Last month marked the Revival Tour’s fourth stop in Vegas. And lest you think it has grown stale – rest assured that it has only gotten better with age. Each year, Hot Water Music frontman Chuck Ragan assembles an all-star team of folk musicians, usually with some connections to the punk scene, for a collaborative tour. In addition to Ragan, this year’s lineup featured Cory Branan, Nathaniel Rateliff and Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel, marking his second appearance at a Vegas Revival date.
Chuck Ragan is no stranger to our town, playing an unprecedented six shows in Vegas last year alone, but this was the first time since the late-2011 release of Covering Ground. Ragan began his set, accompanied as usual by bassist Joe Ginsberg and fiddler Jon Gaunt, with the excellent Covering Ground track that he first premiered in Vegas last year: “Meet You in The Middle” (Tom Gabel providing the backing vocals that belong to Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon on the record). Fans obviously enjoyed Ragan’s latest offering, as “Middle” and “Nothing Left to Prove” received huge reactions at the show. Classics like “For Broken Ears,” “California Burritos,” and especially “The Boat” (with Brock and Sal of TheCore. and Jesse Pino joining the band on stage) left the entire audience hoarse from shouting along with Ragan’s gruff wail.
While touring with the 2008 Revival Tour, Tom Gabel was supporting his (at the time) recently released solo EP Heart Burns by playing it in its entirety (with a cover of Wagon Wheel thrown in for good measure). This time, the man in the penultimate spot who clearly brought out the most fans that night, revisited that album only with highlight “Anna Was a Stool Pigeon,” complete with Ragan reprising his recorded role on harmonica and backup vocals. Gabel played a new Against Me! song “Black Me Out” but the rest of his set consisted of Against Me! classics that had the whole Aruba, packed as tight as it could possibly be, singing along (even when Gabel himself forget the words, as in the case of “High Low”). The biggest moments of his set came when he launched into perennial favorites “Sink Florida Sink” and “Baby, I’m an Anarchist,” though “Reinventing Axl Rose” had its fair share of crowd backup singers to make the “whoa oh ohs” even more epic. I’m a fan of Against Me!’s whole career and would love to have heard a few of the newer songs peppered in, but I can’t complain about hearing some of my favorite songs of all time in an intimate venue, particularly when a good portion of these tracks were missing from Against Me!’s last few tours. Gabel seemed to enjoy the reaction, which beside sing alongs included crowd surfing, moshing, a few tears and an unexpected backup dancer.
Folk/country singer Cory Branan and indie/folk artist Nathaniel Rateliff opened the show and did a great job winning over a crowd of mostly drunken punk rock fans who were much less familiar with their music. Branan in particular turned out to be a crowd favorite, his unique delivery and storytelling lyrics having the crowd hanging on every word, when they weren’t laughing at his jokes or dancing to a catchy beat. I’m eagerly awaiting the May 22 release of his new record, MUTT.
If you missed out on this tour or want to experience it again, Ragan already has another solo show lined up – March 27th at the Beauty Bar with Kevin Seconds, Blag Dahlia and 2008 Revival alumni Tim Barry. I know I’ll be there.
-Emily Matview
Photos by Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/
and Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens
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