Category: Entertainment

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Can-Can Show at Le Cabaret Lounge at Paris

Can-Can Show at Le Cabaret Lounge at Paris

Le Cabaret is a lounge at Paris off the casino and near the front doors. On Friday and Saturday nights, four 18-minute shows take place on the small stage and in the audience in which four dancers and a singer perform to recorded backup music.

The 9 and 11 p.m. shows are called La Femme. The dancers wear pink babydoll dresses and berets and dance to Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” Maroon 5’s “This Love,” Vanity 6’s “Nasty Girl,” and the like.

This performance is fairly tame compared to The Red Shows at 10 p.m. and midnight. The costumes are sexier — red can-can outfits — and they’re shed to a certain extent as the show progresses, with some naughty moves and suggestive poses; they also employ feather fans and chairs as they vamp to racier tunes, such as “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade” (“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?”), and the Police’s “Roxanne.” The Red Show finishes up with more contemporary hits, Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” Ginuwine’s “Pony,” and the finale, Fergie’s “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got).”

The singer gives her all in belting out the songs and ramping up the crowd, the dancers are serviceable, a bit starchy and occasionally out of sync, and the whole effect is a bit low rent, but these are free shows after all and the audiences are definitely appreciative.

There’s no minimum that we could discern and with only one cocktail waitress at the early show, several tables were full of people without any drinks. Another waitress came on duty for the 10 p.m. show and we assume the later two, so it might be tough to get away with seeing those without ordering. The drinks are even stiffer than the dancers: beers starting at $11, wine and champagne $18-$30, cocktails $23-$25, Red Bull $9, and soda and water $7.

Luckily, the lounge is completely open on two sides, so you can just stand beyond the railing and take it in without being approached by the waitresses. Plenty of people do.

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Smoke and Mirrors: Las Vegas’ First Non-Tribal Cannabis Consumption Lounge

Smoke and Mirrors: Las Vegas' First Non-Tribal Cannabis Consumption Lounge

[Editor’s Note: This review is written by Chris Kudialis, author of our recent book Weed and Loathing in Las Vegas — The Cannabis Economy Comes to Sin City. The book is a fun, colorful, and fast read that explores La Vegas’ explosion over the past several years as the Cannabis Capital of the U.S. It also spotlights the shady politics, regulatory corruption, casino clout, anointed players, and moneybags behind the new billion-dollar business. Chris is one of the leading experts on cannabis politics and practicalities in Nevada, so he was the perfect guy to review Las Vegas’ first state-approved cannabis consumption lounge.]

Smoke and Mirrors, located inside Thrive Dispensary on 2975 S. Sammy Davis Drive just one block west of the Strip, on Feb. 23 became Nevada’s first state-licensed cannabis consumption lounge to open for business.

The new “consumption club” is essentially a more upscale version of the tribal-owned Sky High Lounge (the revamped Vegas Tasting Room) on Las Vegas Paiute land less than a mile north of the Fremont Street Experience; that one opened way back in 2019, not needing state approval, since it’s on the reservation.

Smoke and Mirrors serves more expensive and more elaborate menu items in a better-ventilated venue with more nicely dressed and more courteous staff, better furniture, and less blasting of top 40 music. If Sky High is the PT’s Pub or PT’s Gold of weed lounges, Smoke and Mirrors is the Downtown Cocktail Room. No added frills or stuffiness, per se, S&M just exudes a more peaceful, comfortable, and welcoming vibe.

It has so far made a name for itself, perhaps surprisingly, with its unique variety of 12 THC-infused cocktails — not necessarily its array of more than 20 top-shelf marijuana flower strains to smoke or its four concentrate varieties to dab.

S&M owner Chris LaPorte, a Brooklyn native and the mastermind behind the now-shuttered Insert Coins booze arcade in downtown Las Vegas, named the cocktails after Vegas-linked influencers in both cannabis and music. He credits some of his weed lounge’s early success to that marketing.

