A big bright yellow part of L.A.’s music history has been whitewashed. The location of the former Tower Records Sunset is now a Supreme store, which opened last week. Sure, it’s cool to see a halfpipe skate ramp inside of what was formerly the famous record shop, but we already miss seeing the L.A. music landmark.
Legendary KISS guitarist Ace Frehley headline The Whisky A Go-Go for the first time ever on February 27 and he did not leave without tearing the roof off of the joint. The 71-year-old rock icon looked great and was in High spirits as he continually tossed guitar picks to the fans and shared stories about his life in music.
“The Spaceman” may have been unmasked but he definitely brought back the same raw energy and ferocious hard-rockin’ energy that helped make KISS one of the biggest bands in the world. Frehley started the show at around 9:45 p.m. and immediately had the crowd fist-pumping when he opened the show with “Rip it Out,” the killer opening track to his 1978 KISS-related solo album. The second the opening chords of “Rip It Out” started to echo throughout the room, the suddenly ubiquitous devil’s horns salutes let you know the crowd of diehard rock soldiers from the KISS Army were pleased.
The legendary guitarist has inspired probably half of the rock bands of the last five decades, and the crowd at the Whisky was made up of a good mix of young and older fans, many of them sporting KISS t-shirts.
Frehley never sounded better, tearing into another track from his first solo album. The hard-rockin’ “Snow Blind” actually seemed like the perfect theme for the evening considering that the weather that night was so severe that it was snowing in parts of Hollywood, and the show looked like it may have been in jeopardy. But the fans turned out and the nearly sold out show was packed all the way to the back of the room.
The former KISS shredder kept the solo vibe going a bit more, rolling through “Speedin’ Back to My Baby” before taking the show up a first notches with KISS’ “Parasite.”
It was hard to tell who was having a better time, the crowd or the band on stage. Frehley’s band was amazing and included longtime drummer Matt Starr, a frequent guest artist at Whisky’s Jam Night Hollywood who was especially spot-on while covering KISS’ classics, including effortlessly handling lead vocals on “Detroit Rock City.”
Before kicking into “Rock Soldiers'” which is arguably one of Frehley’s best solo songs, he provided a brief music history lesson. The NYC-born singer-songwriter mentioned that he wrote the song with Chip Taylor, who, he said, is Angelina Jolie‘s uncle and Jon Voight‘s brother. (Taylor also wrote the classics “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning.”) “Rock Soldiers” had the crowd joining freely on the chorus at full volume, helping Ace deliver his anthem about keeping the flame of rock and roll alive. It was especially cool to experience this ode to hard rock devotees at the iconic Whisky during Frehley’s first-ever headlining gig at the world-famous L.A. club.
Before closing out the show, Ace covered his Frehley’s Comet era with “Insane” and, of course, delivered his biggest solo hit, “New York Groove” plus a few more KISS staples that he co-wrote, including “Rocket Ride” and “Getaway.”
He also included “Shock Me” in the set after revealing that he was inspired to write the song after being electrocuted during a KISS concert in Clearwater, Florida, in the Seventies.
Frehley closed out his stellar headlining show with the KISS classics “Cold Gin,” and, for an encore, “Deuce,” but not before delivering a 10-minute guitar solo that was so hot it was literally smoking. Ace introduced his slick new Gibson guitar with blinking LED lights that proceeded to smoke as he soloed.
After he spent most of the show tossing out guitar picks to fans throughout the crowd, Frehley let them know that he had as good of a time as they did. “I’ve been playing guitar for 50 years, and I never had a lesson!” he announced with a laugh that seemed to indicate that even he was awed by the show.
If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to catch Fast Times‘ totally awesome Monday night concerts at the Whisky A Go-Go, then you know what it feels like to be zapped back into the awesome ’80s as if you were sitting in a DeLorean with a flux capacitor pushing it past 88 mph.
