All-Star Band Kings of Chaos Rock Long Beach Grand Prix

The sun was shinin’ and the rock stars were out on April 28, when Matt Sorum and his famous friends in the supergroup Kings of Chaos — including Billy Idol, Linkin Park‘s Chester Bennington,  ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, The Cult‘s Billy Duffy and Stone Temple Pilots‘ Dean and Robert DeLeo — rocked the main stage of the 48th annual Long Beach Grand Prix. Former Guns N’ Roses, The Cult and Velvet Revolver drummer Sorum is the ringleader of the Kings, who have only played a handful of live shows since forming in 2012.

Needless to say, Kings of Chaos’ Long Beach show was a rare and unique hits-packed showcase that seemed more of an event than a mere concert.

The set kicked off in spectacular form with a pumped up Bennington, donned in a purple suit and a fedora and evoking the rock and roll soul of Weiland, tearing up the stage with a scorching cover of STP’s career-making classic, “Sex Type Thing.” That spectacular performance was followed by an equally powerful take on “Interstate Love Song.” The entire KoC set personally defined the term “badass” to a crowd that came for fast cars and ended up getting whiplash from the headline entertainment. No disrespect to STP’s former frontman but Bennington not only owned the stage, he owned that band on this evening.

The Linkin Park frontman made up for deciding to neglect LP songs by covering most of STP and Velvet Revolver’s hits instead. He periodically turned over the mic and the stage to Idol and Gibbons, who performed their respective hits with Sorum, Duffy and the DeLeo brothers backing them up with a solid rhythm section.

Idol was having as good of a time as the crowd was as everyone collectively sneered and fist-pumped through ragers like “Rebel Yell” and “Dancing with Myself.”

Likewise, Gibbons covered familiar territory with a newfound ferocity that nearly melted the amps with a smokin’ set of double-Z classics like “Gimme All Your Lovin'” and “Sharp Dressed Man.”

We were so engrossed in the music that we can’t even tell you who won the Long Beach Grand Prix. But we have no found just who deserves the crown for the overall event.