Live music review: Hotel Vegas NYE gave attendees a fun ride through the musical decades
New Year’s Eve 2023 at Hotel Vegas was something of a time machine. At the Austin East Side haunt, many chosen Austin acts came together to masquerade as bands of multiple genres across the eclectic periods of music’s past. This included but was not limited to covers of Judas Priest, Motorhead, Black Flag, Devo, and Bruce Springsteen by some of the best young musicians in the city. All three stages in the venue were used for the Austin East Side New Year’s celebration. While it was impossible to see all the fun the Hotel Vegas team had in store to ring in the new year, a plethora of nostalgic goodness was brought in to send off 2023. Here are some sets that stood out for the festivities.
Gus Baldwin & The Sketch sweated it out for a series of Black Flag cuts that showed frontman Gus Baldwin and his trusted musical associates doing tasteful, true-to-form versions of Henry Rollins tributes from one of the most formative punk bands of the 80s. “My War,” “Gimme Gimme Gimme,” and “Six Pack” all made tight, we-mean-business appearances, save for a couple of instrumental fuckups that stayed true to the bona fide punk rock mantra. The indoor stage at Hotel Vegas was a perfect avenue for the punk cover set, allowing for a packed-to-the-gills performance that made the energy wall-to-wall. Gus Baldwin and his band had a great 2023, and it seemed fitting to send it off in a stripped-down, aggressive, Rollins-esque manner. Gus Baldwin and the Sketch will also perform at Resound’s Red River Cultural District Free Week showcases this weekend.
Castle Club delivered a slew of Judas Priest covers with utmost, full-throttled passion. Frontman Patrick Keller has been a prolific music mastermind in Austin for some time now, and the output of Castle Club since 2019 has stirred the genre pot in the city scene. Not to mention multiple electronic projects to round out the musician’s unending creative output. Keller and CC ripped through classic Priest tunes such as “Electric Eye,” “Living After Midnight,” “Hell Bent For Leather,” and, naturally, “Breaking The Law.” Performing as a four-piece for the first time, Keller and Castle Club rounded out their set with dialed-in Heavy Metal instrumentation and signature Rob Halford howling that made the close quarters of the Volstead feel like a mini-stadium. To kick off 2024, Castle Club will perform with a stacked bill at the Saturday edition of free showcases at Hotel Vegas.
Amplified Heat poured Jack Daniels and chopped the lines for a blistering Motörhead cover set. A long-running heavy act in the Austin scene, the AH trio has been a mainstay whose appeal crosses multiple spheres. From Psych Rock, Heavy Metal, and plain ol’ Rock and Roll, the band always delivers fierce riffs, retro metal vocal deliveries, and drum beats that pound and thrash like the greats such as Bill Ward, Phil Taylor, and Scott Travis. Amplified Heat mowed through their intense set with Motorhead classics like “Overkill,” “Hellraiser,” “Damage Case,” and “Ace of Spades.” Frontman Jim Ortiz did it all. The singer/bassist angled his microphone Lemmy style, allowing for a fierce homage to the late frontman who passed this time of year in 2015. Amplified Heat performed at 13th Floor on Red River on Thursday as a kickoff for Free Week.
Dodo, Nolan Potter, and Yatte sent off the evening with a blissful tribute to Genesis and Phil Collins. As midnight had passed, the ensemble waded through the prog rock intricacies of tunes from both catalogs, allowing Potter to take the lead guitar reins in a polished masterclass of musical throwbacks to cap off the evening. And yes, the drumroll from “In The Air Tonight” was heavenly. The talent across the supergroup was apparent throughout, and closed out the NYE celebration in a potent manner. Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band will perform at Cheer Up Charlie’s for Red River Free Week this weekend. View the full Red River Cultural District Free Week schedule here.
New Year’s Eve 2023 at Hotel Vegas was a remarkable journey through the corridors of time, skillfully curated by the fruitful music scene of Austin. Throughout the years, the folks at Hotel Vegas have worked tirelessly to curate programming that keeps the oddities of the Austin music scene intact. Cheers to a new year enriched by the timeless echoes of Hotel Vegas’ endless fulfillment of what makes the Austin scene a weird, yet widely coveted affair.
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