RivetSkull Rocks The Space!

RivetSkull played The Space on Saturday, March 1, 2025.

I love the music of Ronnie James Dio.

Anyone who knows me knows that. And whenever I hear of anyone paying tribute to the iconic vocalist, I’ll usually be first in line (not Last in Line! See what I did there?) for that gig. In recent weeks, I heard of a group called RivetSkull out of the Pacific Northwest that would be performing a set of original music and covers from throughout Ronnie’s career at a Downtown Las Vegas venue called the SinWave. Unfortunately, that venue shut down, as frustratingly many do in Sin City. But the show must go on, and I was thrilled to hear that the gig was picked up by one of my favorite venues in Las Vegas – The Space!

While I haven’t been to The Space very many times, I’ve been impressed every time I’ve come. The building has a separate bar/lobby area, and the main showroom area is quite large, with good views nearly everywhere. In addition to rock gigs, many charitable events and other artistic endeavors also take place on the property, including burlesque shows. It may even be the only venue I’ve been to in Las Vegas with a gender-neutral restroom! Unlike many venues that host rock/metal shows in Sin City, most gigs at The Space are all ages, which is a breath of fresh air for younger fans or anyone who may have kids they’re trying to introduce to some great sounds. It’s definitely a spot everyone should see a show in at least once.

I won’t deny that I was essentially coming in here blind; all that I knew about RivetSkull coming in was that they were a band with two albums of original material under their belt, and that they were doing a tribute to one of my favorite rock/metal singers of all time. The latter is certainly enough to get me to go out to a gig, but I’m always intrigued by any rock/metal act that does original material.

Just after 8:00 PM, the foursome took the stage. The band consists of vocalist/keyboardist Chad McMurray, guitarist Mark X. Plog, bassist Johnny Massey, and for this leg of tour dates, drummer Thomas Zamorano (the usually drummer, according to the band’s website, is Michael Robson). This night was split into three sets. One of original material, and the latter two of Ronnie James Dio classics. Right from the get-go, it was clear that these guys take rock and roll seriously. McMurray’s vocals were a pleasant surprise; his delivery on several of these original cuts actually reminded me of late Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley. Even though Zamorano was the fill-in drummer, you’d swear this guy had been there from day one, with some seriously powerful drum work. Guitarist Mark X. Plog was tight with all his guitar work from the beginning of the gig. But one of the true stand-outs was bassist Johnny Massey, apparently the new kid on the block in RivetSkull, having only joined the band as a full-time member last year. This guy’s sense of humor and on-stage antics were one of the highlights of the show. He knows how to hold down the low end, but the guy couldn’t go more than five minutes without making me laugh.

There were some minor technical difficulties in the first set that delayed the show a bit, but the band remained in good humor while the issues were resolved; singer Chad McMurray’s Spinal Tap jokes during this time certainly amused the crowed. It proved to be anything but disastrous, and before long, the band wrapped up their first set in fine form.

When the band returned to the stage after a brief intermission, preparing to play the Dio tunes (the ones the band joked that everyone came out to see), music began playing from the speakers from Ronnie’s old pre-Elf days; this was a brilliant easter egg that just goes to show the band’s devotion to the famed singer. The group even brought up a special guest guitarist for the beginning of the second set – Ira Black! I’d seen Black with BulletBoys last year, and he always puts on a good gig no matter who he’s playing with. Mr. Plog returned to the stage not long after to reclaim his axe, and before long, things were underway. The set included cuts from most of Ronnie James Dio’s career, including Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and the band simply called Dio. This meant plenty of classic cuts from all these phases, including “Long Live Rock N Roll.” “Heaven and Hell,” “Holy Diver,” “The Last in Line,” and “Rainbow in the Dark.” But these two sets also incorporated a few slightly deeper cuts as well, including “Bible Black” from THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, the Heaven and Hell album released just a year prior to Ronnie’s passing.

Were these guys up to the task of performing Ronnie James Dio classics live? They were. I’ve heard many musicians, including several who’d played with Ronnie, attempting these songs in a live setting. I can say whole-heartedly that this is one of the best performances of these songs I’ve ever seen; these aren’t words I use lightly. Vocalist McMurray actually managed to hit the high notes and find a singing style similar enough to Mr. Dio; this is exceptionally difficult to do, but again, it was pulled off nicely here. This is the best performance of Ronnie James Dio music I’ve ever seen done live (I never got to see Ronnie in concert sadly), and that’s saying something considering many of those other performances included former actual Dio band members! There were some entertaining Dio-related stories and wisecracks between some of the tracks as well.

Probably the only minor weakness of the concert is that the band was up against a hard curfew (likely due to the all-ages nature of The Space); due to the delay caused by the earlier technical difficulties, this meant that two songs had to be cut from the setlist, including one of the biggest Dio-era Rainbow classics – “Man on the Silver Mountain.” There are some other tracks from Mr. Dio’s career I would liked to have heard performed that didn’t make the setlist; surprisingly no songs from the seminal 1976 RAINBOW RISING album made the cut. There were also no Elf cuts in the setlist, but as this is an earlier more obscure era more casual fans typically don’t know, I won’t complain there.

This was a kick-ass night of rock and roll paying tribute to one of its most iconic titans, but RivetSkull’s original tunes were pretty damn solid as well! This is definitely a band I’ll be keeping my eye on into the coming years. If you have a chance to see them doing their tribute to Ronnie James Dio, go. You won’t be disappointed.