Sure enough, the band's Friday night return failed to pack the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, drawing about 1,000 fans to a venue that can hold about twice that number.
It didn't take long, however, for those astute concertgoers to demonstrate their obvious adoration for the famed New York City quintet.
With total reverence, the audience cheered the arrival of each Sonic Youth member as they arrived onstage one by one: drummer Steve Shelley, guitarist/ bassist Jim O'Rourke, guitarist Lee Ranaldo, guitarist Thurston Moore and, finally, bassist Kim Gordon.
From there, the five musicians made their Strip debut (the band had previously played the Huntridge Theatre and long-defunct club Calamity Jane's) a magical one, providing their enraptured fans with an experience they won't soon forget.
The intimate venue provided an ideal sonic backdrop for the group, which weaves dense, melodic textures one moment, then erupts into cacophonous, ear-splitting assaults the next.
Sonic Youth took that recipe to the extreme with "Pattern Recognition," a cut off their latest album, last month's "Sonic Nurse."
The song rocked hard for a while, with Shelley driving the tempo and Gordon crying out, "You're the one!" in her wonderfully raspy voice each time the chorus came around.
Then suddenly, the band flipped the mayhem switch. Feedback blared. The lanky Moore writhed on the floor and clawed at his strings. Ranaldo raced over and stood over Moore, as the two men began rubbing guitar necks together.
Those shenanigans might have seemed self-indulgent and silly in the hands of most bands. But Sonic Youth has certainly earned the right to tweak its effects pedals a bit, having practically invented the noise-rock genre in the early 1980s.
The group has mellowed somewhat over its 23 years, as evidenced by their latest two releases, "Sonic Nurse" and 2002's "Murray Street."
Most of Friday's numbers were culled from those excellent yet relatively tranquil discs, allowing for full appreciation of the band's considerable musical prowess.
The opening "I Love You Golden Blue" was a study in restraint, as the five musicians created a trippy pallette over which Gordon vocalized in nearly whispered tones.
The jangly, Moore-sung "Rain on Tin" -- performed during the encore -- meandered into some far-off territory before arriving back where it started.
And during "Paper Cup Exit," Ranaldo sang about the "clear light of free speech" in his characteristically spoken-wordy voice.
Moore addressed the same topic during one pause in the action.
"What did you think about that dude at the Aladdin getting rid of Linda Ronstadt?" Moore asked, referring to the July 17 episode that saw Ronstadt escorted from the Aladdin after dedicating a song to filmmaker Michael Moore.
"Who does he think he is? He obviously doesn't care about free speech."
Gordon (Thurston Moore's wife of 20 years) then dedicated one of her songs, "Mariah Carey and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream," to Ronstadt.
Along with the recent material, Sonic Youth dug into its catalog for a handful of oldies, including "White Cross," "Drunken Butterfly" and "Bull in the Heather."
The dark "Pacific Coast Highway," from 1987's seminal "Sister" album, was a particularly welcome treat, closing out the night in menacing fashion.
"Come on get in the car / Let's go for a ride somewhere / I won't hurt you / As much as you hurt me," Gordon intoned huskily, bouncing up and down with the tune's appropriately abrasive backbeat.
Moore announced that with an off day between shows, the band planned to remain in town Sunday, and inquired about possible activities for he and his mates. "Are there any really rare, psychedelic record stores here?" he asked.
Probably nothing quite like what Moore is used to finding in most of the big cities and college towns his band regularly frequents.
Hopefully, he won't hold that against Las Vegas and keep fans here waiting another decade for the next Sonic Youth stopover.
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