Making A Hot Arizona Night Even Sweatier

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All Photos By CrpnDeth Photography LLC
@crpndeth / instagram.com/crpndeth

On a jet lagged stop in Tempe, AZ you have to chuckle at the mini-SPINAL TAP moment from Phil Lewis. "It's Saturday night with LA GUNS, what else could you ask for?". Other than it being a Friday night, no worries Phil. We've all been there.

The band has been touring heavily, and the rest of the year is going to keep them busy as well. Phil sounded great, definitely keeping his iconic vocals in shape while the energy of bassist Kenny Kweens and guitarist Michael Grant kept the crowd on its feet throughout the set. Drummer Steve Riley kept it thick and loud as usual.

While the band puts on a solid, flawless set - it is showing signs of becoming stale. The band opened with the ferocious "No Mercy" and followed up with "Showdown (Riot On Sunset)", "Sex Action", "Never Enough" and "I Wanna Be Your Man". The crowd ate up every minute of the set, and the band was on fire, but there were too many moments of "been there, heard that" throughout their setlist.

The 15 song set (mostly concentrating on the first three albums) also included "Over The Edge", "Gypsy Soul", "One More Reason", "Electric Gypsy", "The Ballad Of Jayne" and "Rip And Tear". Reviewing the songs from these albums, it would serve the band's live performance well to mix up the formula and throw in gems like "Sleazy Come Easy Go", "Kiss My Love Goodbye" or even "Some Lie 4 Love".

Local openers GRUNGEZILLA played a very strong set of covers from the grunge era that seriously got the younger crowd ready for the headliners. The band definitely gives the genre a run for its money, covering everyone from STP, SOUNDGARDEN, NIRVANA, etc. While I personally cannot stand grunge, the band has a stellar lineup of musicians. Anyone here locally in the Valley into grunge will be impressed catching these guys live. It was also kind of ironic that the band was picked to support an 80s band that was killed (at least in part) by grunge.

Check out a few photos from the show!
All Photos By CrpnDeth Photography LLC