“The Godfather” is Smoke & Mirrors’ most popular cocktail and honors weed visionary Tick Segerblom with a Sobreo-brand mixer, blueberry puree, lime and pineapple juice, agave nectar, and basil leaves. The lounge’s next most-popular drink, “Evolve,” salutes Vegas-born pop group Imagine Dragons by combining the elements of an apple pie and a hot toddy with Sobreo cinnamon, apple juice, vanilla syrup, a dehydrated apple, and a cinnamon stick.

The 1,300-square-foot lounge serves its drinks with flavorless THC infusions of up to 10 mg per cocktail. You’ll pay a pretty penny for the max-strength 10 mg, though: $30 (before tip). S&M also offers 5 mg and 2.5 mg THC strengths for $23 and $19, or a virgin option for $15. Flower comes in up to an eighth-ounce for as much as $75, while the four concentrates are all about a seventh of a gram and cost $20 each.

Of course, Smoke and Mirrors is not without its flaws. In my most recent visit, the staff asked me to change my table twice, the cocktails took more than 20 minutes to arrive despite being one of the first orders of the day, and the check took just as long to process; the team’s receipt-printing machine wasn’t working.

LaPorte readily admits Smoke and Mirrors’ first few weeks were anything but perfect, as his team of 20 total employees work to iron out the operational wrinkles that inevitably come with opening a first-of-its-kind business in a one-of-a-kind cannabis regulatory environment. Within a few months, though, he expects “a totally new” experience, hence the name Smoke and Mirrors.

“We want to keep people on their toes, curious and excited, but regularly surprised and never sure what’s coming here next,” he told me.

The lounge is similar to dispensaries, in that only adults 21 and older can enter. LaPorte and company can host up to 80 people at once. S&M doesn’t require a reservation, but LaPorte said they’ve been pushing reservations in the lounge’s early days to help meet demand and ensure walk-ins don’t get turned away. You can’t bring in your own weed and state law prevents Smoke and Mirrors from also serving alcohol.

The team will turn away anyone who its hostesses deem too “messed up” to enter, though LaPorte said they’ve yet to deny any customers for that reason through nearly two weeks of being open. S&M allows patrons who get too stoned on the lounge’s products can leave their cars behind for up to 24 hours in its shared parking lot with Thrive.

S&M opens every day except Monday, from 4 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday and noon to midnight on Thursday through Sunday. LaPorte says those hours will likely soon expand.

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Arte Museum

Arte Museum


The latest in a growing line of immersive digital museums, the Arte Museum, opened in early November at 63, the new shopping center between the Cosmopolitan and the Shops at Crystals. The entrance is in back on Harmon Avenue.
“The Eternal Nature Exhibition” is the most elaborate and ambitious of this type of museum (Van Gogh and Disney at Crystals, Space, Safari, and Monday Night Football at Illuminarium, etc.), with several rooms of varying themes on two floors.

In fact, the lighting, mirrors, and maze make the Arte Museum more like a combination of the immersives and the Paradox and Illusion museums.

The tour starts out in the Infinite Waterfall room, where you get your first taste of the mirrors and reflective floors, not to mention the sound effects (a fourscore roar).

You’re then directed (by arrows) into the Flower room, which has an upright piano for some reason.

From there, you traverse dark hallways to the Wave and Forest rooms, beautifully presented.

The Star room is, perhaps, the most confounding, full of hanging light globes and hemmed in by mirrors.

The Jungle/Live Sketchbook room is alive with bird calls; in addition, it’s the only interactive feature we’ve seen in the immersives. You grab a piece of paper with the outline of an animal and color it in, then place it on the scanner, and they magically and immediately appear on the screen. Fun!


Then comes the Seashore room, complete with rolling breakers and Northern Lights—don’t get your feet wet in the virtual surf — unless you’re 10 years old.

The last room is the climax, a combination of Masterpieces (Van Gogh, Gaugin, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Klimpt) and Light of Las Vegas, produced especially for this venue (there are six around the world).


The rooms can be a bit disorienting and you’re wise to be careful where you’re walking, at least until you become accustomed to the spaces. Also, like all the digital museums, the equipment has to be kept cold and advertised as a 90-minute experience, you definitely want to bring a sweater, wrap, or jacket, so you don’t freeze to death.

