Kevin Hart-James Harden NYE party is a slam dunk

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

Superstar stand-up comic and actor Kevin Hart celebrates New Year’s Eve 2018 at Drai’s Nightclub at the Cromwell on the Las Vegas Strip. (Mike Kirschbaum)

Future headlines New Year’s Eve 2018 at Drai’s Nightclub at the Cromwell on the Las Vegas Strip. (Mike Kirschbaum)

Gucci Mane and his wife, Keyshia Ka’Oir, are shown counting down to 2019 at Tao inside the Venetian. (Brenton Ho/Global Media Group).

French Montana counts down to 2019 at Marquee Nightclub at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. (Joe Fury/Global Media Group)

Megan McCain and a family friend are shown at On The Record at the Park MGM on New Year’s Eve 2018. (Tony Tran)

Rap star Coolio is shown performing at On The Record at the Park MGM on New Year’s Eve 2018. (Tony Tran)

Mart Houston of On The Record at Park MGM is shown with actor Matt Gublar at the club on New Year’s Eve 2018. (Tony Tran)

Calvin Harris performs at Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace on Dec. 31, 2018. (Conor McDonnell)

On New Year’s Eve, James Harden gave an assist to Kevin Hart.

It was Harden’s 14th of the night.

Harden, the Houston Rockets star who is in contention to be the NBA MVP, rang in the new year with Hart at Drai’s Nightclub at the Cromwell. This, after ringing up a triple-double against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Harden scored 43 points with 13 assists and 10 rebounds as the Rockets beat the Grizzlies 113-101 at Toyota Center in Houston. He then flew to Las Vegas, and he and his entourage made it to the rooftop nightclub on the Strip in time to catch Hart counting in the new year.

Harden and the Rockets play the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Thursday night.

Hart, the superstar actor and a popular stand-up comedian in Vegas (where he has headlined at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan), was Drai’s special guest for New Year’s Eve and also Sunday night. He was originally slated to host the upcoming Academy Awards telecasts until some of his homophobic Twitter posts from years ago were unearthed.

Reportedly, and by a quick glance at the photos of his appearance on the Strip, Hart was showing no ill effects from being dropped from the show.

Others in the NYE mix at the packed nightclub included fashion designer Alexander Wang, and NFL players Dontari Poe, Gareon Conley and Adam “Pacman” Jones.

Headliner Future took over the scene at about 2 a.m., after a performance by Drai’s resident DJ Franzen. Future performed a 45-minute set on the Drai’s Live stage, unleashing hits “Mask Off,” “Racks,” and personal fave, “Commas.”

Harris en fuego

Headlining DJ Calvin Harris lit up Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace on New Year’s Eve, eschewing his usual casual club gear for a crown and tuxedo. Harris counted in the new year fittingly with “One Kiss,” “Promises” and “This is What You Came For.”

Meantime, J. Cole performed in the Main Room at Hakkasan Nighclub at MGM Grand, sampling from his platinum album “KOD.”

At Jewel at Aria, hip-hop star Tyga performed for a slammed NYE crowd that incluced model/actress Amber Rose, and “Creed II” co-star Michael B. Jordan. And, at 1Oak at the Mirage, rap star, Las Vegas resident and Golden Knights fanatic Lil Jon performed “Shots,” “Turn Down For What” and “Outta Your Mind.”

OTR is on it

You know who brings the party? Meghan McCain.

She was on the scene New Year’s Eve, first at Lady Gaga’s show at Park Theater and later at On The Record. “The View” co-host and daughter of the late U.S. Senator John McCain was with her husband, Ben Domenech of the Federalist, and a group of friends who happily posed for an NYE pic posted on McCain’s Instagram page.

Matt Gubler of “Criminal Minds” was also in the just-opened club at Park MGM. Rap icon Coolio — who lives in Las Vegas — put on an unbilled performance. He was joined by sax great Jarez and his son, MC Gritis Ivey, on the anthem “Gangstas Paradise,” which reportedly leveled the place.

Comic rapper Lil Dicky, the night’s scheduled headliner, closed the show.

Marquee goes French

Vegas stalwart French Montana headlined NYE at Marquee Nightclub, leading that at-capacity event to the new year countdown with a rollout of his hits.

At Tao Nightclub inside The Venetian, Gucci Mane hosted the New Year’s Eve shindig. His wife, Keyshia Ka’Oir, hit the stage for the countdown before touching off the live performance.

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.