Review & photos by Joe Schaeffer
It’s been a very eventful year for Mammoth. First, they dropped the WVH from the band name, which was then followed by a 28-city tour with Creed. And now there’s their fantastic album for 2025, The End. Tonight’s show was the second date of what will be a 24-city headline tour.
First up this evening was Return to Dust with a short, 25-minute set of tunes. The band features London Hudson on drums, who is the son of guitarist extraordinaire Slash. Rounding out the band were guitarists Matty Bielawski and Sebastian Gonzalez as well as bassist Graham Stanush. They have an album and two EPs under their belt and their sound is heavily influenced by the likes of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.
Next up was Myles Kennedy and his solo band. Kennedy’s performance this evening was particularly notable for his impressive guitar work. His voice, as always, was stellar while captivating the audience with both his new and classic tracks.
Kennedy’s setlist contained six tunes from his latest album, “The Art Of Letting Go.” They included the title track and gave us standout performances of “Nothing More To Gain” and the explosive closer, “Say What You Will.” Also included from The Ides Of March were “In Stride” and “Get Along.”
Garnering material from all three on his albums, we got a taste of the evolution of a genuine young musician. Band leader Wolfgang Van Halen has assembled a band of experienced musicians who perform at a very high level of intensity. He is supported by Frank Sidoris and Jon Jourdan on guitar, Garrett Whitlock on drums, and Ronnie Ficarro on bass.
Van Halen has composed and performed all the material on all three Mammoth albums to date. Not only is he an accomplished musician, but he’s an outstanding singer as well. This was exemplified in songs like “Take A Bow,” “Epiphany” and “Another Celebration at the End of the World.” “Distance” still being one of his most know songs, by far received the biggest reaction from the crowd.
six songs From The End were included during tonight’s show. A couple of note are the opening song “One of a Kind” and the encore “The End.” We also saw the live debut of the latest single “Same Old Song,” as well as four other songs from the just released album.
Van Halen was truly overwhelmed by the sold-out crowd this evening. He mentioned that the last time he played at the Vegas House of Blues, the upper seats were closed off and proceeded to thank everyone for filling the venue. He stopped several times to thank those who turned out to see him and his band perform. Mammoth is a band with a bright future ahead of them and are truly led by a talented singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who desires to establish himself on his own abilities.