Note that the only bathroom is up front, so go now or forever hold your caprice. And other than the floor throughout, there aren’t any chairs or benches, definitely an inconvenience at best or hardship at worst by the end.

You walk through the Tea Bar on your way out, where you can get a black or strawberry milk tea or caramel latte ($7 each). They’re all served cold. By then, you’d kill for something hot to hold in your mitts.

You can’t buy tickets at the door; you must buy them online in advance. We were there over the first weekend and attendants came out to the waiting line with a QR code and showed the ticketless how to scan it to get to the app and pay via cell phone. We’re not sure if they still do this (but probably). Also, the tickets are expensive, if you pay retail, $50 Mon.-Thurs. and $60 Fri.-Sun. and holidays, $10 discount for seniors, kids, military, and locals. There’s another $10 off for showing up between 10 (opening) and 11:30 a.m. But there’s also a $5 service fee for booking online, even though it’s the only way. Our ticket came to $35, which is about as cheap as you can do it.

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Super Bowl in Sin City!

Super Bowl in Sin City! 3

Less than a decade ago, the word “Vegas” couldn’t be uttered in the same paragraph with the words “Super Bowl,” and this month the city hosts Super Bowl LVIII. That’s a WOW for those who’ve seen the transition. Money talks. Yep! Anyway, the city that’s always been the next best thing to being at the game will be all that and more on February 11 whether you’re in the stadium or not. Not to mention the two weeks of hoopla in the lead-up. Of course, with an estimated 330,000 coming to town, we’ll have to deal with the traffic annoyances and flex pricing that come with all the big events, but that’s part of the deal. Every day there’s related news and we’re compiling it here.

As for where’s best to watch, you can monitor this blog, which will include as much information we can get (or link to) for parties and events. And as a failsafe, you pretty much can’t go wrong setting up in any casino sports book or bar.

Now that the Big Game is behind us, we’re continuing this post until all the post-mortems have been covered.

According to a story in the Guardian, nearly two in three bets made on this year’s Super Bowl were placed “illegally,” meaning with offshore sports books. Read the details in our Super Bowl blog, which so far seems to be the never-ending story. 

Two-thirds of Super Bowl Bets Made Offshore?

According to a story in the Guardian, nearly two in three bets made on this year’s Super Bowl were placed “illegally,” meaning with offshore sports books. The Guardian cited research commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling from the gambling-analysis company Yield Sec, which determined that Americans bet $5.4 billion on the Big Game via 350.5 million wagers, of which 228.2 million for $4 billion were on offshore platforms. The Guardian wrote, “In its fight to overturn a federal ban on sports betting, legalization’s supporters argued it would ‘critically weaken’ illegal gambling platforms across the United States,” but comparing last year’s Super Bowl handle to this year’s, “the black market lost no ground” between the two. The article notes that the legal sports books take issue with these numbers. Indeed, American Gaming Association research found that 77% of bets on the 2023 Super Bowl were made legally. One thing seems clear: Many sports bettors, especially younger ones who live on their phones, don’t or can’t distinguish between “legal” and “illegal” sports books. The Guardian’s conclusion: Though the legal industry “is in this fight for the long haul,” it’s questionable whether the black market can be stopped at all. 

How Soon Can the Super Bowl Return?

With the next three Super Bowls lined up for New Orleans, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, the earliest the Big Game could return to Las Vegas is 2028.Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, hinted at a second date during the official handoff of the Super Bowl football to New Orleans yesterday, saying, “The NFL looks forward to coming back.” And with everyone from broadcasters and players to Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo agitating for a second go-round, Goodell said, “I got the message about having another Super Bowl in Las Vegas.” It’s safe to assume that Las Vegas officials will put in a bid for the 2028 game as soon as they can. 

