it more fun was seeing the band whose album I reviewed.”
Then Thousand Foot Krutch walked on stage to their pre recorded intro as the waiting crowd cheered. This seasoned veteran Christian band mixes hard rock and hip-hop and brings the house down wherever they go. With all the technical bugs worked out, Thousand Foot Crutch laid down classic TFK. They played some modern tunes and a brand new song that was a first for this tour. So fresh that Trevor forgot some of the words, but he nor anyone else cared about that. It’s what makes rock n’ roll what it is, REAL.
In over 15 years that I’ve been a fan of TFK, we have never seen them live. It was worth the wait. What made it more fun was seeing the band whose album I reviewed. Sunflower Dead was amazing and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. As for TFK, I will be first in line for the new record when it drops.
Tim Duran, HMS
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