Article and Photos by: Abigail Buckler

Las Vegas, NV — Chevelle is out on tour supporting their new album The North Corridor.  They brought this tour through Las Vegas on a Sunday night; not only was it a Sunday night but it was the championship round of the NFL games. Due to this and historically low attendance on Sundays it was a excellent surprise to see an almost sold out venue that was crowded from the beginning and only got more so as the evening wore on.

Joining Chevelle on this tour were special guests Dinosaur Pile-up and Black Map. The interesting theme was that all three bands were three piece groups.  Dinosaur Pile-up hails from London and their 30 minute set got the crowd in the mood for what was to come.  Black Map were up next and while they have been around for a while they were new to a good number of the crowd.  They played a slightly longer set, approximately 40 minutes and played some music from their upcoming album.  Both were solid rock performances that you could see how their styles melded well for this tour.  With that the crowd was ready for Chevelle.

Chevelle has been around for 21 years and they have just released their sixth album.  They have toured extensively and have been on the festival circuit, so chances are you have seen them before. If you have you know it is typically an energetic set.  At 9:00 the band calmly walked onto the stage and then exploded into a powerful three opening songs “Another Know it All,” “The Clincher,” and “An Island.” The energy of the songs and the performance was accentuated by the lights including various light bars and strobes with lots of color. A good light show can make a performance and this did just that intensifying the energy of the set.  Chevelle isn’t a band that is going to waste time on a lot of banter with the crowd, they just choose to jam as much music into their set as possible and they did just that with an impressive 18 song set which included songs from their whole catalog including “Forfeit,” “Face to the Floor,” “I Get it,” and “Hats off to the Bull.”  In fact the only real conversation I remember is when Pete dedicated “Forfeit” to his sister saying it was her favorite song and had her come on stage. Chevelle is a family affair and that was nice to see how that fits into their music and life.

The songs were performed effortlessly and they sound as good as the albums live.  That is refreshing on so many levels. It is a straight up performance that is delivered perfectly over the course of the evening.  Throughout the set the crowds energy just kept building with the band and a mosh pit broke out in the packed venue.

Of course people are expecting to see the two big hits, which basically put the band into people’s awareness “The Red” and “Send the Pain Below” which were both performed as the encore.  Of course for “The Red” the stage was awash in red light which added to the feel, but the most powerful part of this song was the beginning with Pete Loeffler performing the first verse solo and slow before the rest of the band joined in and launched into the high energy song.  “Send the Pain Below” followed that and it was a perfect way to end the set.

From the theme of the night, trios, to the high energy set this is definitely a tour worth seeing if it comes through your town.  If it doesn’t pick up the new album The North Corridor and wait for the next tour.

Set List

• Another Know It All
• The Clincher
• An Island
• Take Out the Gunman
• Get Some
• Closure
• Jars
• Rivers
• Joyride
• Face to the Floor
• Still Running
• I Get It
• Hats Off to the Bull
• Door to Door Cannibals
• Forfiet
• An Evening With El Diablo
• The Red
• Send the Pain Below