A concert promoter here once told me: "Nobody comes to Vegas to do the show of their lives."  Instead, he felt, Vegas is where they come for money. And sometimes I believe that. Bands are well aware that audiences here are notorious for only caring about hits, and then there are all the before-show opportunities to party in Vegas. Slash once confessed to me that a New Year's Eve Vegas show was the only time in his career he walked onstage too incapacitated by drink to really play as well as he should. Generally all these factors add up to a lot of mediocre rock concerts. Then add that it still does not pay to bring concerts like Leonard Cohen (who was playing L.A. this weekend) to Vegas. But then there are moments like Saturday night, which restore my faith in the Strip to create the impossible.  

I can't honestly say Saturday was the greatest rock concert musically I've been at in Vegas, because that honor goes to the White Stripes' aural assault Sept. 20, 2003 at the Hard Rock. But the celebration concert of Perry Farrell's 50th birthday this weekend was far more special than anything I have been lucky enough to witness before: original, totally unrepeatable, unpredictable, fun and, most important, featuring performances in Vegas that no one (even the participants) could ever have expected to hear  together.

The poet John Keats in a letter once described the ability to hold two opposing ideas simultaneously without being disturbed by the contradictions "negative capability." Negative capability is the only phrase  to describe the experience of Perrypalooza. Tickets for general admission were $115 and table reservations started at $2,500, creating an elite, expensively dressed and extremely well groomed audience to gather around the Mirage pool and watch, among other highlights, the Stooges underground classic "Down on the Street" performed with Wayne Kramer of the even more underground MC5 on guitar -- a guitar, by the way, on which were inscribed the words "Arm the Homeless." The singer on "Down on the Street" was Billy Idol, whose roots go back to original British punk band Generation X and the guitar was borrowed by Kramer from Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.

In short, it was a night of performances by the artists who inspired the hugely influential Jane's Addiction tied to performances by the those influenced by Farrell's first successful band. As the founder of Lollapalooza, Farrell has a list of friends that runs from CBGB punk through hip-hop. The opening act, for example, was up and coming rapper Mickey Avalon. Farrell also worked through his personal history. The first song he played, "Go All the Way (Into the Twilight)" was his latest offering available on "The Twilight" movie soundtrack. And from there came reunions with Porno for Pyros followed by Jane's Addiction. In between, were the guest musicians including, among others, members of Cypress Hill, Matt Sorum, Juliette Lewis, Debbie Harry, Tom Morello and Billy Morrison.The powerhouse night ended as Farrrell held up a bottle of Champagne to toast the audience and the performers during the everyone-on-stage jam version of  "Sympathy for the Devil"  

For more on Perrypalooza, please read my Buffet print column I am writing for April 19 to include  the exclusive backstage interviews I was able to get with many of the participants.

Photos, all by Sarah Gerke: Top, Perry Farrell. Above, everybody onstage for the end of the concert. Below, top to bottom: Juliette Lewis, Matt Sorum and Billy Idol, Debbie Harry, Dave Navarro, Tom Morello, Porno for Pyros, Sen Dog.