The Black Eyed Peas have announced a 15-date Las Vegas residency, “Black Eyed Peas: 3008 The Las Vegas Residency.”

The residency kicks off Feb. 15, 2025 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood (formerly Bakkt, formerly Zappos). First, it’s way too early to talk about a residency in 2025. Second, Black Eyed Peas is Fergieless.

That said, it’s a slow news day and we have thoughts, so let’s get to the boom-boom and possibly pow.

The Black Eyed Peas are, or were, awesome.

The group has a bunch of Grammy awards, multi-platinum records and the highest percentage of members with affectatious names in the music industry.

The band line-up is: Will.i.am (sometimes written in the even more pretentious lower case, will.i.am), Apl.de.Ap and Taboo.

Trust us, it’s as painful to type as it is to read.

Here are the show dates for Black Eyed Peas: February 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 2025; March 21, 22, 26, 28, 29, 2025; May 24, 25, 28, 30, 31, 2025.

Black Eyed Peas has a ton of hits (80 million records sold), including “Rock That Body,” “Meet Me Halfway,” “Let’s Get It Started,” “Where Is The Love?,” “I Gotta Feeling,” “Imma Be” and “Boom Boom Pow.”

The “3008” in the residency title is a reference to a line in “Boom Boom Pow” stating “I’m so 3008, you’re so 2000 and late.”

Oh, and we can’t forget “My Humps.” For our fellow youths, “cakes” were once called “humps,” and you could get love drunk off of them.

It’s best to not look too closely at Black Eyed Peas lyrics, as that has been known to kill more brain cells than watching Fox News.

The height of the group’s popularity was the mid-2000s, or a quarter century ago.

The last time the Black Eyed Peas made headlines, it was for their disastrous live performance at the Super Bowl.

The 2011 Super Bowl was a glaring reminder Black Eyed Peas isn’t really populated with talented vocalists or rappers. They’re a studio phenomenon. Their beats are def and all that, but a studio allows for endless sweetening and tweaking and auto-tuning.

Which is why it’s so awkward they’re doing a Las Vegas residency.

Making the situation even worse, or better, is as stated previously, lead “singer” Fergie isn’t in the group anymore.

What does all this mean? It means while the Black Eyed Peas show might be visually stunning, fans are likely to get a “press play” DJ-style show of pre-recorded music and lots of “Las Vegas make some noise!” from the performers.

Do fans care? Probably not. Celine fans loved her lip-synced song at the Paris Olympics. Most performers mouth to backing tracks now.

It remains to be seen if Black Eyed Peas can fill the seats at PH Live at Planet Hollywood.

There’s no denying shows are evolving more into experiences. The recently-opened “DiscoShow” at Linq isn’t even really a show, per se. It’s a disco dance party. No plot, no subtext, no chairs, just the dancing off of asses for 70 minutes.

The Black Eyed Peas certainly have enough bangers to keep audiences dancing through their shows. You may purchase a ticket for a seat, but don’t expect to use it, as everyone in front of you will be standing up the entire time. We’ll opt for their greatest hits at home on our sweet, sweet headphones. We fully own up to being 2000 and late.

The post Black Eyed Peas Announce Vegas Residency, Nobody’s Sure Why appeared first on Vital Vegas.

A rumored Las Vegas residency for Janet Jackson has been confirmed. TMZ was the first to float the rumor back on Aug. 6, 2024.

Jackson will do 10 shows starting Dec. 30 and New Year’s Eve 2024.

Janet Jackson was a really big deal in the 1980s and 1990s (her last number one hit was 2001’s “All for You,” or nearly a quarter century ago), and her fans are the perfect demographic for a casino: Middle-aged with disposable income.

Here are all the dates for Janet Jackson’s residency at Resorts World: December 30 and 31, 2024; January 3 and 4, 2025; February 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 2025.

Jackson had a previous residency at Park MGM in 2019, “Janet Jackson: Metamorphosis,” with 18 shows.

The new show is cleverly named “Janet Jackson: Las Vegas,” or “Miss Jackson: Las Vegas” if you’re nasty.

Janet Jackson will reportedly make $13 million for her Resorts World residency, or about $1.3 million per show.

Jackson was apparently considering a residency in London, but the Resorts World deal was significantly more lucrative. Also, it’s just cooler to perform in Vegas, all due respect to our Brits. You have better fish and chips.

