Mickey Avalon is an anomaly of the Myspace generation. While knowledge of him is mainly confined to the millennials, Avalon is also featured on a national ad campaign. For Avalon’s performances he tends to keep it to the over 21 crowd, and his appearance at Planet Hollywood’s Prive was a clear demonstration of why. Avalon likes to push the limits of people’s tolerance for his brand of genital praising, bed hopping rhymes, and outlandish antics onstage.

Prive is unquestionably not set up to deal with live performances. The sound system is clearly more adept at playing bass heavy hip hop or throw back electro hits than live singers. This fact was compounded by the venue’s curious lack of a stage. The performers are confined to walk a foot wide ledge in front of the dj booth. These facts were curiously lost on the crowd, which was well lubricated by the time Avalon, and his fellow performers, Dyslexic Speed Readers, hit the stage well past 1 A.M. The show started with just MCs Andre Legacy and Dirty Nasty a.k.a. actor Simon Rex, on stage to perform some of their Myspace hits. It was clear; however, whom the crowd was waiting for once Avalon hit the stage. The trio proceeded to perform Avalon’s songs including the radio hit “Jane Fonda” and the ever-popular “So Rich, So Pretty”. The set concluded a short six songs after it had commenced, but only after Avalon used the large faux elephant tusks framing the stage as giant phallic symbols during a set-closing rendition of “My Dick”. While short, Avalon managed to strip, writhe on the stage floor, and almost get lost in the crowd during the performance proving that while he may not be the longest lasting rapper out there he sure does work hard for his fans.

During a pre performance interview Avalon, who seemed much more coherent than during either his performance or the after party, managed to explain how he even got into music in the first place. He said it was mainly fun and a meeting with his friend and group mate Dirt Nasty that got him into recording. Avalon also mentions that the free drugs he received while recording songs didn’t hurt. Drugs are a common theme in Avalon’s music and he openly discusses his problems both on and off stage. It seems as if the seriousness of drug addiction hasn’t managed to taint the party vibe of Avalon’s recordings. He manages to make himself sound more fun than sad, and this could be why Boost Mobile reached out to him for a cameo on an ad campaign. When asked why he choose such an unlikely move Avalon said it helped to get his music out to people who hadn’t heard it before and then “they can decided whether they like me or not.”

All of these potential new fans can look forward to the new record Avalon mentions he is finishing up now. Perhaps on his next visit to Las Vegas we will get a chance to hear even more of his signature adult oriented hip-hop, and maybe this time around he’ll include a song clearing up his love for eyeliner.