Semi live from the Hard Rock Sioux City...

More details later, just drove up here for a concert that sounded like something I would like.

Sitting here with a beverage waiting 4 things to start.

Film at 11.

 

Okay, gang, here's the Film At 11, with lotsa photos and I hope you enjoy. Here's the story ...

To make a long story long ...

As I posted in a few threads, a few weeks ago I took a "Me Night" off and did most of the local casinos. I went as far as to book a hotel room between our local Ameristar and Horseshoe , so I would not have to drive about 1/3 of the way to Lincoln and could enjoy more adult beverages.

Anyway, that night was semi-sucky, as the only place I won was Prairie Flower, lost at Ameristar, and lost at Horseshoe which was a major disappointment.

Horseshoe took out more machines I like, they did not have a band in the bar that night (more off than on lately), they took out that large $2 blackjack machine/table which I've always enjoyed and have done fairly well playing, and the place just did not have much of a vibe, at all, that night. Very small crowd that night, and not very festive.

Anyway, last week I saw on one of the local band pages that Midnight Devils, a local group, actually a power trio, would be performing in the Glam Slam Metal Jam at the Hard Rock in Sioux City last night.

Along with Midnight Devils were Pretty Boy Floyd, which was semi-famous a while back and which I liked, and Enuff Z’nuff (hope I got the spelling and punctuation right) out of Chicago.

It sounded like something I would love! Hey, I was a semi-banger long before that term entered the vernacular!

I had a need for a casino session that did not suck, and I had a need for some live music (that did not suck) as well, so I quickly booked a ticket as well as a hotel room at an adjacent hotel, again, so I did not have to drive back under the influence.

It would also be a great excuse to drive up and check out the Hard Rock in Sioux City, which I had never seen.

Getting there should be very easy, right? (NOT!)

To get to Sioux City from west Omaha, you just take I-680, which is our local outer beltway, over to the Iowegia side, then I-29 north to the next city of any size, and it should take about 1 1/2 hours.

I left noonish on Saturday, I punched the address of the casino, 111 1st. Street into the Garmin and it said no such address. I have a very old Garmin, from two vehicle changes ago, and I figured it was made before the Hard Rock was opened and I know I never updated the maps, so I just punched in 200 1st. St., figuring it would be nearby, and it took it.

Hold that thought!

Anyway, when I turned north on I-29, there was a sign saying that there was a detour in 10 miles. Those are usually quick, right? NBD, right? ***WRONG!***

The detour looked simple, go one exit east on I-880, then north and east on some local 2-lane highways and re-enter route 29 in the town of Missouri Valley.

To call that detour a clusterf*ck was to compliment it! It took the better part of an hour.

I didn't realize it, but the first exit east was Beebeetown, which is a good 10 miles away!

As an aside, one of my good friends comes from Beebeetown, and I blogged about an abandoned school in that town maybe 15 years ago. If you are curious, here: https://omababe.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-school-today.html

Beebeetown is one of those one-stop-sign farming towns, with a steak house and bar at the corner, and the route was to make a LEFT turn in town. There was about a 15 minute slower-than-molasses uphill on a cold day in January back-up, with a local cop directing the traffic!

After that frustrating delay, I thought I was in the clear, right? Just drive to Missouri Valley and re-join the main highway, right? **WRONG**

There were two (2 - count 'em - 2) frustrating backups in Missouri Valley, both with cops directing traffic to keep things moving as best they could. One, a right turn when entering town, and another ugly frustrating left turn.

Ok, finally back north on route 29, in the clear, or so I thought.

In a while, the Garmin barked out that I should prepare to exit the highway on 1st. St, which was the next exit.

Now there was one thing that did not pass the sanity check!

I know that Sioux City is no New York City or Chicago, not even Kansas City or Omaha, but I've been there and I know there are some tall(er) buildings in the main part of the town, but the terrain was FLAT. I followed the Garmin instructions and then saw a sign with an arrow "Departing and arriving flights." Yeah, I was at the Sioux City airport (SUX) , and yes, the one that had that (in)famous emergency crash landing some years back.

Apparently there is a one block section of the road to the airport that is known as 1st. Street, and that is where the magic machine guided me to. (You may now feel free to release that thought.)

