Stefani singing in the new year in Vegas
SUNDAY morning, New Year’s Eve … no matter the day or night, Gwen Stefani can rock the Strip. The pop superstar will headline a pair of shows New Year’s Eve weekend at the Venetian Theatre, the hotel announced Thursday. Stefani performs at 9:30 p.m. Dec. 30 and 31. This means no countdown from the stage. Tickets start at $139.95 (not including fees), available at the Venetian box offices or ticketmaster.com.
Stefani has previously fronted a hit Vegas show at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort. Her latest Vegas dates join myriad superstar productions hitting town NYE weekend. Among them:
Kevin Hart at the Theatre at Resorts World, The Killers at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Bruno Mars at Dolby Live, Tenacious D at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, the Misfits at Michelob Ultra Arena, Steve Aoki at Omnia at Caesars Palace, Tiësto at Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World, The Chainsmokers at XS Nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas and Illenium at Hakkasan at the MGM Grand.
This does not include the usual production shows across the city nor the New Year’s Eve show on Fremont Street, the “Time of Your Life Festival” headed by Bush, Sugar Ray, The Wailers featuring Julian Marley, Sugarhill Gang, All-4-one, Tag Team, DJ Skribble and others to be announced.
Shelton moving on Ole Red
Blake Shelton, Stefani’s superstar husband, is on schedule to open his Ole Red Las Vegas honky-tonk on the Strip in the fourth quarter of 2023. Ole Red is a 27,000-squarefoot music club and restaurant at the Grand Bazaar Shops in front of Bally’s/ Horseshoe.
The music club is set for 686 seats. Shelton can — and will, we expect — easily fill that
room. I have a strong sense we’ll see Shelton, in some capacity, before the formal opening of Ole Red.
The Santana 300
Taking it all in stride in a most groovy manner, Carlos Santana hits a major milestone at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. His 300th show is Sunday night. The rock legend has performed more shows than anyone else at the House of Blues since opening in 2012. He also has played more concerts than any other artist at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel (today’s Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas) from 2009 to 2011. “Joy,” Santana’s collaboration with Chris Stapleton, is a comparatively new highlight in the show’s slamming set list.
Bono, continued
Bono had more verbiage than we previously reported from his interview on “The
Brendan O’connor Show.” We have reported U2’s anticipated Sept. 29-30 opening dates at the MSG Sphere. Bono confirmed the focus of U2’s next live endeavor without specifying where it will take place.
“It will center around ‘Achtung Baby,’ which we feel we need to really honor. But it will also … but we have to have the new songs out, don’t we?” he said during the show. “There’s no place yet big enough. If we can build one for our audience. But it will be, for us to go, it will have to be like no one has ever gone before. That sounds a bit ‘Star Trek.’ Part ‘Star Trek,’ part traveling salesman.”
We’ll look forward to September and hope he takes Venmo.
Felder to International
Don Felder has played with the Eagles and jammed on behalf of the Raiders.
Next, he is aligning himself with Elvis.
The guitar great is playing the International Theater at Westgate on March 3. Tickets are on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at Westgate’s box office, Westgatelasvegas.com or ticketmaster.com.
Felder performed with guitar great Orianthi at the
Raiders-cardinals game at Allegiant Stadium on Oct. 2. He’s also co-headlined with Styx at The Venetian but has not played the International Theater before. Westgate President and GM Cami Christensen came up with the idea when she saw his performance at the Raiders game.
One Night goes exclusive
The days of ticketed, customized Cirque du Soleil productions for the One
Drop Foundation’s safe water initiative are over. At least they are for this year. In place of those performances, One Drop is holding La Cuvée One Drop 2022 at Rivea by Alain Ducasse at Mandalay Bay.
The event is a benefit for One Drop’s mission of ensuring sustainable access to safe water for communities facing such challenges around the world. A year ago, One Drop celebrated in similarly scaledback fashion at the Mansion at the MGM Grand.
“Just as we did last year, we wanted to do something smaller and more exclusive,” One Drop Foundation board member Jerry Nadal says. “Alain Ducasse also hosted an event in Paris last year, so this was a natural opportunity this year.”
Nadal, a former Cirque executive, said it isn’t impossible to bring back the popular “One Night for One Drop” shows as the event enters its 15th anniversary. But shows have been working hard in their return from the pandemic shutdown, and the “One Night” productions were all-volunteer. The organization’s board feels it can sustain support without that heavy lift.