Punk Rock interrupts quiet at Neonoplis

Last night I went to see the British punk metal band GBH at Jillians, an arcade that does all ages shows at Neonopolis. What is "Neonopolis" you may ask? According to its website Neonoplis is  "the culmination of a 10-year downtown renewal initiative. Set in motion by some of the city's leading entrepreneurs including owners of downtown hotels and casinos, the $70 million Fremont Street Experience was only the beginning of a $200 million makeover that has revitalized the city center."  To the less charitable it is a mostly empty shopping mall that opened in 2002. Yes, with its opening the city's leading entrepreneurs, who are sort of identical to the casino owners downtown, were hoping to pull in the tourists from the Strip and capture the patronage of local yuppies. I am sure someone is still paying plenty of lip service to that goal.  But they seem to have given up on this expensive toy. The fact that they are hosting all ages shows for 80s punk at all speaks volumes as does the fact that under "Events" the website proclaims that "2004 Events Coming Soon."