Super Bowl Handle Sets New Record

To no one’s surprise, Super Bowl LVIII set a new record for bets made in Nevada. The $185.6 million in wagers handled by the state’s 182 sports book broke the previous record of $179.8 million, set in the 2022 Super Bowl between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams. Upwards of 330,000 visitors came to Las Vegas for the weekend, according to analysts, 30,000 or so more than the typical Super Bowl weekend, helping boost the handle. The books won $6.8 million, a 3.7% hold, falling way short of the $18.7 million record set in the 2020 game between the Chiefs and 49ers. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that five of the eight $1 million bets placed on the game nationwide were booked in Las Vegas, three at BetMGM and two at Circa. Three were bets on San Francisco to win or cover the spread and two were on Kansas City to beat the spread. The Super Bowl also made television history; it was not only the most watched telecast of the Big Game, with 123.4 million viewers, it was also the largest television audience in 55 years, second only to the Apollo 11 moon landing in August 1969 seen by 125 million to 150 million around the world.

Super Bowl Line

The closing line is the San Francisco 49ers -2 over the Kansas City Chiefs. The total is 47.

Last-Second Betting Deal

Westgate is dealing -105 today on the side only (not on the total). This promo was unannounced and just popped up today. And you can bet it in-person or on the Westgate app. Get some!

National Anthem Prop

The National Anthem proposition bet has become a Super Bowl fixture. This year’s line on the length of time it will take Reba McEntire to sing the Anthem is 1:30.5. It’s a low mark considering that last year’s time was 2:05 and the previous 16 years have gone over that time. In fact, in the 34 years that the prop has been tracked, the performance has gone under 1:30.5 only three times (Aaron Neville, Jewel, and Billy Joel). You can’t bet it in Las Vegas or the sports books in any other state; it’s put up in offshore books only. But it’s fun to track to get the game started.

Numbers Solid

The line for the game has been rock solid, with the 49ers -2 favorites and the total 47.5 almost everywhere. Circa has -1.5, but overall the line has seen the least movement of any we recall in recent years. With a day to go and late money coming in, however, there should eventually be some disparity for shoppers to grab.

6,000 Media Accredited by NFL for Super Bowl

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, 6,000-plus media representatives from 26 countries have been accredited to cover the Super Bowl 58 and related events here. They include sports writers, editors, and columnists, broadcasters, photographers, cameramen, influencers, and others. Luxor is the main hotel for media, Excalibur is handling the overflow, and “radio row” is at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Media interviewed for the story say they appreciate how “centralized the media access, practice fields, and stadium are compared to previous host cities.” Other than the 49ers’ practice field at UNLV and the Chiefs’ in Henderson, everything is walkable. The R-J notes that for the Summer 2024 Olympics in Paris, the IOC has capped accredited media at 6,000 and representatives in Las Vegas who’ve covered the Olympics are, reportedly, amazed that roughly the same number is covering a single game. And for better or worse, this all means a ginormous worldwide commercial for our humble little town.

Locals Paying the Price — Again

Though preparations for the Super Bowl have been going on “only” a month or so compared to the six-to-nine months for the Las Vegas Grand Prix and they’re mostly focused on the Strip and around Allegiant Stadium, local residents are again feeling the pinch from all the commotion. Newsweek has a story on Friday, “Las Vegas’ Super Bowl Headache.” It pegs the number of visitors at 450,000 and discusses the new traffic disruptions for the load-in that started January 3 and is culminating this week, along with the load-out that will last until next weekend. It also focuses on the homeless people who live in the storm drains and tunnels and are being forced to move, while the city isn’t providing any extra services. In fact, police are sweeping the encampments for security purposes, but according to a local advocate, “They come into these areas with dump trucks and backhoes. They literally dump their sleeping bags, tents, IDs, medications, and clothing into trucks and head for the landfill.” Finally, the economic impact, estimated at $600 million, will, according to Newsweek, barely filter down to Las Vegans; instead, as usual, the casino corporations post record profits and everyone else suffers. You can read the story here.

Crowd Number Rises to Half-Million

From the original estimate of 300,000 Super Bowl fans flooding Las Vegas this weekend, the number rose a couple of weeks ago to 400,000 and a CBS News story Friday morning upped the ante again to a solid half-million visitors. Most are flying in from all over, with 60 extra flights added by airlines, while 1,100 private aircraft have reservations to land and park at Reid, plus Henderson and North Las Vegas airports. That’s 100% capacity for the first time in history and the estimates we’ve seen are 400,000 people passing through Reid. And because no story about flying in can end without a mention of Taylor Swift, here it is. 

