VIVA LAS VEGAS!

A Prog reader champions the Vegas Residency.

I have been saying for quite some time now that if the price of a concert is too high for you, don’t pay it. Sure, I agree that concert ticket prices have sky-rocketed to ridiculous extremes; even now, as we get back to business somewhat, I still see prices for summer shows that are just too extreme for my wallet. But again, if this is what the market bears and if you do not want to pay the price to see the show, don’t go.

This is why, ironic as it might seem, I continue to champion the all-too-often mocked Vegas residency that lots of our artists and bands are settling into. Yes, the prices are undoubtedly high to attend one of these shows – the October before the lockdown, I paid $250 (£184) a ticket to see Aerosmith in their Deuces Are Wild residency at the Park MGM. But what did I get? A great show.

A few years ago, in my reporting for vintagerock.com,

I spoke with former Heart guitarist Howard Leese, who was appearing in the Raiding The Rock The Vault musical in Las Vegas. A year later I spoke to John Lodge, who was winging through Sin City for a truncated residency with The Moody Blues. Both remarked on the advantages of their crew being able to set up a more permanent show, where their sound and light technicians could come to know well the nuances of a theatre/concert venue as a show settles into one spot for a while. This was certainly proven to me when I attended Leese’s musical, and Styx, who I caught a season of before I did Aerosmith. And speaking of crews setting up incredible audio and video, Aerosmith actually presented their two-hour show boasting a first-ever THX-certified performance: the lights, sounds, stilt walkers, video screens and inflatables truly blew me away. And I have been attending rock shows since the 70s, which was arguably the height of bombastic stage effects, costuming, and theatrical stage performance.

As Leese told me that from a performer’s standpoint, being able to ‘hang one’s hat’ in the same hotel suite for a month or so helped ease the usual stress of musicians dealing with being on the road. For more ‘mature’ musicians, this could only be a godsend.

Unfortunately, being a fan of music made mainly in the 1970s, lots of the musicians I love have either retired from performing, permanently retired from this mortal coil, or have amassed a band around them of so many new players that there’s not enough original members touring to get me to cough up the usual ticket price, or even want to suffer through a parking lot traffic jam. Plus, who haven’t I seen already?

But if I am lucky to be ’round Vegas way again, and a band or artist is playing who I do indeed want to see, from my experience I can pretty much be assured that the often maligned Vegas residency will deliver for my tired old eyes and my crusty old ears a show worth paying for.

Viva Las Vegas!

Got an opinion on the matter that you’d like to share? Please email us at: prog@futurenet.com. Opinions expressed in this