The Bourbon was shaking Tuesday night (3/8) with the swinging sounds of soul, blues, and fuzzed out guitars!
Presented by 104.1 The Blaze, the two bands on the bill, Rival Sons and The Velveteers, were on a small headline run before hopping on one of the biggest rock tours of the year. Starting tomorrow night these guys will be opening arenas for Greta Van Fleet!
This rock and roll life is crazy. One night you're playing to about 300 people in Lincoln, Nebraska and two nights later you're in Kalamazoo, Michigan playing for several thousand screaming fans.
Greta Van Fleet will be passing through Omaha on Friday 3/25 playing the CHI Health Center. If you missed Rival Sons and The Velveteers last night, you've got a second chance to catch them. There's still a few tickets left so get on it!
The Velveteers were the first band up and they brought the boogie. An interesting trio, The band is singer/guitarist Demi Demitro and two drummers, Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Fig. These guys and gal were pure rock and roll. Looking like they just stepped off a 1970s David Bowie tour bus, they got the crowd fired up!
The combination of dual drums and fuzzed out guitars blasted the room with dynamic melodies reminiscent of Bowie, Thin Lizzy, and T.Rex. As soon as the band started to play we were instantly transported to rock and roll heaven. Nothing against bands that have layered tracks and digital tools, but there's something so primitive and visceral when you see three people create a wall of sound that could crush an army. These rock and rollers are killing it out there!
As the crowd waited for Rival Sons a small chant started "Rival Sons! Rival Sons!" I waited with excitement for the rock and blues explosion that was about to begin. Several folks hollered "Yee yee!, Woot!, and "Welcome back to Lincoln Dave!".
Rival Sons bass player Dave Beste grew up in Lincoln and according to some of his Facebook posts, he's a blues aficionado. He cut his teeth at the famous Zoo Bar when he started playing at the ripe young age of 13! When the small headline run of dates was announced Dave made sure to note that he'd be stopping by his old stomping grounds. From the warm welcome Rival Sons received I'm sure many in attendance were there to support Dave.
Unlike the last time I saw Rival Sons at the Bourbon, the production was much more stripped down. No flashy screens or strobe lights, just a band on the road playing from the heart. This actually makes sense in hindsight since they're joining up with the Greta tour tomorrow. I'm sure if they have any pyrotechnics or big banners they're already on their way to Kalamazoo.
Rival Sons blasted the roof off right away with their road trip anthem "All Over The Road". A throwback of sounds from Led Zeppelin to Creedence, this one is a straight up rock and roll banger. Switching things up Rival Sons took it back to 2011's Pressure & Time with the bluesy bop "Young Love".
Keeping the throwback going, the band launched into a more well known hit, the title track "Pressure & Time". This one got a huge response and had the crowd singing along. Over the next 90 minutes Rival Sons took the crowd on a trip through nearly all of their discography from Pressure & Time to 2019's Feral Roots.
It wasn't until the band took a short break that they came back for an extended encore with some of their bigger hits including "Too Bad", "Open My Eyes", and "Do Your Worst".
It was awesome to see Rival Sons in such an intimate venue again. The next few weeks are going to be crazy for them as they blaze across the U.S. with Greta Van Fleet. We'll be at the Greta show in Omaha, so make sure to give us a follow on social media so you can catch the write-up and photos from that show as well!
Greta Van Fleet Tour Dates featuring Rival Sons & The Velveteers:
Thu, MAR 10, Kalamazoo, MI
Sat, MAR 12, Grand Rapids, MI
Sun, MAR 13, Saginaw, MI
Wed, MAR 16, Flint, MI
Thu, MAR 17, Ypsilanti, MI
Sat, MAR 19, Huntington, WV
Tue, MAR 22, Madison, WI
Wed, MAR 23, Green Bay, WI
Fri, MAR 25, Omaha, NE - GET TICKETS
Sat, MAR 26, Peoria, IL
Tue, MAR 29, Cincinnati, OH
Wed, MAR 30, Hershey, PA
Fri, APR 1, Atlantic City, NJ
Sat, APR 2, Atlantic City, NJ
Huge thanks to 104.1 The Blaze and Rival Sons management for setting up photo access. Check out the galleries below. If you like our content please take a minute to follow our socials. It's completely free and it helps keep us going. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram @storiesfromthecrowd. We're on Twitter @crowd_stories
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