Where Should You Watch the Game?

If you have a ticket, go to Allegiant Stadium and ask an usher to show you to your seat (careful of those steep stairs). Of course, most won’t have that option and will be looking for a good place to go to watch. As mentioned in the intro to this blog, you can’t go wrong just going to a sports book or any bar, especially the many non-casino pubs and taverns around town. But there will also be events and tailgates, many charging a fee, that you can attend. Following are several lists we’ve found that were compiled by other media entities with lots of options.

https://vegasmagazine.com/super-bowl-lviii-events

https://vegasmagazine.com/super-bowl-lviii-2024-events-game-day-allegiant-stadium-guide?

utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=READ%20MORE&utm_campaign=VEGA_Marketing_E-Newsletter_02052024

https://www.rotowire.com/article/beyond-the-big-game-the-best-super-bowl-week-events-in-las-vegas-79226

https://vegas.eater.com/2024/1/31/24055015/las-vegas-super-bowl-2024-tailgates-watch-parties-events?ueid=3ddffb0200b106e6cd61f79f953a6893

https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/las-vegas/super-bowl-guide-las-vegas

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2024/feb/04/not-going-to-the-game-a-weeks-worth-of-activities/

https://vegas.eater.com/2024/1/31/24055015/las-vegas-super-bowl-2024-tailgates-watch-parties-events?ueid=3ddffb0200b106e6cd61f79f953a6893

Kopper Keg Chili Cookoff

Here’s a good one you won’t find in these lists. The Kopper Keg bar on Rainbow is running a chili cookoff on game day. Patrons of the bar bring in their homemade concoctions, there’s a judging with prizes awarded, then everyone eats the chili while watching the game. Other prizes will be handed out. Shelly makes the best Bloody Marys. We’ll be stopping in.

$23.1 Billion To Bet on the Super Bowl?

The $1.3 billion estimated to be bet on the Super Bowl via legal channels is positively stunted compared to the total projection to be bet via all channels. That number, according to the annual survey by the American Gaming Association, is $23.1 billion. It comprises the bets on legal apps and at sports books, with illegal bookmakers and offshore betting sites, in pools and squares contests, and casually with family and friends. (Slightly more than 2,200 adults were surveyed.) By comparison, Iceland’s entire domestic economy is a couple of billion more than the projected handled at $25.6 billion and last year’s survey estimated a total handle of $16 billion (up 44.4%). The survey also indicates that a record 67.8 million American adults (26% of the adult population) are expected to bet on the Big Game, a 35% increase over 2023. Survey respondents were split on the bets, with 47% planning to wager on the Chiefs and 44% on the San Francisco 49ers.

Reduced Juice at South Point 

As it does every year, South Point is dealing -105 for the Super Bowl, meaning you have to bet only $105 to win $100, as opposed to the standard $110/$100. It’s offered for sides and totals only, currently 49ers -2 and 47.5. There’s also a 10¢ straddle on the money line (20¢ at most other books), currently 49ers -125/Chiefs +115. The betting deal is also available in South Point-affiliated books at Rampart, along with CasaBlanca and Virgin River in Mesquite. Bets must be placed in person.

The Big Question

What’s the Super Bowl BQ? Who will win? How much will be bet? Who’ll be MVP? How will it impact Las Vegas in the coming months? Nope. None of the above.

The Big Question is whether Taylor Swift will make it back from Japan in time to appear at the game. Oh, and related to that, will her private plane be able to land and park at Reid International, given that the airport will reportedly be choked with private planes and all the landing and parking reservations are taken.

Swift’s ERAS tour is in Tokyo for four shows, but no less an authority than the Japanese Embassy has released the following statement. “Despite the 12-hour flight and 17-hour time difference, the Embassy can confidently say that if she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins.” Phew! One BQ answered.

As for landing and parking, no less an authority than Fox Business writes, “Swift and her team probably made [reservations] when Taylor and Travis [Kelce, the Kansas Chiefs’ tight end] first started dating, with a good chance the Chiefs were going to the Super Bowl. And even if Swift did have to settle for a last-minute plan, people out there would pull strings for the immensely popular singer-songwriter.”

