Santana restores this old House

I have good memories of its early years, from the opening night in 1999 when Bono joined Bob Dylan onstage.

Oh, the club’s still there, mind you. But I speak in the past tense because, honestly, I can’t think of anything I’ve seen there since John Hiatt and Shawn Colvin in 2005.

Part of it is the division of labor around here. I review mostly magicians now. Jason Bracelin takes care of the one-night concerts. Plus, the kid loves the metal. He joins other Amon Amarth fans in being happy the bearded Vikings have a home on the Strip.

And you can’t blame the House if it can zig where others zag. Suburban casinos book Styx three times a year. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas snatches away Foster the People. Even the Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip raids Brandi Carlile or the Mickey Hart Band. Why not book the loud dudes with gloomy names (Between the Buried and Me, or As I Lay Dying), or even classic punk (NOFX, and just plain X) instead of classic rock?

Jason and I plan to catch the Opeth/Mastodon show April 25. But I predict there will be fewer of my middle-age boomer ilk there that night than on May 2, when Carlos Santana launches his two-year residency, with at least 30 shows this year.

It seems a win-win. Santana wasn’t filling the Hard Rock Hotel’s 4,000 seats, but he lives here now and wants to work close to home. House of Blues gets to reclaim its share of the old-guy beer dollar (remember, bar revenue plummets for an all-ages show), beyond the occasional comedian such as Joe Rogan or Adam Carolla.

But Ron Bension, the chief executive officer for the whole House of Blues chain, agrees with that scenario only up to a point. “This was not a demographic play,” he says of signing Santana.

The Cosmopolitan may be “willing to spend whatever it takes to book an act to fit that demographic play,” he says. But the House of Blues is a near-nightly operation that needs to stay booked and genre-blind. “We’re in a different business than the Cosmopolitan people.”

Bension does agree the Santana shows are “extremely opportunistic for both of us.” Las Vegas in the new century has become a place for acts to “underplay” rooms smaller than they can fill. “It’s back to (their) roots,” he says. “They can still make a lot of money, but it’s a different vibe, a different environment. I think there’s something romantic to them about it. It’s fun again.”

Bension says he wouldn’t mind finding another recurring headliner to claim another 40 nights or so at Mandalay’s House. He says that still leaves plenty of nights for metal Vikings. “We don’t want to be a one-note melody. It’s not what we built our reputation on.”

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