We trust Jackson’s shows will be very entertaining and will feature lots of dancing and the associated lip-syncing. Don’t gasp in horror. Lip-syncing isn’t rare anymore, it’s just part of the deal with live shows.

It’s not really about whether someone sings live or not, it’s about the experience! That’s one of the reasons we don’t go to concerts anymore. That, and the asshats who stand up the entire time, even though everyone’s paid for seats. They’re called “seats,” not “stands.” Don’t get us started.

Fun fact: We’ve been blacklisted by Caesars Entertainment since 2016 for having the audacity to suggest Britney Spears lip-syncs. No, really, they had a meeting and we were dubbed “hostile media.” In another instance, we went on KNPR and mentioned a performer wasn’t doing particularly well, and Caesars Entertainment (the prior owners) pulled $250,000 in financial support for our local public news radio station and we were never invited back. We are not making any of this up.

Britney presumably lip-syncs because she's dancing. What's Celine's excuse? #BillboardMusicAwards

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) May 23, 2016

Celine Dion recently lip-synced her Olympics performance, so Jackson will be in good company.

You can expect to hear Jackson’s hits, of course, live or not, including “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “Nasty,” “Control,” “When I Think of You” and her timeless ode to torturing men, “Let’s Wait Awhile.”

Resorts World could use the boost Janet Jackson might provide, as Celine’s residency has yet to be confirmed as happening (or even possible given her medical condition).

Resorts World is also in the middle of a full-blown scandal involving allowing illegal bookmakers to gamble at the resort. Oopsie, and it’s getting worse by the day.

Anyway, Janet Jackson is coming to Resorts World. We’ll be keeping an eye on ticket sales, just in case Ms. Jackson suddenly gets an undisclosed “throat issue” or “wants to spend more time with her family.”

The post Janet Jackson Residency at Resorts World Confirmed appeared first on Vital Vegas.

Sphere at Venetian released its financial results for the fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2024, and it’s ugly.

During the three month period (April to June, 2024), Sphere lost $104.5 million. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, Sphere lost a jarring $480 million.

Apparently, you can’t make money by building a $2.4 billion IMAX movie theater. Let’s dive in, shan’t we?

Sphere Entertainment Co. is a public company, so we get to go all up inside their business at the end of each quarter.

Public companies have lots of ways of spinning their results, but ultimately, the numbers don’t lie.

Here’s a news release with Sphere’s financial results for “fiscal 2024 fourth quarter,” as the kids say.

For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, the Sphere reported revenues of $151.2 million, which sounds awesome without any context. The context comes a few paragraphs later in the Sphere’s news release: “Fiscal 2024 fourth quarter selling, general and administrative expenses of $102.1 million increased $11.8 million, or 13%, as compared to the prior year quarter, primarily due to higher employee compensation and related benefits and, to a lesser extent, higher professional fees.”

A giant red flag, “selling, general and administrative expenses of $102.1.” This reeks of poor management, and you don’t even have to read between the lines. It’s right out there in plain sight.

Caution: The follow-up may cause nausea, dizziness or disorientation. From the news release, “Fiscal 2024 fourth quarter operating loss of $104.5 million increased by $9.3 million, as compared to the prior year quarter.”

In other news, Sphere generated about $15 million from advertising fees in fiscal 2024 fourth quarter. Again, that doesn’t sound too bad if you’re cherry-picking fun facts. Ultimately, though, Sphere aspired to making $100 million-plus a year from its “Exosphere.”

MSG thinks it’s going to get “far beyond $100 million” a year in Sphere ad revenue. Related: Is The Onion writing LinkedIn job postings now? pic.twitter.com/ehucWsjdKQ

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) March 23, 2023

We are not a math expert, but the $15 million in ad revenue is 40% off of projections.

There’s no denying Sphere has made a splash in Las Vegas. It’s a must-see for visitors, and the showings of “Postcard from Earth” are packed multiple times a day. Sphere says “Postcard” generates more than a million dollars a day on average.

Movies, though, even at more than $100 a ticket, aren’t a viable business plan for a venue that cost $2.3 billion to build. Sphere has a really, really big nut.

There are more movie in the works, including an $80 million version of “Wizard of Oz,” but that’s not going to address the elephant in the room.