The L.A. band is one of the coolest live acts to hit the Whisky in a long time, and their infectious grooves never fail to get the crowd moving whether they’re moshing, pogoing, or doing any incarnation of the timeless Axl Rose serpentine dance, the Belinda Carlisle arm sway shimmy, or the Courtney Cox “Dancing in the Dark” awkward Mambo (which inspired the “Carlton Dance”).
The L.A. always sticks with the theme and rocks their set while donned as various iconic ’80s characters, both real and celluloid, from Jeff Spicoli to Motley Crue‘s Nikki Sixx. But it’s their music that really makes Fast Times stand out as a legitimate band of phenomenal musicians who seem to enjoy rocking their set as much as the audience enjoys hearing it.
And these guys skillfully cover every iconic bit of music from Eddie Van Halen‘s guitar solo on “Jump” to Rick Allen‘s anthemic beats of “Pour Some Sugar On Me.”
The hard-rockin’ quartet ripped the roof off the Whisky again last Monday and welcomed a few guest artists to help them make the evening the hottest Monday night party in L.A., attracting a fun, good-looking, energetic crowd of all ages who were grooving to the band like I hadn’t seen at the Whisky A Go-Go in a long time.
Fast Times’ Monday night party rivals the Whisky’s occasional Tuesday night Ultimate Hollywood Jam Night Hollywood in regard to sheer energy, originality, and world-class musicianship.
These guys deliver your favorite ’80s songs with faithful renditions that rock you like a hurricane with no apologies. The band has also released an ’80s tribute album, Straight Outta Hollywood.
Another great thing about Fast Times and it’s Monday night event is that the band always shakes up their set with different songs. At the band’s most recent gig, in between covers of classics like Guns n’ Roses‘ “Night Train” and Billy Idol‘s “Rebel Yell,” the band covered a stellar rendition of Warrant’s 1989 debut hit “Down Boys.”
To see these iconic tunes by famous Hollywood bands played on the very stage where the original songs made their debut was amazing to experience. The heavy metal history lingering in the air was almost palpable each time the band kicked into songs by GN’R, Warrant, Poison, and other great Sunset Strip-launched bands.
Even better, Fast Times had some help delivering the GN’R hits from an authentic Axl Rose imitator, Ari Kamin, frontman of original Guns drummer Steven Adler‘s band Adler’s Appetite. Kamin (pictured below) sounded absolutely amazing covering vocals on “Night Train” and then “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” while expertly mimicking Axl’s famous moves.
The Whisky A Go-Go is located at 8901 Sunset Blvd. Fast Times headlines every Monday at 10 p.m., with an opening band kicking things off at 8 p.m. Cover is $10.
Get set to rock and roll all night when iconic former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley gets back in the West Hollywood groove with a headlining gig at the Whisky A Go-Go on February 27.
As we said back in 2017 when he headlined the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, the founding KISS member is really in his element when he’s commanding the stage as a frontman. He puts on an exciting two-hour set of non-stop rockers that include his own classic KISS, Frehley’s Comet, and solo hits.
During his set, Frehley covers many KISS classics, like “Rocket Ride,” “Cold Gin” and “Shock Me” as well as solo hits like “Rock Soldiers” and his cover of “New York Groove” from his 1978 KISS solo album.
Frehley’s equally famous smokin’ Gibson guitar will also make a guest appearance along with a few guest artists to be announced soon.
The Whisky A Go-Go is at 8901 Sunset Boulevard at Clark Street. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $65.
If you weren’t fortunate enough to have lived through at least part of the ’70s, you’re in luck because the Whisky A Go-Go is going to take rock fans back in time to the good old days when Zeppelin ruled and nobody even knew what twerking was yet.
On January 17, actor, rocker, and Nerd Halen frontman Hal Sparks is once again hosting Ultimate Jam Night Hollywood, which is themed “That ’70s Jam.” The set will include two hours of stellar rock covers of Me Decade masterpieces delivered by world-class working musicians that you probably have seen before performing in some of your favorite classic and modern rock bands, from Quiet Riot to Duran Duran.
