Bellagio’s Hyde adds variety to club scene
Now that Bellagio’s new club Hyde has been open for a few weeks, it’s time to check in and see how it stacks up against rival clubs on the Strip.
When I went last Saturday, it was pretty dead after 10 p.m. I wasn’t even sure there were 100 people inside, but I wasn’t counting.
It also doesn’t feel like a nightclub. It comes across as an ultra-ultra lounge: swanky and pretty but boutique-y.
That vibe could help distinguish Hyde as a fancy and manageable club for business-class customers who prefer the taste-conscience Bellagio.
Indeed, once Hyde was jam-packed after 11 p.m., everywhere I looked, I saw groups of men in suit jackets, mingling with women their own ages, as well as younger women at bottle-service tables taking nonsuggestive photos of themselves.
They listened to pop music on the level of Taio Cruz’s "Dynamite" ("I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying ‘ayo, gotta let go.’ ")
In short, Hyde seemed fitting for the Bellagio’s traditional, brandy-snifter reputation. It was no Marquee, XS or Surrender, with those clubs’ young clubbers and electro-DJs.
But not every club must be Surrender. Variety is useful on the club scene. Hyde is where I’d take my 30-something, rich stock-broker friends from Denver, because they enjoy the familiar comforts of exactly this kind of Bellagio style.
Hyde is also bringing in celebrities for star appeal. Although on Saturday, the big name in the room was not an actor or singer, but Dita Von Teese — someone who could perform a stellar routine, to be appreciated by many women and business-class jacket-wearers.
And holy mother of burlesque. Dita Von Teese is 39? Is that even possible?
I mean, look at the how youthfully she strolled on stage at Hyde, did a majestic feather dance, then hopped effortlessly into a giant cocktail glass and spun in circles, while she poured Champagne over her perfect body.
She didn’t look 39. She looked 20-something but also timeless, as the world’s most famous fetish-burlesque dancer, with that perfectly coifed retro hairstyle, undies and crystal pasties.
I’ve seen a lot of sexy shows at nightclubs in Vegas, from Pussycat Doll revues to Cirque acrobats who make out. And I’ve seen a lot of burlesque.
But I’ve never seen anything so deserving of both reverence and lust in a club as Von Teese’s one-night act at Hyde.
This wasn’t even Von Teese’s full stage show. She told me she will return to Vegas in May to put on her 90-minute burlesque act, as part of a national tour through the House of Blues.
Her Hyde gig was a 10-minute freestyle, she told me before she went onstage, after arriving from Paris.
She has been doing the cocktail-glass act (her signature routine) for so many years, she doesn’t even need to concentrate much.
"I can have cocktails, go out there and have a good time," she said. "I’m just letting loose, having fun in a club atmosphere."
In other words, this was Von Teese’s version of automatic pilot, and it was mesmerizing.
On the other hand, Von Teese’s appearance Saturday said a lot about the confines of nightclub performances.
To begin with, the club didn’t have a backstage space to hold her.
"My normal ritual is about being backstage in the dressing room with lights, making cocktails and listening to music," she said.
Instead of that typical ritual, she walked a 10 p.m. red carpet outside Hyde, then went to her hotel room, got ready and walked back through the hotel, all dolled up.
Her stage at Hyde was so small, she walked small ovals across it, seductively taking off her heavy, crystal-bedazzled dress.
She looked like a heated tigress pacing in a cage in front of cheering spectators (mostly women, adoring and seemingly envious).
"It’s a little bit of a challenge to be on a small stage," she said, smiling. "But we’re all drinking and having a good time.
"The pressure’s off. Nobody’s going to be reviewing the show except you, so remember it’s a club show, not a theater show."
Oh, I remembered, as my eyes drunk in her intoxicating prowess.
Doug Elfman’s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
