Lake Tahoe’s crawfish and zebra mussels will be joined Sunday by the “Rock Lobster” when the B-52s perform in the MontBleu Outdoor Events Center.
“Rock Lobster,” of course, is a song as well as a dance, and dancing will be the theme of tonight’s concert, which opens with disco pioneer K.C. and the Sunshine Band.
“There won’t be a blade of grass that won’t be danced upon,” said promoter Paul Reder, who first brought the band to Caesars Tahoe in 1999.
The B-52s emerged 36 years ago in the college town of Athens, Georgia. It combined disco and punk rock and was generally categorized as new wave. But the band clearly was one of a kind. It called itself the “world’s greatest party band,” a claim hard to dispute considering its live performances.
“There’s no one really like us,” keyboardist-singer Kate Pierson told this writer in a 2012 interview. “In some ways that’s worked against us in that we can’t be categorized . We didn’t really fit into the normal radio play although we did have hits but it didn’t fit into the norm. It doesn’t sound really retro or anything because it’s just weird and fun and current in a lot of ways because it’s unique. I think there are people influenced by us but there’s no one who really sounds. We have a very signature sound.”
The B-52s and K.C. and the Sunshine Band
When: 7 p.m. Sunday, July 14; doors open at 6
Where: MontBleu Outdoor Event Center
Tickets: general admission, $40, www.ticketmaster.com, MontBleu Box Office, 1-888-829-7630
Video: http://bit.ly/1dk09C8
