Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Test your knowledge of Vegas live music history with some trivia culled from new book “Rock Vegas.”
Test your knowledge of Las Vegas’ live music history
PAT Christenson once witnessed a man get thrown 10 feet in the air after the car he was sitting on got struck by lightning.
It was May 1993, and the dude in question was hanging out in front of Sam Boyd Stadium, then known as the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, prior to a Grateful Dead performance.
Ironically, the Dead’s opener, Sting, was playing “Heavy Cloud No Rain” when the incident happened, jolting the man onto the blacktop.
Paramedics tried to get him into an ambulance. He refused. He didn’t want to miss the show.
Eventually, the guy relented, but only when promised a ticket to the Dead’s gig at the venue the next day.
Taking this all in must have been a shocking moment for Christenson, but it was also most likely a revelatory one: That Vegas could now attract the Dead and their intensely dedicated fan base, that they could sell out multiple stadium gigs, was a major turning point in the history of live music in Vegas.
And Christenson played a central role in it all.
As the manager of the Thomas & Mack Center and Sam Boyd Stadium from 1983 to 2001, Christenson worked over 500 concerts.
He was right there on the front lines as Vegas developed from a secondary or even tertiary concert market skipped over by plenty of star acts to one of the most lucrative cities on many touring itineraries.
All of this is chronicled in Christenson’s in-depth new book, “Rock Vegas: Live Music Explodes in the Neon Desert,” an immersive account of this city’s rise in the live music ranks as well as a fascinating behind-thescenes look at the industry in general.
To give you a sampling of the nuggets in the book, we’ve put together some Vegas live music trivia gleaned from this fast, fun read.
Quiz
1. With ticket prices ranging from $2.50 to $5.50, the Beatles sold out two shows at what venue during their first visit to Vegas in 1964?
2. Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield and the Grateful Dead all played this stillstanding hockey rink in 1969. Name it.
3. What was the first concert at the Thomas & Mack Center in December 1983?
4. Which band has sold the most tickets at a Thomas & Mack show?
5. This seminal ’70s rock band inadvertently provoked a riot that made national news when they had to cancel a 1973 gig at the Las Vegas Convention Center because the lead singer fell ill.
6. Which artist set a record (since surpassed) for charging $1,000 per ticket for the best seats to a 1993 show at the MGM Grand Garden?
7. This artist has sold out the Grand Garden a whopping 32 times.
8. The Beach Boys were the debut act at Vegas’ first outdoor concert series. Name it.
9. Bob Dylan and Bono dueted on the former’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” during the opening gala of which concert hall?
10. When this oncetouring alt-rock festival stopped at Sam Boyd Stadium in ’94, it underwhelmed, selling fewer than 11,000 tickets. It never came back. Name it.
11. What was the last band to play the Aladdin Theater in 1997 before its namesake hotel was imploded? Hint : This same band also closed the original Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel 12 years later.
12. What was the first rock act to play Vegas, booked at the Circus Maximus showroom at Caesars Palace?
13. Which bands opened Metallica’s 1994 gig at Sam Boyd Stadium?
14. Which EDM superstar did the first Vegas DJ residency at Rain at the Palms?
15. Where and when did Eric Clapton make his Vegas debut?