We really need to find another metaphor because that whole “elephant in the room” thing is sort of body shaming, up with which we will not put. “Eight hundred pound gorilla in the room” is also not very kind. We’re trying to get across is there’s something pretty obvious in the room but everyone’s avoiding it and nobody’s talking about it. The “Criss Angel in the room,” let’s say.

What, you thought just because we know Criss Angel now we can’t poke fun? Do you know this blog at all?

See, Sphere needs to refinance their primary tranche of debt by Oct. 11, 2024. The amount is a whopping $850 million.

“Tranche” comes from the word “slice.” A “tranche of debt” refers to a portion of a debt obligation that is divided and sold separately, often with varying levels of risk and return.

It’s likely Sphere will get its refinancing deal done, but it’s rare for a company to wait so long to do so. We’re told most companies don’t like to get within a year of when the debt is due in case the credit markets seize up.

Lots of red-flaggery going on here.

Is there hope for the Sphere? While several of the financial trends are slowly moving in the right direction (less losing is the new winning), it’s a little like saying they’re moving the deck chairs on the Titanic twice as fast.

Sphere really needs to up its concert game to have even a remote chance of success. The A-list residencies just haven’t materialized, so the venue is relying on niche acts and movies and that one UFC event in September 2024.

When and if it does get big acts, Sphere can’t keep giving all the revenue to the performers. U2 got 90% of the box office during its residency.

The Sphere experience itself is great, and we highly recommend it.

Everyone’s rooting for this new Vegas landmark to succeed, but there’s a reason we dubbed it the “Bankruptcy Bulb.” There’s a reason the venue’s owner, James Dolan (technically, his family, but he’s the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), and his Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., peeled Sphere off as its own financial entity.

If you saw “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” and we hope you didn’t because it’s terrible, remember what happened with Furiosa’s arm? It was sacrificed in order for her to escape. More earnings calls should include this reference.

Feel free to substitute a Merle reference if you’re a “Walking Dead” fan.

If you’re more of a real life drama person, Google Aron Ralston and “127 Hours.” He’s the one who relinquished his right arm after being trapped by a boulder hiking in Utah’s Bluejohn Canyon in 2003. Fun fact: In brothels, customers whose courtesans cancel their appointments are referred to as “Bluejohns.”

Anyway, we love you, Sphere. As they say in financial analysis circles, get your shit together.

The post Brutal: Sphere Loses $104 Million in Three Months, $480 Million Over Past Year appeared first on Vital Vegas.

The Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood has quietly rebranded to PH Live. Thank gawd. Nearly 85% of people were pronouncing “Bakkt” wrong. It’s like “backed.” Which is now a completely useless “fun fact.” Sigh.

Anyway, Caesars Entertainment is between naming rights sponsors. Prior to the name Bakkt, it was the Zappos Theater. Before that, it was The Axis. At some point in there (2012-2013), it was PH Live.

Confusing? Definitely. Just ask any rideshare driver.

Bakkt Theater has been called that since early 2023.

Why has Bakkt backed out of its five-year sponsorship deal with Caesars Entertainment after a little more than a year?

Well, Bakkt shares have lost about 73% in value since the beginning of the year. Or as it’s called in the world of stock trading and investing, “an epic shitstorm of dumpster trainwreck clusterfuckery.”

Bakkt describes itself as “Custody, Trading & Onramps for Crypto.” You know, they’re a crypto infrastructure provider. What could possibly go wrong?

In our story about the renaming from Zappos to Bakkt, we said, “Bakkt is a cryptocurrency company, so we trust Caesars Entertainment got its money up front.”

We were joking, but as anyone we’ve ever been in a relationship with will tell you, our “jokes” are actually a passive-aggressive way of undercutting things that make us feel awkward. It’s also a way of saying how we really feel without committing to it. It’s complicated.

The fact is Caesars Entertainment took the nature of Bakkt’s business into account when structuring its deal. Specifically, it front-loaded the five-year contract. Bakkt bought out the rest of its obligation. We could probably find the numbers buried in the financials of Caesars Entertainment, but that would involve “effort” and perhaps even “journalism,” so that’s not happening.

Naming rights deals are found money for companies like Caesars Entertainment. Like selling its World Series of Poker brand.