I quickly thought of some kind of landmark that I knew in Sioux City, and the intersection of Third and Pearl popped into my mind, so I punched that in and it said it was about 10 minutes away. NBD, when I got off the highway, the Hard Rock was directly in front of me.

I checked in to the hotel, did a power nap and watched the rest of the USFL football game (my team lost) and then wandered over to the casino.

The Hard Rock has a hotel section that looks like it's an old legacy warehouse or something, with a new addition for the casino section.





I played a bit before the show (and after) and there were a number of the machines I like. I ended up $40 down for the evening, but that last loss was when I was fading and decided to bump up my bets and either lose it quickly or win a whole bundle quickly. The former happened, but I enjoyed it there and had a great time and was not feeding $20 after $20 after $20 after $20 into the machines.

One thing kinda threw me. There was a sign "Holiday Hours" at the security checkpoint giving start times of 7:00am for slots and 10:00am for table games for some of the upcoming days and "All other days regular hours", so apparently the Hard Rock Casino Sioux City is not 24 * 7 * 365.25. ???????

Drink prices were decent. $4.50 for the big blue aluminum Bud Light that I like. They are about that price at our local Prairie Flower, but $6-7-ish at the other local casinos to me, and, of course, approaching $10 in LV.

And, as expected, when the show was going on, they were $6, which still is not too bad for a captive audience.

The bar by the concert hall does double duty. When no show is going on, it's open to the main casino, when the show starts, they open one set of doors and close another, and it's the bar in the hall.

The concert venue is the "Anthem", kind of a smaller concert hall.



(My product placement check from A-B should arrive this week.)

I splurged and bought a "VIP Seat", as the note on the site said that general admission was standing only, and I had no clue how crowded it was going to be.

They had three classes of ticket, general admission, VIP seats, and VIP booths. I went for the middle selection, which is in two rows, one on each side of the hall, raised, with a very good view of the stage and the floor.

I **REALLY** ***REALLY*** enjoyed the show!

It was three solid hours with no bullsh*t, no incessant plugs to buy their latest CD, one tune right into another, all very high energy! Very brief intermissions when the lineups changed.

The only "usual suspect" cover tunes that I remember were Van Halen's Panama and Magical Mystery Tour.

Also, it was not really that loud. I got out the sound meter app and it was bouncing between 80 and 90 where I was seated. This compared to bouncing between 70 and 75 or so in the casino.

One bad thing was that there are no restrooms in the Anthem. To take a bio break, you need to exit the Anthem, walk down to the right ("There's a bathroom on the right." - CCR) and then back in through the bag check and metal detector.

The crowd was smaller than I expected, and it was mostly boomers.

No dancing, no moshing, no crowd-surfing.

The photos below were shot with the f0n3, as I had thought of taking in a Real Camera (tm) but they warned of a bag inspection and I did not want to have to either check it and worry about getting it back or take it back to the hotel room.

Midnight Devils, the group that is local to me:



Attempted close-up crop showing the guitarist's tank top with the "Van F*cking Halen" inscription:



Singing on a chair in the audience:



Out-take, but it works, and I posted this in a "Shoes" thread on one of the photo boards:



Pretty Boy Floyd, and I really, really, REALLY enjoyed that set:





Enuff Z’nuff, out of Chicago, actually Blue Island:



Guys from all of the groups jamming in the last set:



They did have upcoming acts posted, but nothing in the near future screamed "Drive up and see me!" to me.

And needless to say, I drove back on the Nebraska side of the moat.

 

Looks like fun. One of my Vegas trip friends lives near Sioux City and keeps trying to get me to come up to the Hard Rock.

 

I was actually favorably impressed with the HRSC! I was a bit leery, since it's the only casino in the immediate area, and I was halfway expecting a sucky selection of $20 bill eater machines. I guess, however, the two other casinos not too far south of Sioux City (WinnaVegas and Blackbird Bend, nee' Casino Omaha) have the competition to keep things in line.

 

ROFL, I posted more or less the same item on one of the local boards, and some d00d (I assume a d00d here) responded with something like:

"Whoaaa, we're half way there, ooohhhh oh singing on a chair."

 

Dmr thanks for the report we have not been there since the virus began but always enjoyed going.

 

I remember enuff from back in the day. I am sure I have a CD of theirs someplace.

Glad you had a good time