L.A. Guns Reunion Concert Tour Review

L.A. Guns
Reunion Concert
February 9, 2018
Tampa, Florida
The Brass Mug

Review: When I heard that the almighty L.A. Guns were doing a reunion tour to support their latest album ‘The Missing Peace” I jumped at the chance to see Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns on the same stage together again. The first time that I saw the band perform was almost 30 years ago. They were coming off of their (now classic) self titled debut album. I still remember that concert vividly. The band was filled with energy and played a lengthy set to a sold out audience.

Fast forward to present time and the band takes the stage with the same energy and enthusiasm that I saw years earlier. Phil Lewis still knows how to work a crowd into a frenzy and Tracii played as good of a set as I’ve ever seen. The performance was primarily a greatest hits set, of which they have plenty of material to choose from. I was happy to hear several tracks from “The Missing Peace” represented live by “Speed” and “The Flood’s The Fault Of The Rain”. If you haven’t heard this incredible album, check out my review of it right here by clicking on the album cover below:

The band ripped through around an hour and 45 minutes worth of great songs including some deep tracks like “Malaria”, “Don’t Look at Me That Way” and “Bitch Is Back”. While the rest of the band took a slight breather, guitarist Michael Grant took center stage for his rendition of Prince’s “Purple Rain”. The audience sang along and seemed to really enjoy it. It wasn’t long before the rest of the band took to the stage for Tracii Guns‘ incredible solo, followed by classic songs like “One More Reason”, Never Enough, The Ballad Of Jayne” and the final song of the night “Rip and Tear”.

There was some comedic entertainment when a fan in the audience kept taunting Phil for some reason, all the while filming it and putting the camera in front of other people’s view. After Phil warned him to put the camera away and stop being an asshole, the guy continued to mock him. Phil leaned over the audience to perform and snatched the camera away from the guy and a game of keep away ensued for quite some time. Eventually, Phil filmed the other members of the band with it and returned it the owner, who hopefully learned a lesson. Everyone was there to have a good time and the band delivered on every level. Phil and Tracii have an undeniable chemistry that’s created so many iconic songs as well as creates one hell of a great live show. If you get a chance to catch them live, by all means do it. You will not be disappointed.