FROM RAGE TO DAFT PUNK, VEGOOSE CONTINUES TO SHINE IN THE DESERT

With a lineup that gives fans many musical options into the early morning hours, Vegoose once again shows why Las Vegas is the perfect place to hold a festival.

As the dust begins to settle on another successful musical weekend, Vegoose once again demonstrated why Las Vegas in the perfect place to hold a festival. Boasting a lineup that featured diversity, Vegoose in 2007 brought together Rage Against the Machine, Daft Punk, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Muse, Cypress Hill, Lupe Fiasco, ALO, Mastodon, Ghostface Killah, Queens of the Stone Age, M.I.A., U.N.K.L.E., Ghostland Observatory and Robert Randolph. With the festival taking place Halloween weekend Saturday and Sunday until Midnight on the same hallowed grounds at The Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, where The Grateful Dead used to kick off the Summer in the early 1990’s, fans had multiple options of how to spend their late nights with shows held around Sin City in small clubs. Just a few of the options for fans at night was STS9, Thievery Corporation, The Shins, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Moe., and Umphrey’s McGee.

Vegoose, which is put on by the creators of Bonnaroo, AC Entertainment and Superfly Productions, certainly stepped out from the umbrella of a jam band festival and really brought a diverse amount of music ranging from the heavy rock of Mastodon and Queens of the Stone Age, to the upbeat Reggae vibe of Michael Franti, to the all night Electronica Dance party of Daft Punk who brought out the famous Pyramid for the last time in America, to the angry and politically conscious Rage Against the Machine, to Hip Hop favorites Public Enemy, Lupe Fiasco and Ghostface Killah, to the legendary Rocker Iggy Pop and up and comers Ghostland Observatory, Blonde Redhead, U.N.K.L.E and M.I.A.

“It’s fun to be here. It’s always fun to come to Vegas and just spread musical love and musical happiness. You know, wow, all the other things that go on in this town you know. To be here and give people something on a different side, so sort of musical enjoyment and satisfaction, a spirtualness, a sexiness, a joyfulness to life through music, song and dance.”

We caught up with Pedal slide virtuoso Robert Randolph to get his thoughts on performing at Vegoose in Sin City once again this year.

“Well, it’s a little different set up. They have 3 stages out there in the field and they’re keeping all the riff raff out of the football stadium. But it’s good, it’s a good line up this year. I personally like how it’s expanded to Rage Against the Machine this year. I can’t even remember who was playing the first one but I feel like it’s more of a jam band thing and it’s kind of gotten a lot more with Muse, it’s gotten more Global, which is nice.”

We also caught up with Umphrey’s McGee, who have been a part of multiple Bonnaroo’s in the past and who were a part of the very first Vegoose, to get their thoughts on Vegoose expanding from a jam band festival into the broad range of artists who graced this year.

As the American Festival season comes to a grinding halt with Vegoose at the end of October, fans only have to wait until April to kick off 2008 at Coachella in Palm Desert. Do we really have to wait that long?