Images: Avalon Landing, James and Tsvet of Same Sex Mary and The All-Togethers, November 16, 2013 at the Beauty Bar

There are many places someone can find entertainment on a Saturday night in Las Vegas. But on this particular night, The Beauty Bar was the place to be for fans of locals Avalon Landing, as the night marked their Reside album release show. The bill was filled out with other local acts James and Tsvet of Same Sex Mary, and The All-Togethers.  I usually cover more of the younger-skewing bands for the site, so I’m accustomed to shows that start around 5:30. With a 10 p.m. start time, this was definitely a unique show for me, but the free pizza helped counteract the sleepiness and pull me through what was a fantastic show.

The All-Togethers took the small corner stage first. The duo is Ken Osborne playing an array of stringed instruments including the banjo, mandolin, ukulele, and acoustic guitar and Cindy Osborne playing the upright bass. Going into the show, I failed to do any research on the group so I had no idea what to expect. What I got was what I’d describe as a mix of jazz and folk. And looking online, the band describes themselves as “hillbilly jazz,” so I wasn’t too far off. The music had a good beat to it and as the set continued and the drinks kept coming, I saw more and more fans letting loose and dancing. My personal favorite of the night was their folk rendition of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems.”

Performing as an acoustic duo for the night, James Adams (guitar) and Tsvet Stefanova (keys) of Same Sex Mary took to the stage. Same Sex Mary plays a more psychedelic folk style which is not something I’d consider myself a particular fan of, but they make it work and I really enjoyed their set. About mid-set, they played a brand new song that I’m now wishing I would have caught the name of because it was my favorite of the night. Like The All-Togethers, they ended with a cover, Johnny Cash’s “Jackson.”

Avalon Landing took the stage last and the small bar filled up nicely with friends and excited fans. The group was formed by three Buffalo, New York natives who took a chance to make the music thing work in Las Vegas, and in the short few years they’ve been out here, Avalon Landing has definitely become one of the best unsigned local acts. They’ve got a very likeable pop/rock sound that makes me wonder why they haven’t been snatched up yet. I was a big fan of their first release Demos, Dead Ends, and Do Overs and could not wait for the release of Reside, which this show was celebrating. They opened with an intro lick that went straight into “The Cure” from Reside, and their set continued, entirely comprised of songs from the new release. I loved them all.  I was really happy to hear “Erie County Welcomes You Back” since that is easily my favorite song by these guys. To close off the set, they played “About Face” which they just released a music video for, and then continued with “Feel” and a short outro. Now that Reside is out, I can’t wait to see what is in the near future for these guys. Hopefully not long from now, they’ll be getting national radio airplay and we’ll be referring to them as the latest big band to come out of Vegas.

-Tylor Thuirer | https://www.flickr.com/photos/thuirermedia/