Las Vegas Guitar Trade Show – Six-String Slingers Invade the Silverton for Three Days!

The Las Vegas Guitar Trade Show took place at the Veil Pavilion in the Silverton Hotel Casino on May 30, May 31, and June 1, 2025.

Las Vegas is certainly a town with an iconic music scene. Be it local talent or the national and international superstars of today and yesterday alike, Sin City certainly knows how to rock! It stands to reason that this town would be the ideal place to host a guitar/musician’s expo, and that’s just what the Las Vegas Guitar Trade Show brought.

A brief disclaimer: I am a die-hard music fan who loves all things rock and roll. However, I am neither a musician or a collector of instruments. At first glance, this was not an event I was planning on attending; it seemed to be a bit outside of my wheelhouse. However, I was offered a VIP pass for the weekend from my friend Gary England, long one of the best journalists and photographers in the Vegas Valley, and decided on a whim to check out the festivities.

I’m certainly glad I did. It was one of my best rock and roll experiences in 2025 so far!

The event ran for three days: Friday May 30, Saturday May 31, and Sunday June 1. Due to my schedule, my attendance was somewhat limited. I ended up attending on the night of May 30 to check out some live performances, and came back the next day, May 31, to check out the festivities and vendors who’d I’d missed the previous day, due to my late arrival Friday on account of my day job schedule.

This was the first time I’d set foot in the Silverton in many years, despite the venue occasionally hosting concerts. The Veil Pavilion, which hosted the Las Vegas Guitar Trade Show, is a fairly small space, but they still managed to fit in several vendors, and even had a stage with seating at one end of the small building (presumably, this is where most “normal” concerts going on at the Silverton taking place). And with the rising heat in Las Vegas, I’m happy to say this space was well air conditioned!

When I arrived Friday night, most of the vendors had already left for the night, but the promise of two bands performing live shows certainly sparked my interest. I did encounter a few music scene personalities in the venue, including Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney, who is always a pleasure to speak to. I explored the (mostly empty) vendor booths while waiting for the evening’s entertainment, and first up was The Bones, fronted by Patrick Vitagliano. The group usually features Armored Saint guitarist Jeff Duncan, but due to his absence on account of a tour, he was replaced for the evening by Stoney Curtis! The transition was seamless; you’d swear Stoney was always in this band if you didn’t know better. Their mixture of punk and power pop sounds entertains every single time, and they even reinvent some older songs in cover versions, including tunes by INXS, The Cars, and Prince, to name a few, though this set was surprisingly heavy on original material, which is a good thing. Vitagliano is certainly an eccentric frontman in all the best ways; this guy’s between-song rants are as entertaining as the music! Plus, I can’t say I’ve ever encountered another musician who plays a guitar shaped like a block of cheese, complete with holes. Also playing with the band were bassist Sean Koos, who has quite the resume of his own, and drummer Daniel Margasa.

Second up was a group I hadn’t heard of called Klutchlok. Once again, Mr. Margasa was behind the drums, and one of the guitarists was another local favorite I’ve seen with many bands over the years, Chris Iorio. But the big surprise from this set was the band they recruited to play the bass – Great White bassist Scott Snyder! Definitely a heavier and more modern sounding band, these guys quickly won me over. Some of their unexpected antics were quite entertaining as well, including a band member hitting ping pong balls into the crowd (one of which almost impaled my friend and I!) What I saw was very good, and I look forward to seeing these guys more in the future on the scene.

For the second day of festivities, I brought my friend Lynn along for the ride, both of us wearing our battle jackets. The event’s host, Izzy Presley, was quick to proclaim over his microphone that “the vests had arrived.” And indeed, the battle jackets were certainly hits with a wide variety of the fans present for the day. This was my chance to interact with vendors who had left early last night. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the booths were selling items like guitars and basses, and it was great to see some independent, lesser-known companies peddling their wares. Other equipment was for sale as well, including products for hanging guitars on walls for display. There was even a small pavilion area with people putting on acoustic shows for everyone’s listening entertainment, off from the main stage.

A few of the other highlights from around the show:

-Great White bassist Scott Snyder (who’d played the Klutchlok show the night before) was selling his artwork. I wasn’t aware that he had ventures outside the rock world, so checking out some of his paintings was certainly an eye-opening experience! If I get a bigger place, odds are I’ll be investing in some of his stuff for my wall.

-Legendary former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick had a booth set up, selling assorted merchandise, including shirts, photos, CDs and DVDs, and other items. I purchased an instructional DVD from the former KISS axeman, which also features his late brother Bob. Many of his guitars on display were quite spectacular, including one with art of him from the 1985 ASYLUM album art; his first album with KISS.

-Former Quiet Riot bassist Kelly Garni, who played in the band back in the 1970s glam era, had a booth as well. Garni was the childhood best friend of Randy Rhoads, who he played alongside in that group back in the day. In addition to signed photos, Garni was also selling copies of his books, his autobiography ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, and his photography book NAKED VEGAS. Garni has dabbled in other forms of artwork, though sadly he didn’t have any of that with him this time around.

Half the fun of the day was running into old friends from the music scene and making a few new ones. Cynthia Jean Landeen, who runs the RockGodz Hall of Fame organization, honoring a wide variety of people in the music business, was there to put on a RockGodz awards show later that night. While we had a chance to chat, I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend the show that evening due to a prior engagement I had scheduled at the soon-to-be-closed Count’s Vamp’d, with a friend from out of town. Chats with musicians like Ira Black were a highlight of the day, and even iconic bass tech Kevin “Dugie” Dugan, best known for working with Michael Anthony for 40 years, was in attendance (no sign of Mike though sadly).

Another highlight for my friend Lynn, who also happens to be the world’s biggest POWER RANGERS fan, was getting to meet Buster Akrey, a regular at RockGodz events, who also happens to be the guy who composed that show’s original theme song (although he remains frustratingly uncredited for his work). He even invited Lynn on stage to play his original rendition of the theme on an organ, which is quite different from the final electric guitar driven version everyone knows! It was an epic day of epic people, but one of the final highlights before departing was a surprise encounter with former Ozzy Osbourne/Badlands guitarist Jake E. Lee, who was in great spirits and enjoying the festivities. Sadly, I had to leave before rock/metal media personality Eddie Trunk made an appearance.

The trade show continued into Sunday, however I was not present on that day.

I had one hell of a weekend at the Las Vegas Guitar Trade Show, and look forward to returning in the fall, when they do it all again! I thought as a non-musician I may find myself bored by the goings-on here, but am delighted to say that most definitely wasn’t the case. If you’re a music fan at all, you’ll definitely want to check out the event when it comes back to Vegas in the autumn. I know I will be.