Entertainment is major driver of tourism in Las Vegas.
Promoters and casino companies are now signing superstars to exclusively play their venues at a rate we’ve never seen before. And people from all over the world are paying attention. More and more, those shows are sold out.
Adele sold out almost immediately for her residency at the Colosseum. That same venue just signed country mega-star Garth Brooks to several dates as well.
And then there’s Taylor Swift, who doesn’t have a residency, but maybe should given the demand for her two March dates at Allegiant Stadium. The massive increase in ticket prices in the resale market drew so much attention, Congress may investigate Ticketmaster.
John Katsilometes is a longtime entertainment reporter and writes a daily column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He joined State of Nevada host Joe Schoenmann for more.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On Spiegelworld's purchase of Nipton
It's on brand for Spiegelworld. I compare this, as I've been saying, it's like when you're playing Monopoly and you snap up Mediterranean and Baltic Avenue, you know, then start developing … that's what Spiegelworld has done, it's circus monopoly. Nipton is about 80 acres out there on Route 164 and [Spiegelworld founder Ross Mollison] went out there and then took a liking to it. … They like these odd odd locations, odd venues, you know, quirky, edgy places. They've had a long interest in Burning Man
. And they've done productions at Burning Man, specific to the event. … They took it over last spring; they started working on it and taking debris off the property. And the idea is, depends on when you talk to Ross Mollison, but they want to create an artistic, creative annex down there for for circus acts, side acts, creative people.
On Adele's residency at the Coliseum
This show itself is remarkable. She's a very captivating performer as advertised. I had saw her on opening night, it was pretty special. … I think a lot of people were wondering about her doing every weekend and how she would be able to sustain the residency vocally, she's had some vocal problems in the past; that has not been an issue. She has put a couple of dozen Las Vegas musicians to work in her orchestra, which I was really happy to see on opening night. When they opened up the curtain, they have this gigantic grid stage pattern with a whole bunch of string players from Las Vegas, that a rarity in shows these days, well, in the sense that shows don't often use full orchestras. And that's rare, but it's not that rare for them to hire Las Vegas musicians, but I always try to make sure people know that they do it; Michael Bublé did it. … These are good opportunities for Las Vegas musicians to gain work. … She makes a connection, she walks into the crowd.
Adele's residency continues through March 25.
On what happened with Taylor Swift's tour
The demand is real. … The ticket demand for the 2.5 million tickets was about 14 million requests. So it's real and it crushed the system, it crushed Ticketmaster. She could have probably done three times as many stadium shows, including in Las Vegas, as she's doing, and sold them out. Yeah. What has happened is that that demand has created a lot of frustration by real Taylor Swift fans who could not break through and buy tickets through the Ticketmaster verified fan process that they set up initially. And they put all the tickets on sale at once for this tour. And it it blew out the system. And Ticketmaster had thought that they could handle it. They've never seen anything like this before. So they had to adjust and knock people off the rolls who were wanting or trying to get tickets. It was a nightmare for those fans. And it called into question whether Ticketmaster could handle something of this scale, Swift complained about it herself. … But right now, I think some of that frustration seems to have subsided after the original burst of complaining, but at the core of this was the high demand for Taylor Swift to perform across the country, including in Las Vegas.
Swift is scheduled to perform at Allegiant Stadium on March 24 and 25.
On Celine Dion's recent heath diagnosis
It's something that causes involuntary spasms randomly and for which there is no cure, there's only treatment. So that's what she's undergoing. It's funny because oddly enough, my mom's a speech therapist, a speech pathologist, and years ago, she offhandedly mentioned that she was treating someone who had stiff person syndrome and just kind of described it. I thought she just said it was an odd thing and went no further. When this happened, I unpacked her and I said, 'Well, now we know someone who has stiff person syndrome, Celine Dion.' And I don't know what more to say other than what she has posted herself.
I don't rule out anything when it comes to Celine Dion and her capacity to entertain over the years. She's a proven international superstar, and certainly a living legend, and who has reshaped how residencies are performed in Las Vegas, there's no doubt about it. The scale and the quality of these shows is due largely to Celine Dion. … They're really optimistic over their AEG Live, officials and [Resorts World] hotel officials are optimistic that she will eventually be back. I'm wondering how that would work, how she would be able to come back. If it does come to this point, if she's going to be on tour first and then perform in Las Vegas, or vice versa.
On local entertainment and new, smaller venues
Right now, I'm working on a story about Lamarre Theater, that's downtown in the Arts District that has several shows. That has an Elvis tribute show starring Steve Conley, [who] has been around for a long time. … There's a place called Coop's Cabaret and Hotspot in the Commercial Center. This is where the Nevada Room used to be. It's about 100 seater. It's doing daytime matinees, that's new. Maxan Jazz, in a strip mall at Decatur and Flamingo, it's new and the owners there have put in some very cool entertainment. I saw Joey Melotti in there the other night, he's a pianist for Barry Manilow among other people since 1989. We have the Gatsby Supper Club at Gambit in Henderson, this used to be the old G-String spot. It has had some really cool shows in it.
Read more about this from Kats here.
Guest: John Katsilometes, entertainment columnist, Las Vegas Review-Journal