The theater at Park MGM is Dolby Live. The former Mandalay Bay Events Center is now called Michelob Ultra Arena. Allegiant Air pays $25 million a year for naming rights of the Raiders stadium. There’s also T-Mobile Arena on The Strip.

Naming rights deals are notoriously underwhelming marketing investments with little concrete, measurable return on investment.

Bakkt Theater was one of the clumsiest naming rights deals in town, just because the company isn’t well known and “Bakkt Theater” wasn’t memorable or pleasing to the ear, at all.

So, if you’re trying to see a show at Planet Hollywood, tell your Lyft or Uber or taxi or limo or party bus driver all the various names of the theater and one will ring a bell.

We’re curious to see whose name gets slapped on the (placeholder) PH Live theater next. If we hit Megabucks, you already know the answer. First residency in the Vital Vegas Theater will be Duran Duran. Shocker.

The post Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood is PH Live Again, For Now appeared first on Vital Vegas.

A popular topless revue, “X Rocks,” is making a comeback and we in no way intended that to be a double entendre, despite the fact we’re going to give you a second to read this sentence again. Please grow up.

“X Rocks” is from the same folks, Stabile Productions, as “X Burlesque” at Flamingo and “X Country” at Harrah’s, all reliably excellent.

The formula is simple, tried and true: Young, fit women. Music. Choreography. Costumes. Boobs. (Note: Everything before “boobs” is sort of optional.)

Shows in the “X” family have the formula down, and these shows sit somewhere between the glossy “Fantasy” at Luxor and a strip club.

The dancers tend to seem more real and approachable than in other shows and the venues are more intimate. (Inside showball: The deal with Horseshoe is what’s called a “four wall,” meaning the show pays rent to Caesars Entertainment for use of the space.)

“X Rocks” had a run at Rio that started back in Sep. 2013. There’s a nearly 100% chance none of the dancers in the show in 2013 are in the new version. That’s just how Vegas and the world work. This doesn’t just apply to topless revues. Why do you think the cast of “Jabbawockeez” wear masks? It’s so dancers can be seamlessly swapped out when they hit their expiration date.

“X Rocks” was also at Bally’s (now Horseshoe), but was shown the door when Caesars Entertainment pulled the plug on a number of its mid-tier entertainment spaces.

“X Rocks” will play in the Imagine Theater at Horseshoe, which we didn’t know exists. Come to find out, they changed the name of the Windows Showroom to The Magic Attic to Imagine Theater without letting us know. Rude.

The biggest difference between the various “X” shows is the music, obviously. “X Country” has a country theme, “X Rocks” features rock music and “X Burlesque” has a mix of rock, country and R&B.

As mentioned, though, who cares? The music, costumes and choreography are mostly there so guys can bring their wives and girlfriends. Costumes and choreography are what women believe men want to see in a topless revue. It’s adorable.

Here’s a description of “X Rocks” from the news release: “‘X Rocks’ has exactly what it takes to turn the party up. Set in an intimate, cabaret-like environment, the 70-minute female revue allows for distinctive, close proximity to the guests, as this titillating burlesque show treats the audience to high-energy performance to some of rock’s most popular songs, including ‘Still of the Night’ by Whitesnake, ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ by Alice Cooper, and ‘Wildside’ by Motley Crue.”

We, personally, are not a rock person, so attending a show with this music would be akin to jumping into the Arctic Ocean while watching members of the Rolling Stones get sponge baths.

Ditto country, but thankfully, the “X” shows have something for everyone.

We are pleased to see “X Country” says very clearly it’s a “female revue.” The whole revue thing has gotten muddier recently. Example: “Rouge” at The Strat. It should be sexy, but it’s just awkward, because there are both scantily-clad men and women in it. Never before have so many penises and lady parts been so confused.

Again, to each their own, and we aren’t just saying that to avoid being canceled.

There is comfort in the knowledge “X Rocks” is going to be exactly what you expect it to be. Perky, sassy, empowered eye candy, the way Mother Nature intended!

Yes, one can be a feminist and appreciate topless revues, in case you wondered. When you write a Las Vegas blog, it’s required.

“X Rocks” runs Wednesday through Saturday at 9:30 p.m., tickets start at a paltry $49.

Learn more about all the shows in the Stabile stable on the official Web site.

The post Racy “X Rocks” Returns to The Strip at Horseshoe appeared first on Vital Vegas.

