Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Party For a Cause bulges beyond single site
After five years in Las Vegas, Party for a Cause knows how to party. It knows where, too. The Academy of Country Music’s annual festival benefiting the ACM Lifting Lives charity has ballooned to include events at theaters, music halls and taverns on and off the Strip for its next run in Vegas. The event begins March 30 and concludes with the April 2 ACM Awards, which will be broadcast live on CBS.
Previously, Party for a Cause was held over multiple days at a single site, originally at the Linq promenade parking lot and last year at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. This year, the party’s expanded range of revelry
includes The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, Stoney’s Rockin’ Country at Town Square, Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar and Grill at Harrah’s, Virgil’s Real BBQ at the Linq, Mandalay Bay Beach, Redneck Riviera at the Grand Bazaar Shops at Bally’s, Go Pool at Flamingo Las Vegas, the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms, the ballroom at Red Rock Resort, House of Blues at Mandalay Bay and even the new Park Theater at Monte Carlo. Festivities
will also include interactive ACM “fan experiences,” (details about that are forthcoming).
A mix of emerging artists and established stars have scheduled appearances,
including Kelsea Ballerini, Billy Currington, Ryan Follese, Lady Antebellum, LOCASH, Kip Moore, Jake Owen, Chris Stapleton, Michael Tyler, Clay Walker and Brett Young. An updated schedule for all Party for a Cause events is linked at www. partyforacause.com.
The ACM Awards show has taken place in Las Vegas for 14 years, first at the MGM Grand and now at T-Mobile Arena. The event took a year away in 2015 to celebrate its 50th anniversary at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Cowboys with helmets, before returning to MGM Grand last year.
A THUNDEROUS RESULT Justin Spencer jokes, “We’ve played almost 6,000 shows. I remember eight of them. It’s all a blur.”
But he’ll likely remember next Sunday’s performance by his act Recycled Percussion. The resident show at Saxe Theater at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood is scheduled to play at the Super Bowl LI pregame party outside Houston’s NRG Stadium. The guys have opened an online contest on their Facebook page for a single fan to join them on the trip and at the performance.
“We have built this show from literally nothing to something that appeals to an international audience,” said Spencer, who in 1994 conceived the concept of four guys rhythmically slamming away on such commonplace items as plastic buckets, pots, pans and trash can lids. “We just got back from playing 17 shows in the East Coast and sold out all of them.”
Spencer hails from Manchester, N.H., and is a New England Patriots fan. “We were close to being chosen last year, but it worked out this year, because the Pats are in it.”
CIVILLICO ON THE MOVE
Comedian, unicycle acrobat and juggling sensation Jeff Civillico has ended his run at Bugsy’s Cabaret at Flamingo Las Vegas. Civillico had taken time off for knee surgery in October and planned to return to the stage Feb. 6. Instead, the host of the 5:30 p.m. production — who was just 77 shows shy of reaching the 1,000 mark — is leaving the venue with plans to continue a residency on the Strip. Civillico has hosted the web broadcast “The Weekend in Las Vegas” since August and said he plans to focus on TV work. As founder of the Win-Win Entertainment charity in Las Vegas, Civillico has also launched a monthly performance series for the kids at St. Jude’s Ranch for Children in Boulder City.