Plus, Sparks is a very entertaining and funny emcee that makes the segway between numbers go very smoothly, so the entire evening just feels like one big party.
Sparks is a musician and diehard rock fan who truly knows his rock history even when he’s not reading from the clipboard. He will often riff on interesting factoids about the bands and songs throughout the evening, which is also a fun part of the Tuesday night events.
During the “That ’70s Jam” tribute concert, you can expect the Seventies aura–and likely the aroma–to be spot-on during the Whisky’s homage to the hard rock hits and ballsy ballads of one of the best eras for music that gave us everlasting classics by KISS, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, The Sweet, and so much more.
And when it comes to recreating classic songs, nobody does it like the band from the Whisky A Go-Go’s famous “Ultimate Jam Night Hollywood” event. In fact, a while back when they covered the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” with Leif Garrett on vocals, they had at least a dozen musicians on stage to make sure they replicated every nuance of that classic song. (Props to Leif Garrett, too, for completely delivering on that rock ‘n’ roll masterpiece.)
So, if they dare to cover “Stairway to Heaven” at “That ’70s Jam,” you can bet it’s going to be the next best thing to sitting on a grassy knoll in Golden Gate Park stoned out of your mind watching Led Zeppelin do it at Kezar Stadium in 1973.
The cool thing about watching the band cover Zeppelin at the Whisky is that you’ll be standing in the same room where Led Zeppelin performed on January 5, 1969. Like, that’s sure to give the stoners a super-cool high, man.
The Whisky A Go-Go is located at 8901 Sunset Blvd., at Sunset and Clark St. An opening band starts the evening off at 8 p.m. “That ’70s Jam” kicks off at 10 p.m. Free to those 21 and over. Yes, this night of world-class live music is free!
The Whisky A Go-Go‘s Monday night house band, Fast Times, is a totally awesome and completely tubular ’80s tribute band that never fails to knock your neon lime green socks off and get your checkerboard Vans moshing.
Bored on a random Monday night, we cruised over to Sunset and Clark to catch yet another set by Fast Times, which has been the Whisky’s Monday night house band for the past two years. And they always give one of the coolest, most faithful sets of ’80s covers that are spot-on and have an awesome added edge that comes from the high-energy live show that includes plenty of audience participation.
Throughout the show, the faux Jeff Spicoli frontman brilliantly segues from handling the vocals of Jon Bon Jovi one minute to Dave Gahan the next and then effortlessly switching to Mark Almond and Holly Johnson, and the segue is as smooth and crisp as the keyboard riffs of a Casio.
Fast Times always manages to engage the audience to the point that for a moment in time, the Whisky feels like you just stepped into a rockin’ prom circa 1985. The crowd is very much into the experience, everyone knows the words of every song, and they’re excited by just how good the covers are.
Plus, the audience is often invited to sing/yell the choruses into the microphone during the many times various band members step up into the edge of the stage. Fast Times’ set feels more like a really wicked party than a concert.
The only disappointment came when we stepped outside and realized there wasn’t a 1982 DMC DeLorean waiting to hit 88 mph and take us back to the ’80s for good.
Fleetwood Mac‘s legendary singer-keyboardist Christine McVie died November 30 at the age of 79 following a short illness.
“A few hours ago I was told that my best friend in the whole world since the first day of 1975 had passed away,” wrote bandmate Stevie Nicks in an online tribute to McVie. “See you on the other side, my love,” she added. “Don’t forget me.”
The Sunset Strip also paid homage to McVie via the marquis of the world-famous Viper Room music club.
R.I.P., Christine McVie. 😢
Since the Whisky A Go-Go set up business at the corner of Sunset and Clark back in 1064, the two-story club has famously sported a number of shades and exterior looks, from the groovy purple and yellow scheme in the ‘70s to the more recent red and black design.
