Here are your Las Vegas entertainment options for 2019
You have no idea what you’ll be doing come October.
Allow us to inform you.
Adding to the 23,000-mile-long list of all the selfless, benevolent things we do, we’re going to break down some of the most anticipated entertainment options of 2019, month by month, from concerts to movies to TV and more.
This way, you can plan ahead and spend your time wisely — kind of like you’re doing right now by reading this.
January
“True Detective” Season 3, HBO (Jan. 13)
After learning that time is a flat circle from Matthew McConaughey’s beer-sponging Rust Cohle during the first season of “True Detective,” that circle has been completed with the return of this grimmer-than-autopsy-photos crime serial. Back after an up-and-down second season, the show is set in the Ozarks this time and stars Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali, who took home the best supporting actor trophy for his work in 2016’s “Moonlight.” Expect all the mirth of an open-casket funeral.
February
Travis Scott, T-Mobile Arena (Feb. 6)
Hades-hot rapper Travis Scott’s “Astroworld” tour has been garnering out-of-this-world reviews, with Rolling Stone recently dubbing it “the greatest show on Earth.” (Qualifier: Obviously, the magazine missed our last karaoke set at Dino’s.) Scott drew a massive throng of fans to his Life is Beautiful performance last September. Prepare for a bigger production and an even bigger crowd this time.
March
Robbie Williams, Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas (March 6, 8, 9, 13, 15 and 16)
Just how big is this Paul Bunyan of pop? Back in 2006, Robbie Williams made it into the “Guinness Book of World Records” for selling 1.6 million tickets to his “Close Encounters” tour in a day. He’ll have slightly fewer seats to fill during his intimate engagement in Vegas.
April
“Game of Thrones” Season 8, HBO (April)
Whose life will expire before this beloved show does? The answer to that question will be penned in blood as “Game of Thrones” enters its final season. If you haven’t kept up with this labyrinthine series and can’t tell your Lannisters from your Starks, starting bingeing on the brutality ASAP.
May
Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas Motor Speedway (May 17-19)
Blooming in the desert for the ninth year now, this smorgasbord of beats and flesh continues its reign as one of the world’s biggest electronic dance music gatherings, luring crowds of more than 400,000 for three days of dusk-till-dawn revelry. You sleep, you lose.
June
“Fiddler on the Roof,” The Smith Center (June 4-9)
The “Fiddler” gets outfitted with some fresh strings, among other refurbishments, when this Broadway classic gets a new spin from Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher and the folks behind “South Pacific,” “The King and I” and “Oslo.”
July
“The Lion King” (July 19)
A Donald Glover-voiced Simba goes digital in this computer-animated remake of the beloved Disney classic. Jon Favreau directs a cast that also includes Beyonce as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar and Seth Rogen answering the eternal question, “What if Pumbaa was voiced by the stoner dude from “Pineapple Express?”
August
Psycho Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay (Aug. 16-18)
The biggest and best heavy music festival in the country gets even bigger and, uh, best-er when Psycho Las Vegas relocates from the Hard Rock Hotel to four venues at Mandalay Bay, including the arena. The full lineup has yet to be revealed, but early confirmations include Britain’s Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, festival perennials High on Fire and the supremely doomy Yob.
September
Life is Beautiful, downtown Las Vegas (Sept. 20-22)
Like a little ray of Vegas summer sunshine searing off your pesky epidermis, this annual music and arts festival returns to remind us to look deeper and see the beauty that exists within us all.
October
“Tim Burton @ the Neon Museum” (Oct. 15)
What’s this? Tim Burton brings his first U.S. art exhibition in nearly a decade to the Neon Museum. It will feature new and previously exhibited large-scale pieces by the filmmaker behind such dark and dreamy pictures as “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
November
“Frozen 2” (Nov. 22)
Refusing to “Let It Go” just yet, the highest-grossing animated film of all time gets a second installment when Anna and Elsa return for more adventures with a talking snowman with an oddly self-destructive bent.
December
“Star Wars: Episode IX” (Dec. 20)
Perhaps the most recent entry in the “Star Wars” canon, last year’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” should have stayed in a galaxy far, far away considering how it was roundly dismissed by critics and fanboys alike. Hopefully The Force will be with “Episode IX,” which is directed by J.J. Abrams and features late actress Carrie Fisher, as we bid Princess Leia a final farewell.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.