While the "City of Rock" might inspire visions of a Flintstones-themed resort, or else a dedicated venue/retirement home for all the titans of rock (and their tribute acts) who grace our city's stages and showrooms, the venue you're inquiring about has more to do with living culture than petrology, whether of the cartoon or flesh-and-bone variety. This is to be home to the Las Vegas version of Brazil's legendary Rock in Rio extravaganza.
Rock in Rio (RiR) is one of the largest music festivals in the world. It began in January 1985 with a 10-day schedule headlined by Queen, James Taylor, Rod Stewart, Ozzie Osbourne, Al Jarreau, AC/DC, George Benson, the Go-Gos, the B-52s, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, and a dozen Brazilian bands, in what is officially named the City of Rock Sports Complex, located in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro. Approximately 1.4 million people attended the mega-concert, held at the original City of Rock, which occupied nearly three million square feet of festival space. McDonald’s sold 58,000 burgers in one day, a world record at the time; it sold 79,000 in one day at a subsequent RiR.
The second incarnation occurred in January 1991 with Prince, Joe Cocker, Santana, Billy Idol, INXS, Guns N' Roses, George Michael, and others.
Rock in Rio III was held in 2001, after which the venue moved to Lisbon, Portugal, in 2004. That festival was held again in 2006 and 2008; also in 2008, the first Rock in Rio took place in Madrid, Spain.
There’ve been seven Rock in Rio festivals since then, three in Lisbon, two in Madrid, and two in Rio. The most recent was earlier this year, at the end of May, and featured a first in rock-star history: Mick Jagger invited Bruce Springsteen up on stage to perform "Tumbling Dice" together.
The fourth incarnation of Rock in Rio will debut right here in "Rock City" for two weekends in May 2015: May 8-9 and 15-16. The $20 million Las Vegas City of Rock will dwarf the three other venues at 33 acres; it’ll be built by Yucaipa Companies for MGM Resorts on its big vacant lot at the corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue, across from SLS.
The open-air venue will encompass five stages, a giant roulette-like Ferris wheel (we’ll see it when we believe it), Brazil and U.S. city-themed streets, food courts, shopping outlets, and permanent restroom facilities. For the concerts, a 400-foot zip line will zap festival-goers across the crowd. We also hear rumors of a roller coaster.
The mega-concert, running on consecutive weekends, will present up to 120 (as-yet unannounced) acts over four days. One weekend will feature pop, the other rock. The venue will have a capacity of 80,000, and if you’re wondering about parking, so are we. MGM Mirage says it will run shuttles from its parking garages. Presumably, concert-goers can also walk from nearby north Strip hotels, though Wynn and nearby condos have registered advance concerns about traffic, parking, and noise.
Assuming all goes according to plan, however, Rock in Rio will return to Las Vegas in 2017 and 2019, when it could expand from four to six days.
When not used to host RiR, the City of Rock can accommodate other concerts, sporting events, and food festivals, such as outdoor boxing or UFC matches, or even a temporary arena for Major League Soccer. MGM Mirage has floated the possibility of 12 to 16 other events per year, but has yet to specify any.
Rock in Rio USA tickets will go on sale in January 2015; single- and multi-day passes will be available, with the former 12-hour-access tickets running around $150, or so the speculation has it. Room rates are expected to skyrocket for both weekends, so if you’re interested in attending, we suggest you book early.
