LA Guns and Tom Keifer – Kings of 80s Glam Rock the Virgin Theater!

LA Guns and Tom Keifer played The Theater at the Virgin Hotel and Casino on Wednesday, September 17, 2025.

The Theater at the Virgin Hotel and Casino continues to book some fantastic rock shows, and on September 17, the spirit of the Decade of Decadence was alive and well with two of the best of the 80s glam scene: LA Guns, and former Cinderella singer Tom Keifer. The booking of a show like this on a Wednesday night is certainly unusual, but this wasn’t going to stop me from getting my rock fix. With the recent closure of Count’s Vamp’d, I’ve been trying to find as many spots as I can to get out to and enjoy rock and roll, and Virgin scores points for offering two parking garages and not charging for parking; a sin too many venues in Sin City are now guilty of.

Kicking off the evening was LA Guns! Taking the 80s by storm, ex-Guns N Roses guitarist Tracii Guns and ex-Girl vocalist Phil Lewis took the world by storm with several superb songs and albums, combining the best of 80s glam-infused sleaze with harder and more melodic elements alike when called for. There have been a ton of LA Guns albums over the years, and even multiple versions of the band on different occasions! Mr. Guns and Mr. Lewis reunited about a decade ago and have put out several new studio albums, all of which are surprisingly good. Rounding out the lineup of the current incarnation are second guitarist Ace Von Johnson, bassist Johnny Martin, and drummer Shawn Duncan (formerly of Sunset Strip favorites Odin, and the brother of Armored Saint’s Jeff Duncan).

Following an introduction from legendary rock/metal media personality Eddie Trunk, LA Guns took the stage. Being the support act, they had minimal set time to work with, but it didn’t stop them from packing as much intensity into those 45 minutes or so as absolute possible. Tracii is still a shredding machine, shelling out both his own classic riffs and even paying homage to some of his rock heroes. Lewis remains the English vocalist who came over here to rock the States nearly four decades ago, and has lost almost nothing. The rest of the band members are no slouches either, with everyone here bringing their A-game.

The setlist, unsurprisingly, mostly consisted of tracks from the band’s first two albums, LA GUNS and COCKED AND LOADED. But the band wasn’t shy about throwing a few newer tracks from their most recent studio efforts, which are every bit the equal of the material from their glory years on the Sunset Strip. Yes, there are a few songs I wanted to hear that didn’t get played, but I give the band credit for unleashing three quarters of an hour of dirty 80s sleaze rock on this Las Vegas crowd. These Guns are still blazing.

Tom Keifer was the evening’s headliner, cementing his rock star status as the frontman of classic 80s rockers Cinderella back in the day. While that band is no more (and is unlikely to reform following the death of guitarist Jeff LaBar), Mr. Keifer has continued to keep the Cinderella classics alive, going out on tour with an all-star bands of musicians and backing vocalists alike – including his wife! Any time Mr. Keifer comes to light up Sin City with his own brand of rock and roll, I’m there.

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of Keifer’s setlist consisted of classic Cinderella tunes, but he also managed to squeeze in a few cuts from his solo efforts, THE WAY LIFE GOES and RISE, beautifully demonstrating to this Vegas audience what he’s been up to since the turn of the millennium. What’s even more remarkable is how seamlessly these songs blended in with everything else. For the Cinderella songs, it was the hits you’d expect, though there were admittedly a few disappointing omissions, including “If You Don’t Like It” and the title cut from the band’s legendary sophomore album, LONG COLD WINTER, but audiences here didn’t seem to mind.

Fortunately, Tom Keifer still sounds surprisingly good and has a lot of energy on the stage. Does he sound exactly the way he did back in the 80s? No, but he sounds far better than many of his contemporaries of the same era, many of whom are practically unlistenable now. I talked to a fellow fan sitting near me at the gig saying he had a choice between the Keifer/Guns gig and the Motley Crue one going on the same night. I assured him he made the right decision, and after having seen Keifer and his high-energy band on the live stage on this evening, I bet he’d be inclined to agree. The musicians playing with Keifer aren’t instantly recognizable names, but every single person he’s recruited to be on stage with him is up to the task and then some. This is live rock and roll done right, with no backing tracks and the flubs and mistakes (of which there were very few) intact.

I love the 80s. I love the rock and roll of the 80s. And this was a kick-ass set from two camps who created some of the best hard rock from the Decade of Decadence. LA Guns and the voice of Cinderella in one place managed to rock this Sin City audience on a weeknight. You owe it to yourself to catch these artists live if they hit up your city.

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Addison Egelhoff for ZRockR Magazine – (c) 2025 – All Rights Reserved.