Kool & The Gang’s Vegas strategy: Let’s party

Kool & The Gang has a new single out, titled “We Are The Party.”

Big horns, driving bass, insistent message. This song is the lead single from “People Just Wanna Have Fun.” This infectious dance number could be considered the long-awaited sequel to the indefatigable party anthem, “Celebration,” itself the follow-up to “Ladies Night.”

Expect the new party anthem to energize a packed house when Kool & The Gang returns to the International Theater at Westgate Las Vegas on Thursday through Saturday.

“We just want to have fun, OK?” band founder Robert “Kool” Bell says during an interview in the International Theater green room. “It’s going to be interesting. We have a slightly different production. We’ve been to Vegas so many times, but we always make it a party.”

Kool & The Gang has established a recurring, extended engagement at the International Theater through next year, which is Bell’s 60th year of performing. The band shows no signs of stopping, even talking of extending into 2025.

Over the decades Kool & The Gang has headlined many exalted Las Vegas venues, many of them since shut down. Among those have been Caesars Palace’s Circus Maximus, Luxor Theater (in its days as a headlining venue), and the original Las Vegas Hilton theater, today’s International.

“What’s great about coming back here, over the years, is we know what works,” Bell says. “We are coming from the dance-pop-funk side. We are going to add a little Vegas to the room, too.” The theater is in full Kool & The Gang theme, dance-club-style lighting and even the renamed Kool Bar.

Bell recalls the times the band has co-headlined with what seems oddly matched touring partners. They have been billed with Cheap Trick, and also Van Halen. We caught the latter show at MGM Grand Garden in May 2012.

“I didn’t know a whole lot about Van Halen, but I’m sitting down with David Lee Roth, and he said, ‘You guys have ‘Celebration,’ and we have ‘Jump,’ and we are not that far apart,” Bell says, laughing. “He said, ‘We actually played your songs when we started back at Whisky A Go Go.’ I said, ‘Cool, let’s go out now and have a party.’ That’s how we do it.’”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.