And of course, the billboard above the club has been advertising new album releases since the 60s. At one time or another everyone from Alice Cooper to Motley Crue has been featured on billboards above the club.
Now, the world-famous club and the Sunset Strip are about to get a modern makeover.
Earlier this week, the West Hollywood City Council approved the conversion of the club’s static billboard into a double-sided digital billboard.
The mammoth billboard’s origami-inspired 500- and 1,000-square-foot screens are designed to evolve as motorists and pedestrians pass the billboard. Either way, it’s certainly going to get the attention of crosstown traffic at Sunset and San Vicente.
The billboard is part of a new agreement between the Whisky and the city, which expects the digital billboard to bring in over $60 million in revenue over the next 30 years.
The best part is that the billboard is going to lead to a rock ‘n’ roll tribute on the Sunset Strip. The contract stipulates that the city will use nearly $350,000 to add a commemorative “Rock Walk” honoring the music legacy of the Sunset Strip.
Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg is hosting his first solo art exhibit on July 7 in Silverlake. The multi talented musician will showcase his paintings in a one-time, in person show titled “A Hollow Realm.”
The rare showcase is described as “a fully-immersive virtual gallery experience created in collaboration with Optic Nerve.”
Fans are invited to attend the free event, which will take place from 6 p.m. through midnight at Rampart Studios Gallery, located at 2520 Sunset Boulevard in the heart of the Sunset Junction area of Silverlake.
To RSVP, head over to the “A Hollow Realm” website. See you fellow maggots at the show!
The immortal Ronnie James Dio would have hit the big 8-0 on July 10, and to celebrate, the Rainbow Bar and Grill is celebrating with a rockin’ party dedicated to the late, great singer-songwriter, who once famously fronted a band named after this very restaurant.
On July 7, the Rainbow is hosting “Dio at the Rainbow in the Dark,” a record release celebration in honor of Rhino Records’ 40th anniversary remixed and remastered edition of Dio’s spectacular 1983 solo debut, Holy Diver. The classic rock masterpiece is being released on three formats: digital, vinyl, and as a two- and four-disc CD set.
Ubiquitous Sunset Strip headbanger and radio personality Eddie Trunk is emceeing the event, which is happening from 7-9 p.m. in the upstairs bar, where the evening is sure to be dominated by the glorious sounds of Dio’s timeless classics rockin’ the roof off of the Rainbow.
The Rainbow Bar and Grill is located at 9015 Sunset Boulevard. The “Dio at the Rainbow in the Dark” event is free.
One week after the Rainbow’s Dio celebration, the Whisky A Go-Go is hosting a night honoring the heavy metal legend on July 19, with the club’s biweekly Ultimate Jam Night Hollywood event set to crank out career-defining classics spanning Ronnie James Dio’s career, from Holy Diver to 2004’s Masters of the Moon as well as scorchers like “Man On the Silver Mountain,” “Gambler, Gambler,” and “Rock ‘n Roll Children” from his time in Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Elf, and Heaven and Hell.
The Whisky is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard at Clark Street in West Hollywood. Ultimate Jam Night Hollywood’s Dio tribute will kick off at 10 p.m. and is free to those 21 and over, and $10 for those under.
Opened in 1971 and shuddering in 2006 when the company went bankrupt, Tower Records Sunset is unarguably the iconic brand’s most famous outlet.
Situated in the heart of the Sunset Strip’s Rock Row, mere steps from the Whisky A Go-Go, its exterior’s vibrant yellow and red color scheme and huge colorful album cover replicas added to the vibrancy of the world-famous boulevard.
The former record shop at 8801 Sunset Boulevard also hosted some of the most unique rock events, concerts, and record release parties for every superstar from Mariah Carey and Shakira to Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie
Plus, while browsing through the racks at Tower Sunset, it was not uncommon to see rock stars like Henry Rollins and Slash checking out the latest releases.
