Copious Vegas ties make him Lucky 007
It took James Bond, or at least two of his songs, to set the ship right at the Oscars, a reminder that the secret agent’s 50-year reach extends well into Las Vegas.
After Dame Shirley Bassey sang “Goldfinger” for the award show’s Bond tribute, Facebook and Twitter heated up with renewed interest in a 76-year-old singer whose U.S. fame hinged upon three Bond themes (she also did “Diamonds are Forever” and “Moonraker”).
Bassey’s self-described “pop opera” style suited what they called “a nightclub singer.” When she last played Las Vegas in February of 2000 she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “I used to follow Elvis Presley (at the Las Vegas Hilton) for quite a few years. … He was just adorable.”
Adele delivered another Oscar highlight with “Skyfall.” But if her reported interest in a Las Vegas residency is true, she’s doing fine with her own songs, and the Bond theme wouldn’t even be a shoo-in for the set list.
I would have said that about Celine Dion, too. But it turns out a few more minutes of Dion’s own hits couldn’t compare to a showstopping medley of Bond themes at Caesars Palace.
Perhaps it’s Mr. Bond who is not fully exploited by show producers here.
The 50-year anniversary celebrates a unique franchise uniting generations. The 23 theme songs are a link between Tom Jones — who never liked to sing “Thunderball” in Las Vegas — and Paul McCartney, who didn’t forget “Live and Let Die” at the Silver Bowl in 1993 or the Hard Rock Hotel in 2009.
Las Vegas was at one point home to both Gladys Knight (“Licence to Kill”) and Sheena Easton (“For Your Eyes Only”).
Bond himself visited Las Vegas in both the novel and film version of “Diamonds Are Forever.” His creator, Ian Fleming, was a bit snooty about the ’50s-era Strip more often glamorized. “An inelegant trap, obvious and vulgar,” he called it.
The leisure-suited extras hovering in the movie’s background don’t provide much evidence to the contrary, though “Diamonds” — or at least John Barry’s music — does somehow manage to make the Circus Circus midway seem a bit elegant.
If a Las Vegas show ever taps into motion-simulator technology along the lines of the “License to Thrill” attractions found in theme parks a few years ago, the world of Bond, plus his music, seems a natural.
If Bond’s gatekeepers ever sign off on such a thing, I’ll be celebrating at the Vesper Bar, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas watering hole named in honor of the “Casino Royale” femme fatale and her drink of choice.
Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.
