Las Vegas Mixtape v56: Music/Celebrity Merger, New Alchemy, and Motor City Pizza

Track #1: Robby Krieger and the Soul Savages with Dennis Quaid @The Copa Room

Robby Krieger welcomes onstage a fellow “rider on the storm,” none other than Dennis Quaid.  (Image: David Plastik)

It’s pure joy listening to and watching Robby Krieger, the iconic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist and songwriter of The Doors, play his instrument without a pick, finger style—the notes he produces are crisp and transcendent. At the Copa Room inside the Strip-adjacent Tuscany Suites & Casino, his second sold-out show this year at this intimate space, Krieger and his standout band the Soul Savages began the set with songs from their musically freewheeling self-tilted 2024 album and closed it by welcoming his friend and actor Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow, Great Balls Of Fire) onstage for a very special guest appearance as vocalist in a set of six Doors songs: “Soul Kitchen,” “The Crystal Ship,” “Back Door Man,” “Riders on the Storm,” “Roadhouse Blues,” and “L.A. Woman.”

With his baritone voice, Quaid’s performance was more about infusing these immortal songs with spirit rather than attempting to exactly recreate the vocal majesty of the band’s original vocalist Jim Morrison—and the crowd hollered their approval.  He shined best to my mind on the raucous “Soul Kitchen” and “Riders on the Storm,” capturing the latter song’s atmospheric and menacing feel.

Krieger and the Soul Savages will return October 31 to the Copa Room, which has been regularly booking weekend rock shows for over a year now. The free parking (self and valet) is most definitely welcome, not to mention the well drinks priced at $10-12 and beers between $5-7.