Nestled between the seedy edges of Naked City and the newly renovated Arts District lies the Punk Rock Museum. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, it has quickly become one of the coolest destinations for locals, tourists, and music lovers of all ages.
Now, we’ve been to the museum many, many times. We love the place. So, it was only appropriate that we go and hang out at their anniversary party.
One of the first things we noticed was for it being a sold out event, it was not over sold. So many times we’ve run into a situation where you can barely breathe because there are so many people around, but this was perfectly managed.
You didn’t have security up your ass. You didn’t have to deal with having to wait 30 minutes just to get a PBR. There was room to socialize, room to dance, and it really felt like a birthday party should. There was no celebrity emcee making things appear to be more important than what they were. This was a punk rock block party where a bunch of friends gathered to hang out, listen to some great bands, and celebrate something really cool that was built with community effort.
Locals Suburban Resistance kicked the day off, sounding tight as always on the stage tucked at the edge of the museum’s parking lot. We drank some beers and watched for a bit before heading inside to check out the inner workings of the exhibits. Yeah, we’ve been many times, but there is always something rad and new to check out, in this case, it was the MY SHOT photo exhibit, featuring punk photo legends like Alison Braun, Naomi Petersen, and more, along with the Black Punk Now exhibit, featuring photographs, videos, and insight into the afro-punk scene.
Unfortunately, we missed SAKURA due to our exploration of the museum, and we were bummed about that since we’d heard a lot of great things. However, up next was Soldiers of Destruction, another local favorite featuring local punk photographer Cameron “Morat” Mouat on vocals. Morat didn’t stay on the stage very long, pointing out familiar faces in the crowd, jumping in with them, and performing in the pit alongside the crowd.
The Last Gang and Get Dead both entertained as well as the sun began to set and the wind picked up. Both bands delivered high energy, had the crowd singing (and moshing) along. I don’t think anyone expected it to be as chilly as it was, so dancing together was a must. Having never heard either band, I was highly impressed with both. Gotta love heavy feminine energy, which was delivered by The Last Gang, and I appreciated the joke complaints from Get Dead bassist Tim Mehew about there being no Stone Temple Pilots in the exhibit anywhere. To be fair, I think the museum doing a bit on the Seattle scene (yes, I know, STP is not from Seattle) would be pretty cool. “Grunge” is just another extension of punk, after all. Wanna argue? I’ll win.
Closing out the evening were The Vandals, who are always a blast to catch. You really can’t go wrong with them, and they were the perfect band to close out the punk rock block party to celebrate what is arguably our favorite museum in the city.
The next major punk event coming up in Vegas is Punk Rock Bowling at the end of May, and you can bet your ass that Punk Rock Museum is ready for it. If I had the extra money to go and do some of these tours myself, I would. So, go for me and let us at ZRockR know what you think.
Happy Birthday, PRM! Here’s to many, MANY more!
Gallery.
PHOTO CREDIT: All photos by Stephy Muzio for ZRockR Magazine – All Rights Reserved.