Sonic Slam Brings Three of the '80s Biggest Acts to Nashville's Marathon Music Works

On July 29, a capacity crowd packed into Nashville's Marathon Music Works to spend a night listening to the songs that soundtracked many of their teenage years, blaring from car stereos and flickering across MTV's Headbanger's Ball as '80s metal icons Tom Keifer, L.A. Guns, and Faster Pussycat brought the Sonic Slam 2022 tour to Music City.

But it wasn't all nostalgia at this show as headliner Tom Keifer, former lead vocalist for Cinderella, played a mix of familiar hits like “Gypsy Road”, “Night Songs”, and “Don't Know What You Got ('Til It's Gone)” with songs from his more recent solo material, which skews much more toward blues rock, almost Americana. It could easily have been a disaster. Playing blues rock to metalheads? Playing new material to a crowd of people who want to hear that song they loved years ago? All bad ideas on the surface. All things that worked perfectly for Keifer.

A Nashville resident for several years, you could tell Keifer was bringing a little extra for the “home team” and you could tell there were a lot of people in the audience who knew enough songs from his 2019 release Rise to sing along. Cinderella always had a lot more blues foundation than most bands of the era (see “Bad Seamstress Blues” from the band's Long Cold Winter), so the material flowed well together and Keifer showed that he could switch between his signature Cinderella rasp and the bluesy voice of his new material. His band, some of whom likely weren't old enough to remember Cinderella's songs when first released, were at full throttle the entire time and helped project an energy the audience happily returned.

The middle band in the trio was L.A. Guns. Coming from the Sunset Strip metal scene that also birthed Guns 'N Roses, L.A. Guns is a band who never quite got the credit they deserved in their prime, birthing one major radio hit in “Ballad of Jayne” before contentiously breaking up and spending much of the ensuing twenty years in a legal battle for the band's name. Fortunately for fans, classic era vocalist Phil Lewis and guitarist Tracii Guns mended fences in 2016 and L.A. Guns is not only back but better than they were in their prime. Guns' guitar work was flawless and Lewis, whose mustache and dress made him look like a cross between a demented ringmaster and a pirate, hit every note like it was 1989. The rest of the band was also great, but especially veteran guitarist Ace Von Johnson who has played with just about everybody (including show openers Faster Pussycat) and had an undeniable chemistry with Guns that made their dueling solos fun.

Ace Von Johnson and Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns

The surprise of the night for me was Faster Pussycat. They're a band I never got into during the '80s and went into expecting to be mildly entertained as I waited for “House of Pain.” I couldn't have been more wrong. While Downe is the only remaining member from their '80s hitmaking days, much of the rest of the band has been with him since the early '00s. But it was one of the band's newer members, Sam “Bam” Koltun, who stole the show, providing the kind of lead guitar virtuosity and kinetic energy that was a hallmark of the '80s metal scene.

While most of the press this year has gone to that other '80s metal tour that played at the football field a few weeks ago, for me Sonic Slam is the place to be. This is music that is meant to be experienced standing shoulder to shoulder with your fellow fans, belting out the lyrics and trading energy with a band that understands the give and take of that dynamic. All three bands on the Sonic Slam tour have that skill and the audience responded in kind.

Check out the setlists and a selection of pictures from the event and hop over to our Facebook page for the full gallery!

Tom Keifer:

Touching the Devine
Night Songs
Coming Home
It's Not Enough
Somebody Save Me
Rise
Nobody's Fool
Solid Ground
Fallin' Apart at the Seams
The Last Mile
Don't Know What You Got (Til It's Gone)
Shake Me
Shelter Me
Gypsy Road

L.A. Guns
Cannonball
Electric Gypsy
Over the Edge
Sex Action
Gone Honey
Speed
I Wanna Be Your Man
Hell's Bells/Never Enough
Ballad of Jayne
Rip and Tear

Faster Pussycat
Jack the Bastard
Cathouse
Slip of the Tongue
NOLA
Poison Ivy
House of Pain
You're So Vain
Don't Change That Song
Bathroom Wall