The Chords at Taverna Costera, Tuesday May 31, 2022

The Chords originated in the late 70's in England as part of the Mod revival instigated by the Jam (and a resurgence in interest in early Who, Small Faces, Creation, etc., by the punk movement) and lasted a few years with a couple of minor hits in the UK but the eventual demise in early 1981. We have known about them for decades and have a compilation CD (maybe a 45? I'll have to check) but certainly never expected to see them play at all, much less in Las Vegas, on a downtown rooftop venue on a Tuesday night! Of course, being a Tuesday after a holiday weekend meant a somewhat sparse crowd (I barely made it myself and am fairly delirious this morning, even without drinking), but there were still a respectable amount of people and the band put on a fairly ferocious show!

I'm really not sure if everyone is original, although I believe that they might be, but they all looked pretty damn good for their ages (probably about my age!), although the drummer has added a little extra weight. Everyone played great, though, and sounded super solid, even through borrowed equipment from opener TV Party.

The set was mostly high energy from start to finish, with dual, harmony leads, lots of vocal harmonies and sing-alongs and while they certainly tip their hats to the Mod movement, there was as much Clash in their sound as there was he Jam - hell, they even did the Clash's version of the reggae number, "Pressure Drop"!

Midwestern me couldn't understand a damn thing that the singer was saying in between songs (although British citizen Melanie had no issue at all), but there were definitely plenty of Brits in the crowd for them and people were up'n'dancin' from start to finish. 

I'm not sure how I'm gonna get through my work day, but glad that Melanie got me out to see them! Check them out if they come to your town!