It’s difficult to pin down Angels and Airwaves. Calling them just a rock ’n’ roll band, or even getting more specific and calling them a space rock or alt rock band just wouldn’t be doing them justice.
The group is the brainchild of Tom DeLonge, who had already achieved the heights of pop stardom as a member of Blink-182 by the time this venture started taking shape in 2005. A rotating lineup of well-known rock players have come and gone in the lineup, which on this tour (the band’s first in almost seven years) features David Kennedy from the other DeLonge side project, Box Car Racer, on guitar, Ilan Rubin of Nine Inch Nails and Paramore fame on drums, Taking Back Sunday’s Matthew Rubano as the new touring bassist and DeLonge up front. Their sound is somewhere in the stratosphere, the type of music one would want to listen to on an expedition to outer space .
The live show is a celebration of their ambition to be a multimedia art project with nods to the films and graphic novel work they’ve produced along with an intense light show that elevates the performance. It might not reach outer space, but damn if it doesn’t try.
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4, starting at $35 plus tax and fee, 18+. 702.632.7600
