From Bonnaroo to Lollapalooza, stadiums to the IUS Activities Building lawn, Your Vegas, Universal recording artists from Leeds, England, played at the IU Southeast Fall Festival Sunday, Oct. 5.
The rail-thin, bearded hipsters played through an hour set of songs from their debut album, “A Town and Two Cities,” and other new material that they’ve been writing since the album’s release.
Large stage lights shined down on Your Vegas, while a massive P.A. pushed their music clear across campus. Rock radio station, LRS, parked their neon yellow van out front, playing music prior to introducing the band. The food had all sold out, due to large crowds earlier in the day. Needless to say, IU Southeast did their part.
Unfortunately, only about 50 people stayed for the free show. It could have been the fact that it was a Sunday night in New Albany. Maybe the students were snuggled in their lodges prepping for midterms. Whatever it was, it showed that IU Southeast isn’t yet ready for a rock concert, which is exactly what Your Vegas provided.
The band broke a sweat five minutes into the gig, energetic and un-phased by the lack luster turnout. Singer, Coyle Girelli understood.
“We’re a new band and we understand thousands of people will show one night and not so many the next,” Girelli said, while sitting on an old couch in an Activities Building locker room, which was turned into a dressing area for the night. “Regardless, we love being on stage and performing. It’s the same either way.”
Girelli showed good range and vocal control as he stumbled across stage in a Robert Plant fashion, while the band was on-point, not missing a beat. Your Vegas has had their fair share of practice.
“We’ve toured our asses off for the last few years,” Girelli said. “We toured this massive country [the United States] three times over with Duran Duran and we did like 50 dates with the Bravery.”
However, Your Vegas hadn’t played Kentuckiana in a while.
“We played Headliner’s in Louisville about a year ago,” Girelli said. “It was a great turnout and we had a really good time. There was a big firework show [Thunder Over Louisville] on the river though, and someone told us the people were celebrating America kicking us [England] out of the country. We thought it was funny.”
This time through, Your Vegas played songs like the VHS or Beta-esque, “Aurora” and the U2-ish stadium anthem, “Up Until the Lights Go Out.” The band ended with their first single in America, “In My Head,” which was available, free of charge, at the campus coffee shop, the entire week prior to the show.
Although it was a university rock show – the type of event where our youth is expected to show in large numbers, expressing themselves and having a good time, there wasn’t a flask to be found or a funny smell in the air.
The craziest it got was when a guy rebelliously threw a Diet Coke can on the litter-free ground and looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching. What happened to the guys pissing on furniture in the dorms? They probably would have had a damn good time.
Those who did come out to the show got their money’s worth. Wait, it was free. The band stuck around for an hour after the gig, signing autographs and taking pictures, all the while drenched with sweat on a chilly windy night, in which temperatures hung around the mid 60s.
One girl approached the band claiming she was trying to fulfill her lifelong dreams.
“One of my dreams is to get my stomach signed,” the girl said.
Without reluctance, each member penned their name all across her abdomen and she ran off giggling with her shirt pulled-up so that the ink could dry.
Despite offers from older women to “hop in their limo,” Your Vegas waited until the line cleared, and took the stage again, but this time to break down their gear and pack it into the trailer. Your Vegas is living proof of an old rock tale that many people seem to forget. It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.
By HUNTER EMBRY
Staff Writer
ahembry@ius.edu