Also, future rock superstars like Guns N’ Roses‘ Axl Rose, Weezer‘s Rivers Cuomo, and Green Jelly frontman Bill Manspeaker worked behind the counter at Tower Records Sunset before they moved on to careers headlining arenas.
Once Tower Records Sunset closed its doors forever in 2006, the building was utilized for everything from a pop-up art gallery showcasing work by The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy to interactive walk-through mazes promoting shows like Roswell and the movie Captain Marvel.
Most recently, the Tower Records Sunset location was used as the setting for the Hulu movie Pam & Tommy.
The local landmark is a protected historic institution that somehow ended up completely losing its shell recently thanks to lax protections and a new directive by its new retail proprietors.
Earlier this week crews began dismantling the walls and famous storefront. Despite its historic value, the building was forever changed and is unrecognizable as the famous yellow and red square building that was an unforgettable part of the Sunset Strip cityscape since the early Seventies.
Popular clothing and sneaker shop Supreme is the space’s new proprietor. It’s kind of ironic that in order to showcase their mammoth sneaker shop, Supreme completely removed the sole, er soul of the Sunset Strip.
On the eve of their hotly-anticipated show at the Whisky A Go-Go on May 26, Def Leppard left their mark on the Sunset Strip earlier today to announce the release of their new album, Diamond Star Halos.
The British band is in town to perform an invite-only concert as a promotion for the new album, sponsored by streaming giant SiriusXM.
For almost two long, agonizing years, the world-famous Sunset Strip’s “Rock Row” seemed like a ghost town because of the pandemic and it’s stranglehold on the fears of the general public.
But once the mask debates subsided and the world got back to semi-normal, the sounds of authentic rock and roll began once again filling the Sunset Strip with a buzz that has kept the scene alive since then, courtesy of some of the coolest concerts to ever hit WeHo post-pandemic.
The Whisky A Go-Go and Rainbow Bar and Grill should be commended for keeping the flame of rock n’ roll alive through some challenging times by hosting recent free shows at the Whisky, with Tuesday’s Jam Night, and at the Rainbow with April’s “Party in the Parking Lot” with Ratt‘s Stephen Pearcy, Steel Panther, and Hollywood legends Pretty Boy Floyd.
Continue reading ‘ROCK ROW’ RETURNS TO FORM
The Whisky’s long-running Tuesday night showcase Ultimate Jam Night Hollywood, which has hosted tribute nights dedicated to everyone from Metallica to Motley Crue, set it sites on the iconic music of Randy Rhoads on March 15.
The evening paid tribute to Rhoads’ influential guitar work as well as the songs he had co-written while a member of Ozzy Osbourne‘s band and Quiet Riot.
The show featured Ozzy’s greatest hits performed by amazing tribute performers and rockin’ guest artists covering two hours of the greatest heavy metal classics ever written.
The Roxy in the heart of the Sunset Strip is using its famous marquee to pay homage to Meat Loaf, who passed away this week, by featuring a line from one of his best songs, “Hot-Patootie (Bless My Soul),” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The rock legend, of course, played motorcycle-riding badass “Eddie’ in a memorable cameo in the cult hit film, which was produced by Lou Adler, owner of the Roxy.
Meat Loaf, whose real name is Marvin Aday, sold over 100 million albums, with the iconic Bat Out of Hell, remaining one of his best-selling albums. Of course, the multitalented rock vocalist also had memorable acting roles in the Hollywood blockbusters Wayne’s World and Fight Club. The well-loved musician died from the coronavirus on January 20 at age 74.
The singer’s family confirmed the news of his death via Facebook, writing: “Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight surrounded by his wife Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends. …We know how much he meant to so many of you, and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man. From his heart to your souls…don’t ever stop rocking!”
At such a devastating time, it’s great to see the Sunset Strip landmark take time out to pay respect to one of rock’s greatest vocalists and frontmen. R.I.P., Meat Loaf.
SUNSETandCLARK.com 