Recycled Percussion looks, then leaps to new venue

Only a few minutes after talk of how the four members of Recycled Percussion can’t get sick or injured and never miss a show, Ryan Vezina decides to jump off a 12-foot riser.

He was sort of put up to it during this break in rehearsals, with comments about how it seemed higher from the top of the band riser than it did from stage level. And by talk of how the ramp beneath it ended up being short and steep, squelching early plans to have the performers jump from the top level as part of the show.

But Vezina jumps anyway. He clears the ramp, and lands flat-footed on the stage without even stumbling or running out the momentum.

He’s had plenty of practice jumping off ladders in the 1,000 shows the group has logged in Las Vegas since 2009 . “That might be the highest thing I ever jumped,” he says. “No, I jumped off my house once.”

If the show doesn’t go off as planned on Saturday in the group’s new home at The Quad, it will be for some other reason that won’t make me feel guilty.

Recycled Percussion draws its name from drumming on instruments made of trash cans, hubcaps and other bric-a-brac. The group first dug in on the Strip with its own show in 2010, a year after it competed on “America’s Got Talent.” They joined a packaged revue spun off from the TV talent show at Planet Hollywood Resort the same year (and count that tenure as part of their 1,000 shows).

Those who saw the group at the Tropicana Las Vegas will see about 30 percent new material phased in during the first month at The Quad. “It can’t be a whole new show. It took us 15 years to write the first one and we came up with the second one in two months,” says group founder Justin Spencer.

But even the original material will take on a new sheen on a set trimmed in light-emitting-diode panels. New producer David Saxe is helping the group add production value to make the full leap to a competitive evening show on the Strip.

“We made things work at the Tropicana on a moderate budget, but here is a new sandbox,” Spencer says. “For the first time ever we’ve been able say, ‘OK, we want to buy $400,000 lights.’ That’s a big difference. We’ve never had that before.”

The result will be “an experience we think is worthy of any show in Vegas,” he adds. The last one was “not lacking talent, just production … and a little more depth. We’ve added those to things to get to that next level.”

This time, audience members will learn more about the four – D.J. Todd Griffin and new guitarist Matt Bowman round out the quartet – from the performers who previously didn’t speak onstage. “It’s a show, but it’s also a group,” Spencer says.

So much so that one thing that hasn’t changed: No one gets sick. Or if they do, they “play right through it,” Spencer says.

A couple of years ago, “I had strep throat so bad they had to stick needles in my throat to stop the infection about two hours before the show. It was the worst experience of my life. But it’s the mindset. If I knew there was someone back there to take over for me, I’d allow it. But we can’t have that mindset. We have to go out there.”

“We have a fan base” that knows the group by now, he adds. “You have to be really careful who you have coming in and out of it.” …

The classic rock band Chicago reopens the Tropicana showroom with Valentine’s weekend shows on Feb. 15, 16 and 17.

The venerable theater that long hosted “Folies Bergere” is now gutted. It’s in the middle of a makeover that will make it more of a theater with auditorium seating, but will preserve a few of the old booths as a salute to old-Vegas history.

With fewer tables, the seating capacity will increase to about 1,100 seats. Chicago tickets are available separately or in room packages through the Tropicana box office, 739-2411.

The near future should reveal whether the Tropicana plans to bring back the live version of “Dancing With the Stars.” But the Chicago booking does tell us that another venue besides the Las Vegas Hotel will be in the mix for weekend musical concert headliners that otherwise drifted from the resort corridor to suburban casinos. …

Those who have missed The Scintas can find them back in town on Saturday, but a different part of town.

The sibling variety act is launching a new year of activity for the M Pavilion at the M Resort. The 25,000-square foot, multipurpose venue is booking at least a show each month, including Rick Michel’s “Sinatra Forever” next month, The Four Tops in March and Engelbert Humperdinck in July. …

Finally, it’s been reported that we can look forward to an ABC reality contest called “Celebrity Diving.” Most of the interest centers around Katherine Webb, the pageant contestant who became an overnight celebrity thanks to frequent drooling cutaways at the Bowl Championship Series title game.

She probably won’t be confused with Palace Station headliner Louie Anderson. He is also said to be involved, either for comic relief, a study in contrasting body types or a Webb ogler’s buzzkill. Perhaps all three.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at
mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.