Lessons in stage rushing, from Elton John and Pink Martini
It’s a good thing Elton John doesn’t set a tip jar on his Million Dollar Piano. Fans at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace would probably knock it to the stage. Or steal it.
It seems the latest thing at the Colosseum is to mess with Sir Elton during his play-through of “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.” The fan-favorite moment surfaces late in the show, and audience-members in the first two rows are allowed to take the stage to groove, sing along and record the moment on social media.
Behavior that doesn’t interfere with the performance is deemed OK.
But twice in the past two weeks, fans have treated the Colosseum stage as if it’s Rush Lounge at Golden Nugget. On Valentine’s Day, a fan threw what appeared to be a strand of Mardi Gras beads at John, hitting him full in the face. He spent about a half-minute checking himself for blood and loose teeth.
On Thursday night, a fan disrupted John’s performance by putting his hands on the piano keys, then attempting to take up-close pictures of the piano.
As a video posted on celebrity website TMZ shows, John put up with this interference for a few moments, then sauntered off the stage and seemed ready to end the performance. But he did return to close out with “Circle of Life,” saying of the offending fan, “You (expletive) it up!”
John followed with a comment on his Instagram page, saying he liked having fans join him up-close onstage but, “This guy was rude, disruptive and had no care or respect for our show and so I left him know how I felt, then left the stage until they had removed him.”
The number remains unchanged in the show — fans were back onstage Friday night — but there is a theory why the crowd is getting restless during John’s performances. He closes his run at Caesars on May 17. As AEG Live Senior Vice President John Nelson, whose company promotes John’s Strip residency, says, “As we get closer to the final performance of ‘Million Dollar Piano,’ fans seem to be getting more and more excited.” Just keep your mitts off that pricey instrument.
More rushing action
On the topic of rushing the stage, do’s and don’ts …
Pink Martini has its system figured out. Music director Thomas Lauderdale and vocalist China Forbes explain to their audiences they can dance onstage behind the orchestra at any time and even come up front for the cover of Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman.” Thus, dozens of audience-members — and many women — took to the stage Saturday night during Pink Martini’s performance at the annual fund-raising gala for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.
There were no incidents, unless a show-closing conga line can be described as such. Philharmonic President and Chief Executive Officer Jeri Crawford led that charge herself.
On the walk
The Las Vegas Walk of Stars has been largely overtaken by the construction of bollards on the Strip. Nearly 50 stars have been pulled out of their original positions to allow for the construction of protective bollards along the Strip. The most vocal of those affected has been Frank Marino of “Divas Las Vegas” at Linq Hotel, who told KTNV Channel 13 (where he is a weekly on-air contributor, as am I, for disclosure sake) that he noticed his star at Paris Las Vegas had been pulled out.
Marino has been honored twice and still has his star at the Linq. But it is not yet known how many, if any, of the 49 stars removed will be replaced.
Styled after the Hollywood Walk of Stars, though far less publicized, the Las Vegas Walk of Stars requires honorees to donate between $5,000 and $15,000 per star (to pay for installation and maintenance fees). Among those whose stars have been removed are Elvis Presley, Wayne Newton (the first star to be honored, in 2004), Liberace, Sammy Davis Jr., Rich Little and veteran Vegas producer Dick Feeney.
Those whose stars have been pulled out are not happy, naturally. I’m told there is already an effort mobilizing to organize a class-action lawsuit against Walk of Stars officials for allegedly mishandling this issue. It appears this is just the start of this controversy.
There’s this …
Surfacing midweek, at least in my hemisphere, is serious buzz about Gwen Stefani (or possibly No Doubt) headlining at Zappos Theater late this year or early 2019. Keep your eye on news out of The Zap.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