A new restaurant, Diner Ross, at “DiscoShow” inside the Linq casino has shared its menus, sans prices.

Diner Ross (a play on Diana Ross, obviously, but Ross is also the first name of the show’s producer, Ross Mollison) opens August 14, 2024. Previews for “DiscoShow” start that evening as well.

Mollison is a friend, so yes, we have already yelled at him for publishing menus without prices, but he doesn’t always listen to our wisdom, boundless as it may be.

If a restaurant (not to mention lounges) in a show venue is confusing, welcome to the whimsical (occasionally demented) world of Spiegelworld. Spiegelworld is the entity that produces “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace and “Atomic Saloon” at Venetian.

“DiscoShow” is a new production at Linq, but it’s more than just a show, it’s an experience. An experience without food and drink is so 2004.

So, the space that holds “DiscoShow” also holds Diner Ross and what we estimate to be 14 lounges, more or less.

We cruised through the space when it was under construction.

Vegas history buffs will note the “DiscoShow” theater sits where the Imperial Palace sportsbook used to be.

But the menus! Here’s the dinner menu.

Equally, if not more, important, here’s the cocktail menu.

No, the drinks won’t be cheap. Remember, it’s an experience!

Both menus look creative and fun. Gasp. Actual fun? Irreverence? (There’s a dude in a waitress skirt on the menu.) Pibbies, whatever the hell those are?

We are so there.

Why are we so into this when there are so many items on the menu that are head-scratchers and we are not known for being an especially adventurous eater? Because Ross Mollison also did Superfrico, one of the only great restaurants at Cosmopolitan and one of our favorite Italian restaurants in all of Las Vegas (despite the closure of the adjoining “Opium,” may it rest in peace).

Learn more about “DiscoShow” and Diner Ross at the official site.

“DiscoShow” will be at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and we hope to god we can find some comfortable shoes because we hear there are no chairs. Tickets start at $99. Here’s the Web site.

The post Diner Ross Shares Menus, Part of “DiscoShow” at Linq appeared first on Vital Vegas.

The co-founder of Battlebots, the beloved robot combat franchise, has pulled the plug on the “Battlebots Destruct-A-Thon” show (a live version of the popular TV series) per an internal communication to the Battlebots team.

The mayhem-fueled show happened in a structure on the land behind Horseshoe, just across the street from Ellis Island casino.

We got our hands exclusively on the internal communication nixing the show (described as a “hiatus”), as is our way.

As the plot of this show can be difficult to follow, here’s a promotional video.

Yeah, it’s cool.

The live version of Battlebots opened in Las Vegas in February 2023. The show’s final performance will be August 10, 2024.

As mentioned, the show happens in the Caesars Entertainment Studios at Horseshoe, a thing you may not have known exists. We are very familiar with the venue because it housed a taping of “Catch 21” for the Gameshow network, a show where we crushed our opponents like SawBlaze taking down Upper Cut in 2020. Don’t laugh, we won $5,000 despite sweating through our clothing because we were not allowed to wear our own shirt because the color clashed with the hostesses dress. Long story.

“Battlebots Destruct-A-Thon” was scheduled to run through December 2024. Now, not so much.

Here’s the memo received by members of the BattleBot team from co-founder Trey Roski.

The struggle is real. We blame F1. Then again, we blame F1 for global warming and causing post-pandemic economic tailwinds to fade, too. Pretty much everything. Including our increasing number of ear hairs. What the hell, though?

To  add insult to injury, we’re hearing Caesars Entertainment may use the BattleBot building for F1-related events. Awkward.

Typically, when a Las Vegas show says they’re on “hiatus,” they never come back. It’s harder to say with Battlebots.

Roski is transparent about the challenges facing the production. He specifically mentions access to the facility will be closed off during F1 (everyone along the track suffers, except for a handful of casinos on The Strip). He also says the show “hasn’t broken even for some time.”

He also says the company’s previous network, Discovery (ABC and Comedy Central prior to that), is having a tough time of it as well. We blame F1.

Roski also mentions the company got their liquor license last week. Painful, as that’s how many shows stay afloat in Las Vegas, booze and concession sales.

We didn’t get to see “BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon,” but it always seemed like a hoot.

Here’s hoping things will turn around for BattleBots and the robots can return to their proper place. As our overlords. Obviously.

