Las Vegas Mixtape v9: Liberace Forever, Thirsty Pirates, 25-Cent Bottomless Coffee — Track #5: Vegas Rocks! Magazine Music Awards @Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall

Track #5: Vegas Rocks! Magazine Music Awards @Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall

Impersonators of KISS’ Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley flank show producer Sally Steele at the top of the Vegas Rocks! Magazine Music Awards. (Image: by Joe Schaeffer.)

Hats off to rocker, publisher, and producer/host Sally Steele for continuing to unite the Vegas rock community, especially with her Vegas Rocks! Magazine Music Awards show. Held at the Sam’s Town Live venue inside Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall, the packed-out 7th edition of the event (and the first one since 2016) attracted an audience of 1,000 and featured standout musical performances.

Via her website and socials, Steele provides the glue that connects many musicians who were either born in Vegas or moved here, like Bruce Kulick (KISS, Grand Funk Railroad), who received the “Guitar Legend” award. Anyone attending the show could feel the stirring camaraderie among the musicians in the room. 

• Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top received lifetime achievement honors.
• Local alternative rock heroes Crashing Wayward won “Best New Vegas Rock Band” for their 2023 debut album.
• Other award winners include Poison drummer Rikki Rockett, Five Finger Death Punch, guitarist Orianthi, and singer-musician Frankie Moreno.