Story by Shawn Perry
Photos by Ron Lyon & Erik Nielsen
On Friday, January 24, after a holiday break, Raiding The Rock Vault resumed its extended engagement at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. The show, essentially a two-hour concert experience that tells the story of Classic Rock with music and short vignettes, opened in March 2013 to rave reviews and will carry on through 2014.
Raiding The Rock Vault was conceived and written by Grammy Award-winning producer David Kershenbaum and musician John Payne, best known for his work with Asia. Unlike other “rock ” revues playing around town, this one features real musicians from major bands, such as Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, guitarist Howard Leese from Heart and Bad Company.
Along with Payne, who plays bass and sings, acclaimed vocalists Robin McAuley (MSG, Survivor), Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, King Kobra) and Andrew Freeman (Offpsring) are out front, while drummer Jay Schellen (Hurricane, Asia) and keyboardist Michael T. Ross (Lita Ford) man the backline. One major change this year is the addition of guitarist Doug Aldrich from Whitesnake and Dio, replacing Tracii Guns.
“Doug’s been a longtime friend and I toured with him with Asia and Dio together,” Payne told me just before opening night. “Doug’s just an amazing player — the archetypal rock star.”
Another alteration, done somewhat surreptitiously, is the addition of two female singers: Carol-Lyn Liddle and Stephanie Calvert (Starship). This has enabled the show to add songs by Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar and Heart — “huge influential girl-fronted classic rock bands,” Payne asserts.
There are also “more lights, more lasers, more information on the 50-foot LED screens…more classic pictures and facts from the past.”
The story, centered around the “Rock Vault,” a time capsule found in the distant future, remains the same, according to Payne. “It’s all the chronological history of classic rock, set 1,000 years in the future. And basically mankind has lost all knowledge of music.”
The elaborate Las Vegas Hotel & Casino stage — the same stage Elvis Presley performed on over 50 times in the 70s — is where a team of explorers discover the “Rock Vault.” It’s from there that the musicians emerge to perform classic songs by the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Free, the Eagles, Queen, Boston, and oodles more. Sidebar sequences between the songs feature a cast led by “Radio DJ” Richard Malmos. And, of course, there’s lots of archival rock and historical footage on the giant LEDs to keep everything in perspective.
Payne came up with the concept for Raiding The Rock Vault two years ago, but cautions that it “wasn’t meant to be a Vegas show.” Projected expenses involved changes and compromise. “My twist was, initially, that it was going to be the songs, rather than the people that did the songs performing them, which most of the well-known players had been doing. But it just didn’t work, so I went back to the drawing board and then decided it’d be nice to make it a story — to have actors, to have it as a chronological story of radio and people growing up.”
The bassist was working at the time with producer David Kershenbaum. ”I said, ‘Do you feel like writing this with me and directing it?’ And he came on board. Thirty-six scripts later we had a show that very quickly got picked up in Vegas.”
After debuting for a night in Los Angeles, the show scored its residency at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, formerly the Hilton and International Hotel. Payne estimates the show played somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 shows to 200 performances in 2013. Some of those got a big boost when the troupe was joined by special guest vocalists Bobby Kimball (Toto), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple), Mickey Thomas (Starship), Jon Anderson (Yes) and Lou Gramm (Foreigner).
“We had basically a lot of people that I bumped into along the road,” Payne says. “What we had was a section in the show where it’s basically live in the studio, like in an MTV studio. It reminded me a bit of a show that I used to watch as a kid, where a special artist came along and played three songs of his. So each one of these artists, we learned “Roundabout,” “Hold The Line,” “Jane.” They came in and appeared for just those three songs. So it happened historically as well; that chronologically they turned up in the video era and played those songs.”
Having such luminaries appear in the show was indeed a humbling experience for Payne. “A few of these guys influenced me so much in my blood. Lou Gramm was just a special moment, especially when we had a gospel choir on stage with him. Everyone’s turned out to be fantastic to work with. “
Without naming names, Payne is expecting some special guests to turn up for 2014. “I know some people are coming back. Lou has just expressed interest in coming back and doing a show. “
And then there’s the question of the show beyond the Las Vegas stage. Perhaps a tour? Europe? Broadway? A ride in an amusement park?
“We’re building two other sets at the moment,” Payne assures me. “And we plan to do a North American tour with a completely new cast and keep the cast in Vegas. We’re planning for another cast to do something in Macau, Singapore, Korea and possibly Japan. I personally would love to take it to Europe as well. So this thing’s just starting to grow. “
I remind Payne he’s missing the NAMM Show, which falls on the same week as the 2014 opening of Raiding The Rock Vault. He admits it’s the first NAMM he won’t be at in 10 years. “You know, I’m really upset about that, but this show is so important to me,” he muses. ”I think I’ve been so lucky that it’s done so well, well received. Trip Advisor made us the No. 1 show. I shouldn’t take that for granted.”
