The opening of a Planet Hollywood chain restaurant in the 1990s was as big as any movie premier, and The Red Devils were in the right spot to become the backing band for friend and Planet Hollywood investor Bruce Willis at these star-studded affairs.
Eventually, those opening gigs evolved from The Red Devils into “The Accelerators,” a Willis all-star team with Stephen Hodges (drums), John Bazz (bass), Doug Hamblin (guitar) and Lester Butler on harmonica.
Bazz shared the above newspaper photo from the May 29, 1994, opening of Planet Hollywood in Hong Kong. These videos show just a glimpse of Bruce, Butler and Co. onstage in Hong Kong (both videos are cued up to the music, but are worth a full watch):
The Los Angeles Times ran a report on the event in its May 31, 1994, edition (even if the band name was wrong-ish):
Hollywood Invasion: Sylvester Stallone showed up for the opening of Asia’s first Planet Hollywood restaurant in a rickshaw pulled by four women. Traffic was halted for hours near the restaurant in Hong Kong Sunday as some 2,000 fans jammed the street to catch a glimpse of a star. Stallone, Don Johnson and Steven Seagal were among the luminaries attending the opening. Stallone and Bruce Willis, whose band The Red Devils provided music, are part owners of the Planet Hollywood chain, which also has restaurants in New York, Chicago and London. Arnold Schwarzenegger, another partner in the venture, did not attend.
Top photo: Bruce Willis and the Accelerators at Planet Hollywood Hong Kong. From left: John Bazz, Bruce Willis, Lester Butler and Doug Hamblin. Photo provided by John Bazz
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