U2 tribute band returns to bar where it honed its skills

By Jerry Fink

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The Irish rock band U2 casts a daunting shadow — 145 million albums sold, 22 Grammy Awards (more than any other band) — and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, its first year of eligibility.

“U2 is one of the biggest bands in world,” Las Vegas musician Nick Mattera says. “It’s not easy to emulate them.”

But he and his three fellow members of Vegas U2 make it look easy, putting on U2-like concerts at clubs and private functions.

Over the past three years Vegas U2 has become one of the top U2 tribute bands.

On St. Patrick’s Day the group will fly to Seattle to perform at the Muckleshoot Casino. Muckleshoot isn’t the MGM Grand, but it’s another step for the band to make a name for itself. Last year Vegas U2 performed at the Red Rock Resort.

“That’s when we felt like ‘We’ve got it now,’ ” Mattera says. “For Red Rock to invite us to play their St. Patrick’s party, it meant something. They’re a high-end casino. They’re not going to pull just any band in to perform.”

Vegas U2 will play at McMullan’s Irish Pub, near the Orleans, Friday through Sunday. Bar owner Brian McMullan has hired the band for many shows.

“It’s where we honed some of our U2 skills,” says Mattera, who portrays lead singer Bono. “It’s kind of small for a U2 tribute band. Bono likes to give himself to the crowd, wrap a stage around the audience. Since McMullan’s is fairly small, I’m running around jumping on the bar and on the tables.”

To complete the illusion, the members use only their first names and take the last name of the U2 musician they represent: Mattera becomes Nick “Hewson,” and his bandmates are bassist Kyle “Clayton,” drummer Andrew “Mullen” and guitarist Lance “Evans” — though David Evans is better known as The Edge.

Vegas U2 performs locally about one weekend a month.

“We try not to do it every weekend,” Mattera says. “We think that would burn it out. For now we want to make it more of an event, a special occasion. That’s the way we like it.”

For now, anyway. At some point they would like to find a room and play more regularly in Vegas, like the Prince tribute band Purple Reign, which performs at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on Sunday nights.

“Our goal maybe is to get it into a venue that would be a steady thing. I know the Prince tribute band started out playing like at Tom and Jerry’s bar 10 years ago.”

For almost 10 years, Mattera fronted the rock band Big Bad Zero, which was a regular attraction at the Hurricane Lounge on South Bermuda Road. Shortly before the bar sold, Mattera and some musician friends decided to form Vegas U2.

“We didn’t want to just be a cover band where you get up and play 30 or 40 songs, all from different artists,” Mattera says. “And we were all big fans of U2.”

Becoming Bono wasn’t easy, Mattera says. “He has such a presence onstage and I’m used to being an original guy and doing my own stuff.”

He watched videos and practiced being Bono, but not being Irish. That came naturally. His mother is Irish.

“My mother’s name is Colleen and my sister’s name is Erin,” Mattera says. “I had a daughter born in November and we named her Ireland.”

She’s lucky U2 wasn’t from Saskatchewan.