Backstreet Boys due back in Las Vegas for iHeartRadio festival
Backstreet Boys left Las Vegas in April. Or did they?
BSB are the latest addition to a customarily stacked iHeartRadio Music Festival lineup Sept. 20-21 at T-Mobile Arena. The inexhaustible boy band of A.J. McLean, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter and Howie Dorough closed their two-year, 80-show run at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theater on April 27.
The guys are known to be interested in a return residency on the Strip after their “DNA” North American tour closes in November.
BSB join Vegas headlining DJs Steve Aoki (with special guests Darren Criss and Monsta X) and Marshmello, along with superstars Alicia Keys, Cage The Elephant, Camila Cabello, Chance The Rapper, Def Leppard, French Montana, Halsey, Heart, HER, Hootie & The Blowfish, Miley Cyrus, Mumford & Sons, Tim McGraw, Zac Brown Band and others on the iHeartMusic lineup.
Tickets are on sale at axs.com. Separate tickets for the Daytime Stage at Las Vegas Festival Grounds on Sept. 21, headlined by Billie Eilish, Maren Morris and Juice Wrld, are on sale at Ticketmaster.com.
P&T in Microsoft lineup
Penn & Teller are set to appear Friday morning at the Microsoft Inspire 2019 conference at T-Mobile Arena. Queen + Adam Lambert performed Wednesday night at Las Vegas Festival Grounds to highlight the four-day convention for the global tech company.
Holmes back at Smith Center
The man who opened Cabaret Jazz seven years ago is returning for two shows Saturday. Clint Holmes, along with Billie Stritch, present “Straighten Up and fly Right,” a tribute to Nat King Cole at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday.
The piano great Stritch has worked for years with Liza Minnelli, among other stage greats.
Holmes broke the seal on what is now Myron’s Cabaret Jazz in March 2012 and ran a monthly residency at the club for four years.
Stritch is also back at Cab Jazz on July 26, as music director for Jim Caruso’s “Cast Party.” This is Caruso’s Las Vegas outpost for his popular open mic/variety show/parlor party he’s hosted at Birdland in New York for 17 years. Caruso brings up singers, musicians, the occasional tap-dancer and is forever searching for an entertainer in the “ventriloquial arts.”
Cooper’s crew
Count comic great Jimmie Walker among those paying tribute to Pat Cooper at Cooper’s 90th birthday party at Italian American Club on Sunday. Somehow the famed cast member of the 1970s sitcom”Good Times” escaped my gaze. Walker and Cooper have been close for years.
And none other than pop culture icon and former body shop owner Joey Buttafuoco was on the scene. Buttafuoco made national news in the Long Island Lolita case in 1992. Buttafuoco and Cooper met when Buttafuoco was on trial, as Cooper was performing in Westbury, Long Island. Buttafuoco asked for a pair of tickets, Cooper obliged and the two have been friends ever since.
Bennett coincidence
It took some 58 years, but Tony Bennett’s career has moved from the Venetian Room to The Venetian.
As author Bill Christine notes, Bennett first sang, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” on Dec. 28, 1961, at the Venetian Room of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. He’ll sing it again at the Venetian Theater on Sept. 25 and 27-28 in his “I Left My Heart in Las Vegas” stage show.
What works in Vegas
Vinny Guadagnino of “Jersey Shore” and “Double Shot at Love” in a shower at the Rio.
“Vinny G.,” who made the keto guido diet a social-media and wellness sensation, is back with the Chippendales gents from July 26-Sept. 1. A selling point is Guadagnino’s shower scene, in which he is actually in the buff-o but(t) with his back to the audience. Guadagnino’s box-office impact is comparable to that of super model and actor Tyson Beckford, who also performed that scene. And it’s a scene, trust me. Bedlam ensues.
Karaoke for Cats
Keeping an eye on the latest business to open at Neonopolis: Cat’s Meow karaoke club, upstairs from Heart Attack Grill (somehow this pairing seems appropriate), is open full-force this weekend. The club has been an institution in the French Quarter for the past 30 years, which does not guarantee success on the corner of Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.
But the Meow locale should be the best-in-class venue for karaoke, with advanced sound and lighting and a livestream of performers. The club’s balcony overlooks Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street, so would-be singing sensations can serenade the unexpected. This might be the spot where we see Neonopolis owner Rohit Joshi actually perform karaoke in public — on the wish list for years.
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 Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.