Images: A Wilhelm Scream, Runaway Kids, TheCore. March 19, 2017 at The Bunkhouse Saloon

“We always have a great time when we play Vegas,” exclaimed A Wilhelm Scream frontman Nuno Pereira during his band’s Sunday night Bunkhouse show. The huge smile on his face, which he wore for the entirety of the band’s explosive set, certainly backed up that statement.

In fairness, the crowd made it pretty easy for him. When he wasn’t wildly thrashing about the stage in his signature style, he was able to offload some work, jutting his mic into the audience to let the fans handle vocal duties on “Boat Builders,” “The Pool,” “Horse,” “Famous Friends and Fashion Drunks” and “The King Is Dead.”

The band, which sounded as tight as ever, was even talked into playing an unplanned encore, with the crowd chanting their name being enough to get them to extend their Vegas stay with “Anchor End.”

LA’s Runaway Kids had a decidedly 90s vibe, with frontman Gage Armstrong donning flannel and a backwards cap straight out of Clarissa Explains It All for a set of songs that recalled the more energetic tracks from the Foo Fighters.

TheCore, playing their first show since Obama was still President (those were the days), got the night started by making it clear that they haven’t lost a step. This was a much-anticipated reunion-of-sorts for the guys, and from the very first note of their faithful cover of Bouncing Souls “True Believers,” the band seemed in high spirits. Of course, their return was met with much singing from the crowd, and smiles all around.

-Emily Matview

Photos by Aaron Mattern | https://www.flickr.com/photos/akmofoto/