By Andrew Bansal
April 30th 2015, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: In 2015, Los Angeles hard rock quintet Future Villains have stayed busy working on new material and remained selective about their local appearances, not saturating themselves in the LA scene and building up towards a North American tour instead. This run, christened the “Shake Rattle ‘N Roll Tour”, begins on May 8th and will include headlining shows as well as dates with Steel Panther. But a week before hitting the road, Future Villains returned to one of their most favored local spots, the Viper Room, for a gig last Thursday April 30th 2015.
Future Villains and Viper Room truly is a great marriage, as the band seems to save their best for this stage. In a dimly lit environment, the visual aspect of the typical Villains’ show that’s witnessed on bigger stages is almost non-existent at the Viper Room. It is a more stripped-down incarnation of Future Villains the live band, and puts greater focus on the music. They have grown in stature and stand at a point where a good performance is the new normal and anything below that level is a surprise. They played an expectedly solid 40-minute set on this occasion, starting the set all guns blazing, then laying down the grooves in the middle of the set with arguably their three best songs ‘Sweet Little Evil’, ‘Toast To The Damned’ and ‘Devil In Her Bones’, and ending as strongly as they began.
Future Villains are certain to expand their fan base on this upcoming tour, and readers located in each and every one of these cities are strongly encouraged to bask in the Villains’ bluesy, groovy, zesty brand of rock ‘n roll.
(Stay tuned to Metal Assault for Future Villains merch guy Art Daniels’ tour blog with updates from the road)
Set List:
01. Shake Rattle ‘N Roll
02. Down The Drain Blues
03. Sweet Little Evil
04. Toast To The Damned
05. Devil In Her Bones
06. Reject
07. Howlin’ Like A Wolf
08. Medley
North American Tour Dates:
05/08 – Las Vegas NV USA – Adrenaline Room
05/09 – Salt Lake City UT USA – Barbary Coast Saloon
05/10 – Denver CO USA – The Toad Tavern
05/11 – Wichita KS USA – The Lizards Lounge
05/15 – Portland ME USA – Maine State Pier (w/ Steel Panther)
05/16 – Hampton Beach NH USA – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom – w/ Steel Panther
05/17 – Montreal QC Canada – Metropolis
05/20 – Toronto ON Canada – Bovine Sex Club
05/21 – Hamilton ON Canada – This Ain’t Hollywood
05/22 – Toronto ON Canada – Sound Academy (w/ Steel Panther)
05/23 – Cleveland USA – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica (w/ Steel Panther)
05/24 – Louisville USA – Diamond Pub Concert Hall
06/11 – Hollywood CA USA – House of Blues Sunset Strip (w/ Steel Panther)