February 27, 2022 Grand Sierra Resort and Casino Reno Nevada
Appropriately named, the "Young Guns" tour came in with all guns blazing to the Grand Theater at the Grand Sierra Resort Sunday night. A great line up of todays young breaking talent co headlined by Los Angles upcomers Dirty Honey and Mammoth WVH.
Dirty Honey got the night of straight forward no frills rock and roll started. With a heavy smell of incense in the house the band opened with their fast paced rocker "Gypsy". After tearing threw the second song "Break You" the crowd took notice that this was a band to reckon with. The band treated us with several more solid tunes off their 2019 EP and 2021's self titled debut including "Heartbreaker", "Fire Away" and more.
Fronting Dirty Honey is singer Marc Labelle. A great up and coming front man Marc has a voice with amazing range and feel. His voice sounded flawless this night. Guitarist John Notto is an incredible talent. His style is between the good ole heavy blues runs mixed with the heavier rock riffs. John's defiantly a rocker but like I said with cool blues vibe to boot. This combo works well and gives Dirty Honey a true sound of their own. All pimped out this night was Bassist Justin Smolian. Sporting a 70's look (with sunglasses and all) Justin enticed the crowd and rocked it pretty hard. The backbone of Dirty Honey though is the bearded one Corey Coverstone on drums.
Dirty Honey continued their onslaught with the already classic "California Dreaming". It was following this that singer Marc Labelle asked the crowd if they would like to hear some Prince. The crowd at the Grand Theater roared with approval as they kicked into their cover of "Lets Go Crazy" a song they released January of this year. Rounding out the night with their hit "Another Last Time and individual solo's, Dirty honey closed out this nights high octane performance with "When I'm Gone" and "Rolling 7's" off the 2019 EP. The response from the crowd, as the band left the stage after that incredible performance, showed they concreted a new set of believers and reaffirmed for those what they already knew... this band is on the fast track to the top.
The second half of the "Young Guns" tour was Wolfgang Van Halen's Mammoth WVH. Needing no introduction Mr. Van Halen and cohorts have been out touring in support of June 2021's self titled debut.
After a short intro MWVH came out with a simple stage set up with the big mammoth logo as the backdrop. Opening up with "Mammoth" it was obvious to see MWVH was on its game and the Grand Theater was in for a spectacle. Rolling into "Mr. ED", a perfect follow up to the opening song, Wolfgang showed his inherited guitar skills just ripping the solo up in this tune. Such an amazing talent.
Giving the fans several more song's including "Epiphany", "You'll Be the One", and "Horribly Right" wolf got behind the keyboards as they performed "Stone". This night I was pleasantly caught of guard at the range and power behind Wolf's voice. Not only a talented player but a solid vocalist as well. Balancing out the rest of Mammoth WVH is Bassist Ron Ficarro (ex-Falling in Reverse), Garrett Whitlock (ex-Tremonti) on drums, and Jon Jourdan on guitar. All true musicians and power performers live.
The only reference of the night to Wolfgang's lineage was when he simple said "This was my dad's favorite song" and they performed "Think it Over". Hats off to this young man not wanting to sound like his father or abuse his legacy and have his music stand on it's own two feet with little outside influence.
Following a moving performance of "Distance", a song written in tribute to his father, Wolf asked the crowd if they liked Alice in Chains and before the crowd could roar approval they tore into "Them Bones". The performance of this song was flawless and the cohesiveness of this band was on full display. Closing the set with the audacious rocker "Don't Back Down" (I love this video) Mammoth WVH displayed a true veteran performance and a night the fans in Reno wont forget.
Like this review mentioned at the beginning. This tour is so appropriately titled the "Young Guns" because both of these newer bands are on their way to the next level and will be pioneering rocks sound well into the future. This tour closes out April 12th in Atlanta Geogia so if it's still hitting a city near you go check this show out you won't be disappointed.
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