We can all rest easy now. 

Super Bowl Visitors: The Number Keeps Climbing

Up until today, estimates for the number of people deluging Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend have been between 300,000 and 350,000. But in this morning’s edition of USA Today, that number seems to have risen to 450,000 or as the story puts it: “nearly half a million Super Bowl fans.” If it comes even close, it will be the most out of towners here for a single event in our memory, which stretches back nearly 45 years. The USA Today story concerns getting to, from, and around Las Vegas if you’re among the swarming multitudes attending the game itself or the watch parties up and down the Strip and downtown. It’s all common sense, with the advice boiling down to, “Plan ahead, keep your cool, and stay focused to be the winning quarterback of your team’s travel game.”

Super Bowl Room Rates and Ticket Prices through the Roof

Are you sitting down? Here some recent room rates and ticket prices for Super Bowl weekend, as researched by L.A.’s FOX 11.

Most hotels close to Allegiant Stadium are sold out, but for a low low $1,225 per night, you can stay at Staybridge Suites, directly across Russell Road (normally $145). That’s something of a bargain compared to rooms available at Aria ($1,300) and Fontainebleau ($1,447). Farther away, you can bunk at M Resort ($1,066) or Green Valley Ranch ($1,169) and the Best Western Plus in North Las is a mere $332 (normally $135). Head out to Pahrump or Primm to pay the usual $75-$99.

To see the Super Bowl live, the average ticket price on TickPick was just shy of $10,000 on Monday, with the lowest price $8,188. On StubHub, the average price was $9,300 on Monday. Last year, you could see the game in Phoenix for an average $5,800 and the previous record of $7,046 was set in 2021 in Tampa during COVID protocols when the stadium was at 33% capacity.

Super Bowl Betting: $1.3 Billion

LegalSportsReport is estimating that betting on the Super Bowl will reach just under $1.3 billion, breaking the single-game record for a sporting event in the U.S. Last year’s $1.08 billion will, if LSR’s prediction comes even close, easily be broken. Upwards of 175 million people of betting age will be able to make legal wagers on this year’s game in 39 different U.S. jurisdictions. Nevada is expected to boast the highest handle, $169 million, though it probably won’t break its own record of $179.8 million (bet on the 2022 Super Bowl when the L.A. Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20), with New York following at $139 million and New Jersey $115 million. Interestingly, Florida, booking Super Bowl bets for the first time, comes in at fourth place with $90.4 million. 

Hotel Rooms: Highest Ever for Super Bowl

According to a survey by STR, which provides analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry, visitors coming to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl will pay the highest room rates in the history of the Big Game. STR pegs the average daily room rate at $573 (each for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) compared to the $559 in Miami in 2020, just before the pandemic. STR also projects that the Strip casinos will earn an additional $504 in revenue per available room, surpassing F1’s $390 by a full 25.5%. All in all, the Super Bowl is expected to generate $600 million in revenue for Las Vegas. 

Super Bowl Teams Banned from Gambling

A recent QoD about where the teams playing in the Super Bowl here next month will stay noted that both hotels are way out at Lake Las Vegas. One commenter wrote, “Lake Las Vegas is 23.8 miles away. There have to be hotels closer to the stadium that meet the criteria.” Well, the NFL has laid out those criteria, which are all about gambling and the reason the teams are staying in non-casino hotels 23-plus miles from the city. “While in Las Vegas, players participating in the Super Bowl are prohibited from engaging in any form of gambling, including casino games and betting on any sport.” Other NFL players in town for the game can gamble, but not make sports bets, or even be in a sports book, until after the Super Bowl. Another QoD commenter wrote, accurately we believe, “Secluding the teams away from the the madness that will overtake Vegas enables the NFL to control the narrative and actions of the players. Staying closer increases the chances for problems to arise.”

