LA Guns Brought Down the House In Ardmore
by Alex Lloyd Gross
In 2002 LA Guns were first on the bill with Ratt Great White and Poison. They played for 25 minutes and stole the show. On April 30, 2025 they did it again. They played a show at the Ardmore Music Hall on one of the first shows of this tour.
They have a new record out called Leopard Skin from which they played a few songs live, such as “Lucky MotherFxxxer , which went over very well. This is a band that has been around for a long time. They turned heads at the Spectrum in 1988 when they opened for AC/DC and they have not stopped. Unfortunately, with each new record that comes out, there are some songs that have to be dropped.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo- Delaware Valley News.com Red Reign opened the show.
Before and after the show, LA Guns Guitarist Ace VonJohnson was at the merch posing for photos with his fans and selling his own merch. Phil Lewis was seen walking around the area. He would stop for autographs and photos. Interacting with fans is imperative for a band, for the simple reason that fans like to tell other fans just how cool the band was.
That sells records. Speaking of selling records, LA Guns had an autographed copy of their new album for sale for $100.00. It was back at the merch booth. This band brought their very good looking merch girl to dance on stage for “Sex Action”. It was almost like being on the Sunset Strip in the 1980’s.
Alex Lloyd Gross -Photo- Delaware Valley News.com Phil Lewis takes care of business .
It is important to get a good band to open the show and they found it with Red Reign. From the moment the band hit the stage with their title track, until the end of their set they won new fans. You can tell this by the amount of people holding up their phones, recording the show. This band had quite a few fans take home mementos like that.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Alex Delaware Valley News.com Tracii Guns takes the stage.
If you ask fans who went what they did not like, the answer will be the songs that did not make the set. Tracii Guns was on fire, and he did not waste time with long guitar solos. He showed us what he could do and then it was right into a song.
If you are on the fence about seeing them on this tour, fall off the fence in favor of a night out. You will be glad you did.