The post “BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon” to Close at Horseshoe Per Internal Memo appeared first on Vital Vegas.

The struggle is real for Broadway-style shows in Las Vegas, especially off-Strip.

“Jersey Boys” closed at the Orleans on July 7, 2024. The show opened January 17, 2024.

The producer of the show said, “Circumstances beyond our control have made this expedited decision necessary.” Translation: “We’re bleeding money, so we’re pulling the plug with four days notice.”

This iteration of “Jersey Boys” was well-reviewed, but the economics of a producing a show at an off-Strip casino proved too great an obstacle to keep the show afloat.

The show, telling the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons (the group broke up nearly 50 years ago), got its start in Las Vegas at Palazzo in May 2008. It had a solid run at Paris, opening March 6, 2012 and closing on Sep. 18, 2016, after 3,300 performances.

The Orleans version, not so much.

Here’s the notice to cast and crew about the show’s abrupt closure.

Just days prior to the announcement of the show closing, we shared that ticket sales were abysmal.

“Jersey Boys” trouble. Blue dots are unsold seats. (h/t @sammasseur) pic.twitter.com/0Qf7iUEcLW

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) June 30, 2024

There was ample behind-the-scenes drama (union questions, business partners bailing) leading to the curtain falling on “Jersey Boys” at Orleans, and we would share the details, but we are very busy doing market research related to how much emotional distress one person can endure at the hands of video poker.

Longshots are called that for a reason. Opening a show like “Jersey Boys” in Vegas right now, when public tastes have moved toward sports, superstar residencies and The Sphere, is a huge gamble.

We feel for the artists who suffer when a show closes (especially with such little notice), but folks involved with live theater are pretty much used to such horseshit.

There’s no news about what’s next for the showroom at Orleans, but the casino has recently become the landing spot for a number of shows displaced by closures of mid-sized venues on The Strip. Keeping production costs low is the key to success for these spunky efforts of varying quality.

While we didn’t get to see “Jersey Boys” at Orleans, props to the producers for trying to keep the dream of theater alive in Las Vegas, against all odds.

The post “Jersey Boys” Closes Sans Notice at Orleans appeared first on Vital Vegas.

It’s a bold move, but downtown is creating a new music festival for those who have zero interest in the polarizing F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The inaugural Neon City Festival will be held Nov. 22-24, 2024, pretty much directly on top of the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Nov. 21-23, 2024.

The Neon City Festival is being backed by all the downtown casinos hit so hard financially by last year’s F1 race.

The Neon City Festival will be free.

Word of the festival was first shared by us, of course. We are not, as rumored, omniscient. Some information about the event was shared in an agenda for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).

The LVCVA will approve $1 million in sponsorship of the Neon City Festival at its meeting on July 9, 2024.

Details about the festival are a smidge scant at this point, but the LVCVA agenda says, “The inaugural Neon City Festival will take place over the 2024 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, November 22-24, 2024, to drive incremental visitation to Downtown Las Vegas. The Neon City Festival will include programming across Fremont Street Experience, Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, and the surrounding downtown area. The Neon City Festival will incorporate an eclectic mix of A-list musical talent, local vendors, art installations and exhibits, and a variety of food and beverage outlets from famed Las Vegas venues. The Neon City Festival will be free and open to the public of all ages.”

That million bucks from the LVCVA should assure the promise of “A-list musical talent” actually is.

The Neon City Festival will be unique in that it will see all the casinos downtown collaborating on the event. Such events are usually one-offs at specific venues, and casinos not part of the Fremont Street Experience (FSE) are not included or featured (such as with FSE’s free concert series).

The Strat, El Cortez, Plaza and Downtown Grand aren’t part of the Fremont Street Experience, but they’ll be included in the Neon City Festival, we hear.

This unprecedented partnership is the result of an unprecedented debacle: F1’s first Las Vegas Grand Prix.

F1’s first race not only caused months of disruption due to roadwork and construction of grandstands, it financially negatively impacted the vast majority of Las Vegas casinos and innumerable other businesses.

As criticism of F1 and the LVCVA has grown, downtown leaders had to choose between openly criticizing F1, or creating counter-programming to ensure their hotel rooms weren’t empty again.

The Neon City Festival is an ingenius solution to a complicated problem. (It’s complicated because four casinos actually made a lot of money during F1, which is the mandate of the LVCVA, to drive business.)

