Concert West’s Meglen: Strip shows ‘moving forward’ in 2021

Emerson, Lake & Palmer once sang, “Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends.”

It might not end, but we’re in for a long pause.

John Meglen, who has spent his professional life putting on shows, knows this intermission will last a while. But he’s girding for the return of live entertainment, whenever it is.

“I think everybody’s pretty much accepted that, in our business at least, this year is pretty much dead,” the president and CEO of Concerts West said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon. “You have to just keep moving forward and hopefully down the road, we’ll be able to do what we do again.”

That would be presenting live events at big, fancy venues on the Strip. The newest such venue, announced Thursday, is The Theatre at Resorts World. The 5,000-seat fortress is set to open in the summer of 2021. AEG Presents, which is Concerts West’s parent company, is in an exclusive booking partnership with the resort.

AEG is the international production behemoth that helped bring Celine Dion’s original show “A New Day …” to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, and was with her all the way through to her closing show in June.

A hint of Dion’s undeniable influence is felt when Meglen talks of how artists, and their crews, are to be cared for at The Theatre.

“Our focus right now is on creating a playground,” Meglen said. “If you look at the high-tech side of the entire property, the sound has developed and gotten better every year, and video has gotten better, and we’ve also learned it’s making sure the artist is really comfortable, and the people working around them are OK. I don’t want just the star to be saying this is the greatest place to play, but I want her production people and the people around her and all that to feel the same way.”

Would “her” be a reference to Dion? She still lives in Las Vegas and is routinely at the center of residency speculation.

“Our relationship with Celine is ongoing, but right now she’s taking a break from doing Vegas stuff, and the focus right now is on her European tour next year,” Meglen said. “Would I love Celine to come to this building? Absolutely, but we’re not at the point of locking down artists yet.”

Dion’s European tour runs from March through June. She also has 19 North American dates to reschedule. Also, she has concerts booked Nov. 16 at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., and Nov. 18 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Those dates are far from secure as venues around the world are shutting down for the rest of the year.

Regardless of its superstar headliners, Theatre at Resorts World is moving into competition with such signature Strip venues as Park Theater, Zappos Theater and the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Its horseshoe seating pattern faces a stage 64 feet deep by 196 feed wide, covering 13,550 square feet. It also boasts the most famous chandelier on the Strip since “Phantom” left the Venetian Theater, a 65-foot-tall effect hanging in the middle of the venue.

Meglen recalls the days of Dion, and her creative partnership with Franco Dragone at the Colosseum. “It was one-and-one equals three.

“It was about telling the artists, ‘Look, remember that show that you always wanted to do but you couldn’t do it because you couldn’t pack it in trucks and move it around the country?’ “Meglen said. “Well, we want you to do that show here.”

Multi-media performances could conceivably fill dates at The Theatre. So could sporting events, such as mixed-martial arts and boxing cards. That concept was discussed in the run-up to the opening of the Park Theater, but hasn’t been fully realized with that venue’s heavy lineup of headliners.

Meglen aid the venue can adjust to recent health and safety directives in the COVID era. But he’s not the guy to ask about them, and he hopes they won’t need to be implemented.

“I’m not really thinking too much about, what if somebody tells us we’ve gotta have 50 percent capacity or things like that,” Meglen said. “I remember a line I heard (concert promoter) Paul Tollett say about Coachella a while back: ‘Could you ever imagine opening the gates of Coachella and all those kids not being able to run in like they do at all their different locations? You almost don’t want to do it until you’re sure that happens.’”

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