Rival Sons Were Hot Stuff, Baby! | Concert Review (The Darkfighter Tour 2023)

A lot of my favorite bands are getting up there in age and are way past their prime years. But instead of complaining and stressing about that, I decided to check out a band that is young, hot, and still going strong. Who could possibly fit that description? Well, Rival Sons, of course. On August 11, 2023, I saw Rival Sons live at the House of Blues, Las Vegas, located in Mandalay Bay Beach resort. 

The tickets were really cheap, like $26 for general admission. Also, my mom and I dined at the House of Blues restaurant, so that we could get “pass the line” access and skip the regular line to get into the venue. We had to spend at least $30 per person, so taking that into consideration, the tickets were about $56 per person. That’s not bad at all, considering how close we were to the band. Throughout the entire show I kept thinking, “oh my gosh, Jay Buchanan is 10 feet away from me!” Maybe even less than that; who knows. 

My mom and I arrived at Mandalay Bay at about 3:00 p.m., cruised around the casino, and ate dinner at 5:00 p.m. After dinner, we chilled in the casino for a bit and got in line for the concert at around 6:45 p.m. The doors for the venue opened at 7:20 p.m. The opening act, indie performer Allan Rayman, went on at 8:00 p.m. and finished at 8:45 p.m. It was just him and his guitar player, and they did an acoustic set, in black and white lighting. Rayman’s style isn’t my cup of tea, but it’s cool that people dig him.

After prepping the stage for the main event, Rival Sons came on at 9:15 p.m. I’m not good at paying attention to concert setlists, but I got lucky because I knew most of the songs and a lovely team member that works for the band let me take a picture of the setlist for the show. Rival Sons began with “Manifest Destiny Pt. 1” from Head Down (2012), before transitioning into the opening track from their latest album Darkfighter (2023), “Mirrors.” I was just in awe of guitarist Scott Holiday. He looked so cool in his tailored suit and sunglasses, all while showing off his impressive guitar collection (and playing brilliantly). 

Next up, Rival Sons played my second favorite song from Feral Roots (2019), the banging “Do Your Worst.” Holy cow, it sounds even better live and the best part was that everyone in the audience sang along with Buchanan. Then, they played “Electric Man,” the opening track from Great Western Valkyrie (2014). I gotta say, the sound quality was great. The drums and guitars weren’t too loud, and Dave Beste’s bass lines were thumping, man! It’s a shame that Todd Ögren, the keyboard player, wasn’t there, but it is what it is.

Going back to Darkfighter, the band played a killer live version of “Rapture.” That song is so powerful, especially with the lyrics. “Singing rapture, rapture / Sing it loud, I do believe / I’m becoming what I’m meant to be.” Not to be weird, but it was almost like a religious experience and I mean that in a good way. Plus, Buchanan’s controlled vocals gave me chills. Afterwards, Rival Sons changed the mood a bit with the light-hearted, but still powerful, “Bird in the Hand,” which is my favorite track from the latest album.

Before beginning the next song, Buchanan talked about a friend of his who went through a drug addiction, but worked hard to get clean and sober, thankfully. He emphasized that it’s not too late to change your fate, if you can learn to forgive yourself and let go of your past. That transitioned perfectly into my favorite song from Great Western Valkyrie, “Where I’ve Been.” The whole performance was jaw-dropping and absolutely breathtaking. Then, Rival Sons performed “Open My Eyes,” another one of my favorites from that album. 

I don’t like when bands do really long jam sessions because I get impatient and it ruins the vibe of the concert, which is why I’m not a live album person. While Rival Sons did jam a little, the magic was still there and the jam sessions didn’t ruin the vibe of the show. They timed those jam sessions and solos perfectly to keep the show up and running at a good pace. The same can be said for Michael Miley’s drum solo. He’s one of the best modern rock drummers out there today. He’s got a great feel for the music and you can tell that he’s passionate about what he does.

“Am I closer to heaven or closer to hell?” That’s a question everyone struggles with everyday. Those lyrics are from the scorching “Guillotine,” off the Darkfighter album. Buchanan played acoustic guitar for some of the tracks; “Horses Breath” from Darkfighter being one of them. He also played acoustically for the title track from Feral Roots. Surprisingly, he didn’t play acoustically for “Face of Light” from Pressure & Time (2011), despite the song having a laid-back vibe. 

After “Face of Light,” it was time for Holiday’s guitar solo, where he could go nuts, basically. I couldn’t believe how many guitars this dude had. He had a double neck, a flying V, a semi-hollow body guitar. All of these different types of guitars, of all shapes and sizes. It was insane! Like with Miley’s solo, Holiday’s solo was timed perfectly and he kept the audience engaged throughout the whole entire thing. 

Next up, Buchanan did a solo acoustic version of my favorite song from Feral Roots, “Shooting Stars.” It had a gospel feel and the crowd was digging it. Having just Buchanan with the acoustic guitar made the experience more intimate and personal. The next two songs were from the Darkfighter album, “Darkside” and “Nobody Wants to Die.” I’m no guitar expert, but I’m sure there was a lot of fuzz guitar going on during those performances and I loved it. “Darkside” is cool because it has the subdued and laid-back moments, and the big and bombastic moments. 

To close the night, Rival Sons performed “Keep On Swinging,” the opening track from Head Down. I’m not going to lie, I don’t own Head Down on CD yet, so I wasn’t familiar with that track or “Manifest Destiny Pt. 1.” But, that didn’t matter because they still put on a great show and I enjoyed every single song they performed, regardless of if I knew it or not. By the way, Buchanan is an incredible frontman and a very gracious one too. He thanked the audience for supporting live music, which was really sweet. Anyways, Rival Sons said their farewells, Holiday tossed out the guitar picks, the concert ended at 11:18 p.m., and that was it. Or so I thought…

I saw a lady, the team member I mentioned earlier, with a paper of the setlist and asked if I could take a picture of it, which she was kind enough to let me do so. Then, I don’t know how it happened, but she gave me a signed photo of the band, along with a sticker and guitar pick. She introduced herself and told me that she does social media for Rival Sons. I was really tongue-tied and didn’t know what to say other than sorry for pushing her to get to the front of the stage. Yeah, not my proudest moment. But she was really sweet and her kindness helped make this one of the best nights of my life. 

I haven’t been to many concerts, but Rival Sons were definitely the best live band I’ve seen so far. The chemistry was there, the playing was tight, and everyone was locked in with each other. They also performed a good amount of tracks from their latest album, Darkfighter, which I appreciated because it’s rare for bands, especially classic rock bands, to perform a lot of songs from their new album. I’m glad I took a chance on Rival Sons because it was totally worth it. If you haven’t already, go see Rival Sons live in concert. Trust me, you won’t regret it!

Concert Setlist

1. Manifest Destiny Pt. 1

2. Mirrors

3. Do Your Worst

4. Electric Man

5. Rapture

6. Bird in the Hand

7. Where I’ve Been

8. Open My Eyes

9. Drum solo

10. Guillotine

11. Horses Breath

12. Feral Roots

13. Face of Light

14. Guitar solo

15. Shooting Stars

16. Darkside

17. Nobody Wants to Die

18. Keep on Swinging

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Lana