9pm Friday night. The support band Sparta finished their set 15 minutes prior and had done a fine job. I am sure we will be hearing more from them. People are still getting beer on the Mezzanine, rolling joints, yapping on their cellphones in the aisles and in my case, the guy next to me was nodding off from one too many bags of tango & cash.

Yeah, the guy beside me was having trouble staying conscious. I asked him how many bags he had done, and he slurred “tha … tha … the … three”. He wasn’t quite drowned, but he was too close for comfort.

He was alone, so I had someone watch him (explaining that he just had too much to drink) while I went up and got as much caffeine as I could to keep adenosine from slowing his heart rate too much. After getting him to chug the stuff he seemed to be feeling a little better and could stand up, and he wandered off into the crowd. That’s the last I saw of him. I sure hope he was able to see the show.

Suddenly the lights went down. Jerry Cantrell came out, followed by Mike Inez, Sean Kinney and William DuVall. The crowd, at least those of us that were there (the turnout was weaker than I had expected) were very excited. Jerry started strumming the opening chords to “Again” and it was on.

I will admit that it took me 15 minutes or so to get over the confusion of seeing a non-Layne-fronted Alice. I haven’t seen AIC since Staley’s death and it was a bit difficult. Especially during “Would?” which now seemed like depressing irony given the history of the song.

That being duly noted by everyone, DuVall was just great. Some people were dicks and shouted “Where’s Layne?” and similar comments. It’s always the drunk fucks. The straight people, people smoking joints or folks that had shot up before the show were really into it. What DuVall is doing is not an easy job given the comparisons that are constantly made, but if we ever want to hear AIC music live again … someone simply has to do it. And they picked the right guy. The vast majority of the crowd really appreciated William and the rest of the band. I was lucky to be in a section of people who were very familiar with AIC, and we were shouting every word to every song. One dude climbed on my back and pumped his fist in the air while shouting along to “Angry Chair” and most people were in 7th Heaven. I was fortunate to be in the front floor section where most of the hardcore fans were, and it was just great.

Every time Jerry took a solo, the crowd erupted. And in about 45 minutes they tore through many of the greats with energy and enthusiasm. I wished the AIC set would have been longer, but since they are putting together an album of new material, I am sure they will be back through with a full 2-3 hour set in the not-too-distant future.

There was also a surprise. Scott Ian (of Anthrax) came out and sat in on “Man in the Box”, layering the riff with Jerry and it sounded incredible.

They ended the set with “Rooster”, and everyone went nuts. Afterward the band stayed onstage a bit throwing picks out and were really cool to the crowd.

I can’t say enough about how great this version of AIC is live. Layne is always missed, but they have carried on the best they could, and the music speaks for itself. The band is still one of the greats. I can’t wait to see a full set show.

It was a good hour until Velvet Revolver came out, and the crowd filled in much more. The floor was packed and most of the level seats had filled in by the time VR was ready.

The lights went out again, and the PA blasted “Straight Outta Compton” by NWA. Unusual, but actually very cool. When the song ended, there was the usual “You wanted the best? Well they couldn’t fucking make it! So here’s what you get. From Hollywood ………. Velvet Revolver!”

Then the curtain came up and they launched into Let It Roll.

Pure energy from start to finish, and most everyone in the crowd knew the words to every song. Even the new material off of Libertad.

VR played a solid 20+ song set, and hit everything that you would expect. They did many Contraband songs, and they were surprisingly heavy on Stone Temple Pilots material covering “Vaseline”, “Interstate Love Song” and “Sex Type Thing”. These songs naturally got overwhelming crowd reaction.

Speaking of the crowd, I was really happy with the crowd that was there. 90% of the floor were extremely into it, and were shouting and screaming and jumping up and down throughout. What it lacked in size, it made up for three times over in energy. I think the band fed off of this as they really ripped into the songs with more energy than they did when I saw them at the Aladdin in 2005. Scott Weiland sounded great, and Duff surprised the hell out of me with his backup vocals. Much better singer than I had remembered. Slash was Slash. What more can you say? Matt and Dave threw it down all night too. The whole band was tighter than a gnat’s ass.

They did a sit-down set where they performed “Last Fight” off of the new album, and a version of “Patience” that excited the crowd.

They did a couple of their usual Guns songs, Mr. Brownstone and It’s So Easy.

After playing about 2 hours, they came back to a screaming encore, and finished up with “Slither”.

It was a great night, and a great show from start to finish.

Vegas crowds really are some of the best, and Vegas concerts usually have a little extra something behind them that is hard to explain.

I personally couldn’t have asked for a better night.

Update: It was just announced that AIC will be playing a full show at The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel) on 10/25/2007. Tickets go on-sale on September 29th. Now I know where I will be on October 25th.