KINGS & QUEENS TOUR's Big Night with NONPOINT, BUTCHER BABIES and Islander, Sumo Cyco &amp

The highly anticipated KINGS & QUEENS Tour made a stop at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas on June 14th with a long night of great bands all with their individual style. BUTCHER BABIES and NONPOINT co-headlined the tour, but starting off the night was the band CRASH MIDNIGHT, a young band that has been around longer than they look, with an east coast start in the mid 2000's and who have now made Las Vegas home. With a hard rocking sound they call "70′s festival rock with punk swagger" and a good stage presence, these guys looked and sounded more like touring veterans and a great start to get the crowd primed for the night.

Out of Toronto, Canada was the band SUMO CYCO, a four-piece, female fronted, hard rock band led by Skye Sweetnam on vocals. This band has a No Doubt / Skindred sound, and with her fiery red hair Skye was visually riveting as she was worked the stage, and at one point jumped off the stage, went to the bar and ordered a drink while the band kept playing. Later in the show she jumped off the stage and went into the crowd and sat on the floor, and fans circled around her while she began singing to them. Sumo Cyco was a fan favorite on this night, a great interactive band that got up close and personal with the fans.

Next was the return of the band ISLANDER, a band that is what music today is all about - hard, exciting and in your face.., with and alternative, rap metal base that is the core of this bands sound. Originally not a part of this tour, Islander was asked to join up after the band Cane Hill dropped off , and they are making the most of it. Islander is a band worth catching when they come to your city.

Now it was time for the first of the co-headliners of this tour, BUTCHER BABIES, led by Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd, and backed by Henry Flury on lead guitar (Amen), Jason Klein on bass (Azdachao), and Chris Warner on drums (Scars of Tomorrow). Butcher Babies are a mix of punk, hard rock and thrash, and Carla and Heidi move non-stop onstage with their hair flipping and spinning all over the place. The band is overshadowed by the visuals of the two singers but when you stop and listen, they are damn good, in additional to a great high energy stage show.

I have seen Nonpoint numerous times in the past all in smaller clubs, and this was the first time I have seen them on a big stage. I have to say this is where this band belongs, and I was highly impressed with how great this band sounded in a larger venue. This is a very underrated band who has a larger than life sound, and play hard rock in the mode of bands like Korn and Rage Against the Machine. Nonpoint was formed back in 1997 and have released 10 albums so far, very impressive and well worth the wait on this long night. They gave the evening a great intensity and were a great band to end such a high energy night at Brooklyn Bowl.