The fact is, F1 isn’t popular enough to fill Las Vegas on its own, as painful as that might be for F1 to hear.

The Neon City Festival will be touted as being “additive” to F1, building on the weekend, rather than competition. If you’re into F1 for whatever reason, have at it. If you’re not, there’s a free festival downtown. The Raiders play the Denver Broncos on Nov. 24, 2024, too, so there’s that.

There’s more to come, and an announcement of the line-up is sure to make a splash.

The Neon City Festival should make inroads into quelling some of the F1 hate. Not ours, of course, as we’re still going to be stuck in traffic on The Strip for three months, but possibly for other people.

We love downtown, and with the creation of the Neon City Festival, now there will be even more to love.

Update (7/9/24): As expected, the LVCVA approved its sponsorship of the Neon City Festival. The following statement was issued by the festival: “Today, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority approved to sponsor the Neon City Festival, a new free music and culinary event in Downtown Las Vegas taking place November 22-24, 2024. The festival will feature a large sprawling footprint, headliner talent, diverse food and beverage offerings and more. Created by Derek Stevens, the Neon City Festival will be a new corporate entity overseen by appointed CEO Jeff Victor with the involvement of its co-founders Circa Resort & Casino, the D Las Vegas, Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, Fremont Street Experience, Binion’s Gambling Hall, California Hotel Casino, Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino, El Cortez Hotel & Casino, 4 Queens Hotel & Casino, Fremont Hotel & Casino, Golden Nugget Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, Main Street Station, Plaza Hotel & Casino and The Strat Hotel, Casino & Tower. The Neon City Festival looks forward to revealing additional details in the coming weeks.”

We used to work with Jeff Victor when he was president of Fremont Street Experience (he ran the show for nearly a decade), and he is the bomb. Victor has extensive experience in entertainment, including concerts, festivals, special events, stage shows, amusement parks and attractions, so he’s the perfect guy to spearhead this new festival.

The post Downtown to Host Neon City Festival During F1 Grand Prix Weekend appeared first on Vital Vegas.

Popular magician Shin Lim has already found a new home for his “Limitless” show: The Venetian.

Lim’s show closes July 14, 2024 at Mirage, a few days before the resort does for a transition to Hard Rock Las Vegas, July 17, 2024. His new show debuts at the Palazzo Theatre at Venetian in Oct. 2024.

Apparently, Lim and his team decided to move as small a distance as possible, as Mirage is about 125 feet away from Venetian. Lim saved a metric ass-ton on UPS shipping charges.

Shin Lim says his Venetian show will be “all-new.” We sort of have to call B.S. on that one. We haven’t seen his show at Mirage, but the chances of completely “reimagining” the show is a bit of an exaggeration for marketing purposes. You don’t just learn a bunch of new techniques is took years to perfect. You can shuffle them a little, of course, but that’s not “new.”

Still, here is some of Shin Lim’s prestidigitatorial perfection, in many cases baffling to even the most experienced magicians.

There will be a new set, so there’s that. The Palazzo Theatre will also get a refresh in honor of Lim’s residency. Yes, they spell it “theatre,” so it sounds fancier.

Lim opened at Mirage in May 2019, and now boasts more than 800 performances under his belt. Which sounds much dirtier than it really is.

Rumor has it Lim considered changing the name of his show to something other than “Limitless,” but nixed the idea because it has his fricking name in it. The other options, “Limberness,” “Limpness,” “Limousine,” “Limerick” and “Limbless,” didn’t have the same pizazz. We loved “Limburger,” but apparently it was deemed too cheesy.

Anyway, back to things we didn’t completely make up.

Here’s Shin Lim’s appearance on “Penn and Teller Fool Us.”

Shin Lim has done an impressive job of drawing audiences, said to be more than a million people during his Mirage run, doing mostly card tricks, or close-up magic.

Close-up magic can be swallowed up by large stages, and watching a live show on a video screen isn’t all that appealing to us, personally. (Note that Penn and Teller are watching Lim on a monitor despite the fact he’s just a few feet away.)

Oh, all right, we’ll see the show at Venetian so we have some idea what we’re talking about. For once.

We’re glad Shin Lim so seamlessly found a new place to ply his craft. The craft, of course, is making the rest of us feel like gullible idiots, but still.

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