New Year’s revelers have plenty of choices
New Year’s Eve on a Monday is the perfect storm for the casinos. They can pack the extended weekend with concerts and club events, and still get out of the way of the free fireworks display on the Strip.
The routine is now well-established for "America’s Party" fireworks on the Strip. The only real change this year is Planet Hollywood replacing the Monte Carlo as one of the seven rooftop launch sites. The others: MGM Grand, Flamingo Las Vegas, Treasure Island, The Venetian, Circus Circus and Stratosphere.
A cozier outdoor bash on Fremont Street offers the Doobie Brothers and the Bangles on different stages. But unlike the Strip, there is a $60 ticket.
The power couple of Jay-Z and Beyoncé appear to have the most prosperous start on 2008. They dropped by in September to announce the New Year’s Eve opening of Jay-Z’s $20 million 40/40 Club at the Palazzo (The Venetian’s new sister property that otherwise gets a low-key soft opening).
Since they already would be here, why not do some shows? Beyoncé announced a Sunday encore of the concert she brought to the Strip in late August. Jay-Z waited until Dec. 15 to put tickets on sale for a Saturday show at the Palms.
The two also are expected to perform together during the two-night kickoff of the sports-themed 40/40 Club on Sunday and the club’s official New Year’s bash on Monday.
Competition on the club scene results in a crush of celebrity-hosted events. They make it confusing to sort out who’s in town for a traditional show and who isn’t.
Pop queens Mariah Carey and Avril Lavigne both get top billing, but for club promotions, not concerts. (Carey at Tao, Lavigne at Planet Hollywood’s new Privé.)
3 Doors Down? Concert at the Hard Rock Hotel. Backstreet Boys? Club promotion at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Pamela Anderson? Used to do a show here, but it wasn’t as riveting as her offstage life, which may get more lurid still, depending on which ex- or current husbands surround her at Pure on New Year’s Eve.
Among those who plan to make money the old fashioned way, Kanye West should feel the love at the Palms on Monday. He will be ringing out 2007’s emotional highs and lows of winning his much-touted sales duel with 50 Cent — West’s "Graduation" eclipsed the rapper’s "Curtis" in September — and his mother’s death last month after cosmetic surgery.
There should be no downside to Terry Fator’s 6 p.m. Monday show at the Las Vegas Hilton. Last year, the ventriloquist was doing his comic impressions at state fairs. That was before his summer victory on NBC’s "America’s Got Talent" made him an instant showroom star and sealed a deal for return visits to the Hilton in 2008.
Earth, Wind & Fire were last in town for a party in another ballroom, last month’s private Planet Hollywood initiation bash. This time, the doors are open for the public to see the R&B legends during a Venetian ballroom show that starts at 8 p.m. and lets you out in time for the fireworks. And if it’s true legend you seek, venture to the California state line: 82-year-old blues guitarist B.B. King greets another new year in the Star of the Desert arena at Buffalo Bill’s in Primm.
Rockers also have a pair of options on Monday. If October’s brief set at the Andre Agassi benefit whetted your appetite for more Goo Goo Dolls, they’ll be inside the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. If you’d rather hear 3 Doors Down promote National Guard service, they’re in the Hard Rock’s concert hall, The Joint.
Far from the maddening crowds, locals who fall asleep before midnight can celebrate early, with a noon show by the Las Vegas Tenors at the South Point, and another by Wes Winters at the Suncoast.
If you can stay up later but don’t know your Paris from your Nicky Hilton, take comfort in Tony Orlando’s ringing in another year at The Cannery, while Debbie Reynolds does the honors at the South Point.
Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0288.
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