COLLECTIVE SOUL made their return to Las Vegas and the Summer Concert Series, and FSE president Patrick Hughes announced that the crowd on this evening was the largest in the history of the Fremont Street Experience! This was a different type of crowd than the previous week when the band Seether played the exact same stage, this crowd was more like a giant family who seemed happy and courteous and watched out for each other. Collective Soul took the stage to and opening chords of the song "Simple" got the crowd waving arms and singing along with the band. They followed that with the rockin song "This", with singer Ed Roland jumping and twisting all over the stage before the band went way back int their catalogue for "Heavy".
Collective Soul has such a connection between the band and their fans, they feed back and forth off each others energy, and the crowd appreciated and sang along with the songs during the show. Collective Soul are Ed Roland vocals, guitar, keys, brother Dean Roland guitar, Will Turpin bass, Johnny Rabb drums and Jesse Triplett on lead guitar. The highlight moment of the show was when the band played the song "Shine". I have covered nearly every concert down there in the last 5-6 years, and on this night it was different, with the huge crowd singing every word all the band could do was keep playing, smile and let the crowd sing the song. It was surreal to hear 10,000 plus fans singing “Oh Heaven let your light shine down” echoing throughout the Fremont casino canyon.
After the last chords of the song faded a humbled Collective Soul thanked the crowd for the life they have given them, and that they are truly blessed because of the fans. Collective Soul continued their hit parade with songs such as "Contagious", "The World I Know", "Where the River Flows" and the soul touching "Run", which was the perfect song for this band to end its show. You feel like 2 old friends, the audience and the band, are saying their goodbyes to each other. This was by far one of the best shows of the summer and we want to thank the Fremont Street Experience staff and crew for always being such amazing hosts and taking care of the staff of Scary Monsters Music all season long.
Collective Soul Photos: Harold Mountain / JustAFan Photo