Isn't it ironic? No, it just sucks

By my conservative estimate, there are perhaps four nights a year when a band I want to see actually comes to play a show here in the greater Las Vegas area. I've been here three and a half years, and here's who I've seen so far:

• The Decemberists at the House of Blues
• The Hold Steady at the Beauty Bar
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Jillian's
• Beck at Vegoose I
  
• Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins at Vegoose II
• The Drams at some cool theater downtown that's now closed

I also missed a Rilo Kiley show at the HoB because I was out of town, and skipped a couple of shows that I might have enjoyed -- Morrissey, Reverend Horton Heat, and a few arena tours by bands like U2 and the Dixie Chicks.

But that's it. Six shows and maybe six more missed opportunities in three and a half years. So naturally, when the Hold Steady makes its triumphant return to Vegas tonight to play again at the Beauty Bar, I've got an ocean of mucus flowing from my cranial orifices.

Alannis Morissette might call it ironic. I just think it sucks.