L.A. Guns

Mix 360, Malden

February 24, 2018

I’ll take weird places for a gig for 20, Alex.

L. A. Guns played Mix 360, nee the Town Line, on Route 99 in Malden. The Town Line was a hometown Melrose, last-call hang a long, long time ago. The club has certainly upped its' ante. I think it usually has a regular crowd of local bros and gals, Route 1 dance crowd, new cowboys, and past their expiration date heavy rock glamsters in black leather. I mean that in the best of ways.

Guns have had more character changes than Days of Our Lives. The substantial crowd is not brand new. They are psyched that top Guns, Tracii Gun and Phil Lewis, have pulled the knives out of their backs, assembled a cherry-picked band of outlaws, and put on a show that aimed to please.

The band has put out a decent new disk, The Missing Piece and they start with one of its harder cuts, The Devil Made Me Do It. It begins with a screaming “Yeah”, and puts up a good fight for the reunion. They stick with the classics. The driving Electric Gypsy. The locked in twin guitars and follow the bouncing ball of the jilted Show No Mercy. They slow things down for the heavy Over the Edge from the Hollywood Vampires disk.

The band is in excellent form. Lewis hits the highs and howls and is strong throughout. He panders a bit, but knows how to work this crowd. The twin guitars of Michael Grant and Guns stomp and stutter. The riffs and chorus still grab. Grant makes the most of his limited leads. He takes a star turn on Prince’s Purple Rain and hits with a tough act to follow performance. Tracii Guns is the Shootist in this crew, and he doesn’t disappoint. Guns is all over the slow groove of The Ballad of Jayne and then he strafes the clay pigeon crowd with Gatling gun solos.

Hard rockin’ the night away at the old Town Line in scenic Malden. Who’d a thunk it?