Author: LVA

Kyle Martin’s Piano Man
V3 Theater, Miracle Mile Shops
Thurs.-Mon. 6:30 p.m.
$29.44-$64.44

Shows at the small V theaters at the Miracle Mile Shops come and go with some regularity, but Kyle Martin’s Piano Man has demonstrated some longevity, going on a couple of years. After seeing it, we’re not surprised. Martin does spot-on impersonations of Billy Joel and Elton John, both at the keyboard and microphone and with the costuming, and the four-piece backup band—lead and bass guitars, sax, and drums—are all talented musicians in their own right; all do the two superstar rockers proud.

The show starts with the ferocious instrumental prelude to Joel’s “Angry Young Man” from Turnstiles, the fourth album, the way Joel often opened concerts in the ’70s and early ’80s and a most worthy representation of the classically trained pianist and self-trained composer. When the prelude ends, Martin skips the song itself to segue right into “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” also a truncated version, followed by a medley of “Moving out,” “Just the Way You Are,” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

All the while, the wall of screens behind the band is projecting relevant and engaging images.

“Big Shot,” “Uptown Girl,” and “New York State of Mind” keep the hits, though halved, coming, and “In the Middle of the Night” is the appropriate break at the 35-minute mark for some band-member solos while Martin runs off stage and comes back all glammed up as Elton John doing “Philadelphia Freedom.” Medleys of “Candle in the Wind,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Rocket Man,” and “Benny and the Jets” take up another 30 minutes.

The first encore brings the show back around to Billy with “Piano Man,” naturally. The second encore is Elton’s “Your Song,” his first hit, written by a 17-year-old Bernie Taupin and marking the start of a 50-plus-yeaer musician-lyricist partnership, one of the most enduring in rock ’n’ roll. That’s followed by another Elton song, “I’m Still Standing” and the show ends with Joel’s “You May Be Right” at exactly 80 minutes.

All seats are fine, though we opted for the middle-priced ticket at $49.44 and we were glad we weren’t in the last four rows in the long narrow venue. Still, with the service and order-processing fees, the total came to $71.75, which felt a tad rich for a small show that starts at 6:30, especially since we’d just seen the spectacular Shin Lim in the 1,000-seat Mirage Theater for a total ticket price of $81.06, only $9.31 more. But if you, like us, are big fans of both piano men, you won’t be disappointed in this show, which will start your evening off with a big bang.

Lucking into two tickets to the Giants game on November 5, we (Anthony and Deke) attended, the first time either of us had seen a game at Allegiant Stadium. (We did take the tour; see the review in LVA 8/21).

Deke started out from the Jockey Club, catching the tram at the Shops at Crystals to Park MGM, then crossing Tropicana and picking up the tram at Excalibur. That’s where the silver-and-black crowd starts to gather.

At Mandalay Bay, it’s a simple matter of following the crowd to the back of the casino and out to the Hacienda Avenue bridge over I-15 (signs point the way). Everyone marches to the stadium like an impromptu parade in their Raiders’ T-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys, scarves, bandanas, caps, masks, chains, beads, and makeup, with a respectable representation of the visiting team’s colors in the mix (in our case, Giants blue). Not surprisingly, Allegiant attracts one of the largest percentages of visiting-team fans in the NFL.

The scene on the bridge gets the game juices flowing: a drum line, ferocious reefer fumes, cops keeping order (and ignoring the pot smoke), one of many water stations around the stadium, even a human doomsday billboard.

You come off the bridge at the north entrance to the stadium, where you’re engulfed by Raiders merch tents, Modelo-, Coors-, and Jack Daniels-themed bars, and tailgate parties.

If you’re getting dropped off, the closest you’ll come is to the southwest and northwest entrances to the stadium on Polaris, which is turned into a one-way street going north from Russell. That’s where Anthony came in and hooked up with Deke. As for parking, surface lots are everywhere, both on and off the stadium property. A four-story parking garage on the northwest corner of Russell and Polaris is brand new.

The ticketing is via QR codes on the Raiders app, all seamless. The stadium is credit-card only; no cash is accepted for anything.

Once inside, finding your seats can be a challenge. We were sitting five rows from the top on the 400 level and had to wander around a bit to find our row. Rows consist of 30 seats between aisles and we were in seats 15 and 16, right smack dab in the middle, so getting in and out wasn’t exactly convenient. Each of us came and went once and spotting our empty seats in the vast sea of spectators was another effort. Deke blundered his way back, but the stranger in the seat next to his spotted Anthony and signaled, saving the day.

Food is plentiful, varied, and surprisingly high quality. The stadium website and app list all the concessions and their locations, from barbecue and chicken to sushi and vegan, with burgers, hot dogs, Mexican, pizza, pretzels, salads, and sandwiches in between. Given the crowds, time constraints, and challenge of carrying food and drink back to the seats, surprisingly few fans were eating and drinking around us. We tried a hot dog ($8) and meatball bowl ($15) from Ferraro’s, the long-running local Italian eatery; the dog was forgettable, but the meatballs were restaurant-quality and ample.

Beers are $13 (domestic draft) to $17 (premium can), but beyond the prices, even if your seats are near the aisle and have an easy in and out, you probably want to refrain from drinking; the lines into the bathrooms, both men’s and women’s, are perpetually pitiless.

As for the game, of course, there’s nothing like being at a huge event like this. The collective energy, people watching, fan frenzy, live entertainment, logistics of 65,000 people getting in, getting along, and getting out, and the football are all sights to behold. Some people prefer watching games on television and we do too, but for a once-in-a-blue-moon experience, being there live and in person is monumental.

The crowds exiting at the end of the game are massive, many walking back across the bridge to MBay to catch the tram. Deke opted out of that mess and hoofed it up to Park MGM, roughly two miles and 40 minutes, then caught the tram to center Strip, while Anthony got picked up on Russell.

All in all, it was a long day, but absolutely worth it and one we won’t soon forget.

As for acquiring tickets to the games, our blogger Dapper Dave Kamsler provided a tutorial on the resale market, which you can read here.