MTV banished rock & roll from the main stage at the VMAs (the suckfest should have been titled “Spears and Loathing in Las Vegas”), but the Smoking Section found it upstairs at the Palms Casino Resort, where the Foo Fighters hijacked a suite on the twenty-sixth floor, invited their friends and ripped out the best gig we’ve seen in forever. “Did Britney already do her thing?” Dave Grohl asked us (and fifty other ridiculously lucky fans). “Did she do it? She made it? It’s done? She did it? So what!” With that, the Foos launched into their badass new hit, “The Pretender,” and kept the sweet rock a-coming. Serj Tankian joined them on a cover of the Dead Kennedys’ “Holiday in Cambodia,” Cee-Lo and Queens of the Stone Age teamed up for “Make It Wit Chu,” and Mastodon, Eagles of Death Metal, ex-Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear and Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister also made the scene. The cuts can be seen on MTV.com, but what Web viewers will miss was the rager that ensued. After the gig, in a suite across the hall, the S.S. guzzled celebratory beer bongs with Grohl and Queens frontman Josh Homme (Miller Lite) before hitting the harder stuff (Crown Royal) in their dressing room. “I’m actually having fun,” Homme told us. “Yes. At the VMAs.” Grohl, who reveals that the Foos will tour the U.S. in early ‘08, slammed a shot in honor of the Led Zeppelin reunion.

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We hesitate to float our own boat, but here we go: In celebration of our fortieth anniversary, Rolling Stone owned VMA weekend. At the Hard Rock’s legendary pool (comparable to an oil slick because of all the greasy skirt-chasers who troll there), we sponsored a sticky-icky set by Snoop Dogg, who wished “the Rolling Stones” a happy fortieth. Linkin Park took over the parking lot in the name of RS, busting out cuts from Minutes to Midnight. And Kanye West threw down at the Joint, the Hard Rock’s 1,400-seater. “It might be one of the top ten albums of all time,” ‘Ye told us about his new Graduation. That afternoon, we even had our very own RS celebrity poker tournament, in which Nelly nearly took the $25,000 pot. Meanwhile, Adam Levine was hitting the Hard Rock blackjack tables. “There are degrees of loss,” he told us. “Losing a little is a slap in the face. A small bundle is a punch in the gut. I would say I got kicked in the balls.” If the S.S. had won big, we’d cover our blackjack debts, then donate the rest to our favorite charity, Save the Beer Bongs.