The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus at Smoqued in Las Vegas, NV

The Smoqued food and beer festival brings local and national music acts to their stage with a performance by rock band The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

It’s early spring in Las Vegas and the Smoqued food and beer festival is the first food festival of the year. Located in a park in North Las Vegas, there are dozens of food trucks and craft beer vendors. While the food is the main event today, the music is definitely a huge draw. Early in the day as people enjoy the food local bands play on the stage and as the sun begins to set, the first of the national artists are about to take the stage and the crowd is getting packed.  

At 6:00pm rock band The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus takes the stage and the fans pack in. Hailing from Florida, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has been around since the early 2000s and were featured on many tours and festivals during that time. Most well-known for their hit “Face Down,” they continue to make new music including a 2018 release and they are out supporting their catalog. There is a slight chill in the air as the band takes the stage, but this does not slow them down. Singer Ronnie Winter moves about the small stage interacting with the crowd and the band at the same time. The rest of the band is as animated as they can be on this small stage. Joey Westwood (bass), Josh Burke (guitar), Randy Winter (guitar) and John Espy (drums) deliver the music and the intensity of the performance gets the crowd moving and warmed up.

The set consists of old and newer tracks including “A Long Time Ago,” “Brace Yourself,” “Am I the Enemy” and “In Fates Hands” before closing with “Face Down” and “Grim Goodbye.” The thirteen-song set keeps the crowd packing in and creates an overall fun atmosphere for this already fun festival. Many in the crowd we not super familiar with this band while others simply did not remember them well, but once they saw this performance it brought back all those memories.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus put on a fun and long set that was the perfect way to wind down this successful festival. They really packed in the crowd which was filled with old and new fans, young and old, who all equally enjoyed the performance. The set was fun and happy and created a great atmosphere.