A local musician is hitting a high note in his career with an ongoing show on the Las Vegas strip.
Originally from Stonewall, Darren Moore is a lifelong musician who performed with various bands over the years, including Seventh Heaven, Harlequin and Snake Oil, a band known for its impressive ability to impersonate well-known rock stars. Although the band still performs with the name Snake Oil in select locations, the group is now calling itself Ikons of Rock.
Last May, the band moved to Las Vegas in pursuit of a residency, which allows performers to share their talents at the same venue on an ongoing basis for a set period of time.
“It’s a very different business environment here compared to anywhere else, as you can imagine. Yes, there’s the excitement of Vegas, the expense of Vegas, a plethora of shows to compete with, but it’s a very different take on entertainment,” Moore said.
“Your show has to be top notch to attract patrons, and it also has to attract them based on just a static poster or picture on a billboard. The hotels and entertainment venues need to ensure you’ll attract visitors into their premises. It’s the new L.A. — and many of the stars from L.A. have relocated to Vegas. We’ve been lucky enough to meet and hang with many of them, and they’re all very supportive of what we’re doing.”
Since the band has been in Las Vegas, they’ve considered residency offers from four different venues. The first three weren’t quite the right fit, so the band continued to hold out for another offer, which proved to be a good match for them.
“Over the years, you learn to be patient and not jump at the first offer, especially when it doesn’t align completely with what you want. My criteria needed to be met: a solid reputation and corporate brand, location — they had to be in the middle of the strip — size and technical abilities of the showroom and the ability to grow,” Moore said.
“So we waited — and the opportunity came from the Hard Rock Café Las Vegas Strip. They met all of my criteria and they are a well-known international chain. And the name, well, it somewhat describes what we do as well. There are also opportunities for touring their locations out of Vegas, and they have purchased and are renovating The Mirage to open as the new Hard Rock Hotel, which has opportunity as well.”
Ikons of Rock signed with Hard Rock Café Las Vegas Strip for a year, and their residency starts in January 2026.
While they wait for their residency to begin, the band plans to embark on a Canadian tour, which Moore said is a long time coming.
“We’ve dabbled here and there outside of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. Most of our time was spent in the U.S. and not by choice — it’s where the offers were coming from. We’re all Manitobans in the band, with the exception of one new recruit from Las Vegas. With the nonsense that’s politically going on between the two countries, we felt it time to come home and let the people know we’re still 100 per cent Canadian and proud of it,” he said.
“We’re doing 44 shows from Victoria to Toronto and would love to see everyone from the Interlake at the Centennial Concert Hall on Sept. 29. It’s one of the only shows on the tour we will be engaging with everyone after the performance in the concourse of the venue — you know, it’s somewhat home for us.”
At their homecoming performance, Ikons of Rock will perform a mix of all their shows, starting off in full costume as Fleetwood Mac followed by Tom Petty, The Eagles, Cher, Def Leppard, Journey, Kiss, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne and more.
Looking ahead, Moore said he’s open to trying to put shows together whenever anyone from the Interlake calls — as long as it’s all arranged far in advance. In the past, they’ve had a blast performing in Stonewall, Balmoral, Winnipeg, Brandon and Morden. In addition to their Sept. 29 show at the Centennial Concert Hall, their only other scheduled Manitoba show will be at the Western Centennial Auditorium in Brandon on Oct. 1.
These days, Moore is spending most of his time preparing for their upcoming tour.
“I honestly I love what I do, so even in my spare time I’m building props or designing new sets for the show. I’m actually building an electric chair for our Alice Cooper and a ‘magic’ appearing throne for our Ozzy in my shop,” he said.
“I’ve aligned with some world-renowned illusionists to help me design them — the pros of living in Las Vegas. Socially, once or twice a month, we make appearances at special invite parties down here to keep ourselves in the loop. I’ve met quite a few of my rock-and-roll heroes down here.”
Learn more about Ikons of Rock at ikonsofrock.com, which also has links to their social media. Tickets for their Sept. 29 Winnipeg show are available for purchase through the Centennial Concert Hall website at centennialconcerthall.com or by calling the box office at 204-949-3999.
