Broadway’s ROCK OF AGES Band Arrives at 24 Oxford!

Broadway’s ROCK OF AGES Band played 24 Oxford at the Virgin Hotel and Casino on Friday, June 20, 2025.

The Virgin Hotel and Casino is what replaced the original Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, which stood there for decades as a landmark for all things rock and roll. Although the new locale lacks the personality and rock and roll theme of its predecessor, it is good to see that they’re still booking rock and roll shows, with their venues remaining intact. And hats off to them for still offering free parking.

I was certainly curious to check out the ROCK OF AGES band, though I will admit I’ve never actually seen the musical or its film adaptation. But anything that’s an homage to 80s rock is something you can always sign me up for! This show was initially booked to take place in an outdoor poolside venue at Virgin, but was relocated to 24 Oxford (the smaller indoor club venue) due to high winds. Given that the temperature outdoors this day was around 110, this wasn’t a bad thing at all.

24 Oxford (the name pays homage to the address where Richard Branson started the Virgin corporation) is the venue that was previously known as Vinyl back when the property was the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. This was my first time inside the venue since the Hard Rock days, and I’m pleased to say that aside from some minor repainting and the obvious Virgin logos, it hasn’t changed that much. The front door is no longer there, but I assume that’ll be used again when whatever renovations are going on are completed (there were a lot of temporary walls outside the venue). I was definitely down to rock in my old stomping grounds, and what better time to do it than with an all-star band performing classic 80s rock tunes?

At around 8:00 PM (it’s so nice when a show actually starts on time!), the small venue was already packed (do keep in mind that this show was originally slated to take place in an outdoor space). At this point the lights went down and the “Top Gun Anthem” (which features Billy Idol’s guitarist Steve Stevens on the recording) began playing over the speakers as the players took the stage.

The band consists of Constantine Maroulis, Josephine Rose Roberts, Tommy Kessler, Jon Weber, Winston Royce, Richard Maheux, and Joel Hoekstra. While I’m admittedly not familiar with most of these musicians, some research showed some pretty impressive credentials. For example, Maroulis was a popular AMERICAN IDOL contestant, and Kessler has been the guitarist of Blondie since 2010! The one name here that was immediately familiar to me was guitarist Joel Hoekstra, who has played with Whitesnake, Night Ranger, and countless others. I’d previously caught him playing with RAIDING THE ROCK VAULT in 2022.

That’s a whopping seven musicians on stage, and each of them are masters of their craft, and they have a high amount of energy and charisma they bring to the table. One of my favorite things about this show is that the band utilizes both male and female vocalists. Constantine is great and owns any stage he’s on, but Josephine is no slouch either. As the setlist included many originally female-sung songs, this was a great way to get the best performances possible. And Josephine wasn’t even relegated to only singing the “originally sang by women” songs, going on to show just how powerful a set of pipes she had. Including a keyboard player further adds to the atmosphere one can get out of these songs; it’s something many groups performing these tunes lack. The performance wasn’t perfect, but with this septet oozing charisma and energy from start to finish, no one noticed or cared. This was a high-energy rock show that was completely irresistible.

Again, I haven’t seen the original musical or its film adaptation. But the band announced that they would be branching out and playing a few more “of the period” song that it made sense to play. The result was essentially an “80s Rock Greatest Hits Live” setlist, and I don’t think anyone in this enthusiastic audiences minded in the least. Unsurprisingly, it was just “hits” with no deep tracks to speak of, but that’s to be expected. Artists covered here included Poison, Twisted Sister, Pat Benatar, Journey, Whitesnake, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Whitesnake, to name a few. Personally, I would’ve love to have heard a tune or two from Ratt or Scorpions too, but that’s a minor nitpick.

This ROCK OF AGES Band rocked 24 Oxford, with heads banging and fists raised all the while, reviving some of the best 80s rock tunes. These musicians are the real deal, and to quote one of the song titles, it was nothing but a good time. If you do get a chance to check out this lineup of musicians bringing these songs to life, it’s well worth going.