Free FSE Super Bowl Party with the Starship

Downtown’s “Excessive Celebration Bowl Bash” will take place over four days leading up to the Super Bowl, starting on the Thursday prior and running right up to game time. The four-day party will include 25 live performances on the three Fremont Street Experience stages. Two acts got our attention: the Offspring, the long-time southern California hardcore punk band, and the Starship, featuring the original lead singer Mickey Thomas. The Starship will play Thursday and the Offspring Saturday, both at 8 p.m. Country singer-songwriter Chris Lane will perform Friday, also at 8 p.m. All the events over the long weekend are free.

Downtown Events Center Watch Party

As it does every year, the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center will host a watch party for the Super Bowl. It starts at 11 a.m. and is free, but you have to be 21 to attend. The game will be shown on two 22-foot LED screens with a half-dozen food and drink vendors and private spaces available for rent.

Reba Sings National Anthem

Country music icon Reba McEntire will sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl next month. The 68-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer and three-time Grammy winner joins rapper-singer-actor Post Malone and R&B-soul singer Andra Day in performing in the pre-game ceremony. Usher, of course, will headline the half-time show.

Wanna Attend the Super Bowl?

The NFL playoffs are here and we’ll know who’s playing in the Super Bowl in a few weeks. As of this moment, the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens are the favorites to face each other in Vegas on February 11. Both are number-one seeds and have byes in the wild-card round this weekend. Whichever the two teams in the Big Game are will be allotted roughly 11,000 seats each. The other 29 teams get 750 seats apiece, just under 22,000 total, and as the host team, the Las Vegas Raiders get 3,000 seats. That leaves around 15,000 seats for everyone else, including the general public. Currently, seats for sale on Ticketmaster, the NFL ticketing partner, are currently ranging from $10,250 to $36,750, depending on where in the stadium they are. Those prices should come down the closer the game gets; tickets for last year’s Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, settled between $5,500 and $6,000 at game time, but that was in a stadium with 11,000 more seats than Allegiant. Also, walking distance from the Las Vegas Strip is a much bigger draw than the boonies of the Valley of the Sun. So prices aren’t expected to drop too much from current levels.

Las Vegas Gears up for Super Bowl

CBS, this year’s Super Bowl broadcaster, will launch a week-long “residency” in front of Bellagio in anticipation of the Big Game next month. The multiplatform coverage will include sports, news, and entertainment originating from four outdoor sets on the sidewalk overlooking the Bellagio fountains shared by the likes of the pregame show “The NFL Today,” “CBS Mornings,” “Super Bowl Live,” “The Talk,” “CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell,” even “The Drew Barrymore Show,” and more. If you’d like to see the staging set-up, there’s a rendering here. Also announced: “Homecoming Series and Taco Bell Innovation Summit,” a weekend-long party will take place on the vacant lot across from the Wynn (and owned by the Wynn) where the Frontier used to be. On four nights starting at 9 p.m. (Feb. 8-11), a live performer or DJ will provide entertainment for 2,500 to 4,000 guests in a 41,000-square-foot main tent and a 12,000-square-foot Taco Bell sponsor tent. Details on how to attend forthcoming.

Super Bowl Construction on the Strip Begins

Lane disruptions at the intersection of the Strip and Flamingo will start tomorrow in preparation for the Super Bowl on February 11. CBS, which will air this year’s Big Game, will require two southbound lanes for the load-in of construction materials and broadcast equipment; 100 hours of Super Bowl weekend programming will emanate from atop the Bellagio fountains on four stages. The sidewalk will also be closed, though at some point, one of the traffic lanes will reopen to pedestrians. Road closures around the stadium begin next Monday, but go into full gear toward the end of the month, with full roads closed to traffic through February 15.

Super Bowl Tailgate

Guy Fieri is sponsoring a major tailgate promotion prior to this season’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Touted as “part food festival, part music festival,” the celebrity chef and TV personality is putting on Guy’s Flavortown Tailgate next to Caesars Forum and the High Roller observation wheel at the LINQ Promenade from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm on Super Bowl Sunday. The party will provide food and drink (including alcohol) from more than two dozen pop-up stations, along with performances by entertainment artists. Admission is free, but you have to secure a ticket to get in. [LINK https://guysflavortowntailgate.com/freeticket/] Tickets for VIP tables are also available for a mere $7,500.

