By Andrew Bansal
September 4th 2015, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Los Angeles-based all-female Guns ‘N Roses tribute band Paradise Kitty are set to rock the Viper Room stage every Friday night this September, and they played the first of these residency gigs last Friday, the lineup also featuring local theatrical rock act Mursic along with Black Lodge and Ithaca. Nothing is more synonymous with the Sunset Strip than the music of Guns ‘N Roses, and I was looking forward to my first taste of Paradise Kitty’s version of it.
I was in attendance for the entire show and watched all the bands, but aside from Paradise Kitty the only band worth reviewing turned out to be Mursic. They were the second act to take the stage at 9:30, and stood out for their distinct musical approach, creating quite a vibe of their own with skillful usage of keyboard segments and samples to go with the traditional heavy rock instrumentation and clean vocals. The progressive and theatrical nature of their musicianship was coming across abundantly in this performance and they appropriately received a positive response from a sizably populated Viper Room. Mursic have been around for more than a few years and it’s a surprise that I was unfamiliar with them for all this time, but they can certainly count themselves among a rare breed of progressive-minded Los Angeles-based bands that fans of the genre need to familiarize themselves with. Excellent set from start to finish.
Finally at 10 minutes past midnight, Paradise Kitty hit the stage and played a 10-song set of GNR classics to bring the evening to a close in front of a more-than-decent Friday night turnout. The tunes were well-chosen and performed, but for seasoned professional musicians, playing GNR songs is not the hard part, it’s carrying the GNR attitude and on-stage personality that counts most. Aside from the immaculate vocal delivery, singer Jenna Syde exhibited these attributes in plenty and visually carried the show almost singlehandedly while her band mates filled their roles in playing the parts right. The band’s overall energy level was commendable, but one got the feeling it has a few more gears to it and could be taken to higher levels in the coming weeks.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a resident GNR tribute band play every Friday night on the Sunset Strip, and Paradise Kitty seem capable of being up to the task of compelling attendees to stay till the end of the show and rock their socks off. The set list was great for this first residency show but it would be interesting to see if they change it up in the remaining shows.
Strangely enough, Fridays are the least rock ‘n roll nights of the week in LA/Hollywood/West Hollywood and most of the good shows take place on school nights and Saturdays, but locals now have a reason to venture down to the Sunset Strip on Fridays this month. Paradise Kitty are worth your time and then some.
Set List:
01. Welcome To The Jungle
02. Outta Get Me
03. Mr. Brownstone
04. Rocket Queen
05. Night Train
06. Think About You
07. Sweet Child O’ Mine
08. You’re Crazy
09. Paradise City
10. You Could Be Mine