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Shin Lim Limitless

Shim Lim Limitless 1

Shin Lim is a 32-year-old Canadian-American magician. At age 24, he won the prestigious Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques award for close-up card magic. He’s also the only contestant ever to win the “America’s Got Talent” competition twice, the first for Season 13 and the second for AGT’s first “The Champions” tournament, beating out 50 winners and notable acts from a number of previous seasons.

So we’re not exaggerating when we say that Shin Lim might be the best card magician of all time. His show at the Mirage demonstrates his skills so well that you can hardly believe that what you’re seeing isn’t actual magic.

But it’s not just Lim’s show. He shares the stage with a Scottish magician-comic, Colin Cloud, a fast-talking young Scot with a lilting brogue. He opens the show and immediately launches into his interactive shtick. His first trick with audience members’ cell phones alerts you to the fact that Cloud might be to mentalism what Lim is to sleight of hand.

When Lim does his first card trick, you know what the “AGT” hullaballoo was all about. He rips a card in two and puts it back together, right before your lyin’ eyes.

Three big screens broadcast Lim’s handiwork, a giant one toward the back of the stage and two smaller ones, though plenty big, on either side. We were sitting four rows up from the stage in the far-right corner, directly under the screen, and we watched in awe as Lim’s delicate fingers manipulated the playing cards, making them appear and disappear as if he had his own personal vacuum cleaner into oblivion.

Early in the show, Lim provides some backstory; he trained to be a concert pianist until he was diagnosed with a bad case of carpal tunnel at age 20, then determined to pursue his magic career. He plays “Fur Elise” on an onstage grand piano for a bit. He talks very little, allowing the magic and the ever-dramatic soundtrack to speak for themselves. The backs of cards change suits. A joker turns into a $100 bill. He turns all the cards in a deck into a single card of an audience-member’s choice, then thousands of that card drop from the ceiling. Smoking cards emerge from his mouth. Cards magically change places in a plastic bag. And those are just the ordinary tricks!

Meanwhile, Colin Cloud is reading people’s minds, complete with props: a word guessing game from a book about Sherlock Holmes, his idol; the celebrity-photo installment (Elvis, of course); an elaborate act with four audience members and a receipt; random numbers that when turned upside down spell out—well, we don’t want to spoil it. The combination of the two performers keeps the show lively and provides some welcome variety.

For these performances, you do want to sit close to the stage; the seats toward the back of the 1,100-seat Mirage Theater will present a challenge, even with the big screens. But the prices of tickets are certainly reasonable; for our seats in the far corner, we paid $52.29, plus a $12.82 service fee and $9.95 for order processing, a total of $81.06. Get as close to the screens as you can.

Considering the excellence and differences of the performances, the soaring production values, and this day and age of through-the-roof ticket prices, Shin Lim’s Limitless can, in our opinion, be considered a bargain.

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Sphere: Postcard from Earth

Sphere: Postcard from Earth 3

Since the first digital displays started illuminating the outside dome on July 4 and especially after it opened on September 29 for the first U2 concert and October 5 for the premiere of the movie Postcard from Earth, Sphere has garnered international acclaim as the future of entertainment. We checked out the “Sphere Experience,” as the whole movie-going adventure is called, as soon as we could.

We attended the 7 p.m. show and parked in the Howard Hughes garage (see below for a link to the parking details). It’s a 10-minute walk to the arena, but the exosphere displays build the excitement every step of the way.

Sphere: Postcard from Earth

The world’s largest exterior screen, it comprises 580,000 square feet of fully programmable LED bulbs, 1.2 million of them, each about the size of a hockey puck and holding 48 diodes that can accommodate 256 million colors. (This screen has more than four times the surface area of the Fremont Street Experience.) The closer you get, the more the display dissolves as the individual bulbs gain definition; it’s amazing each combines with the rest to produce such high resolution.

Since the 7 p.m. show was the first of the day (there are also 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. shows on some days), the doors were open before the start time on the ticket; we don’t know exactly when. Inside, the eight-story Atrium offers a number of attractions and concessions. Overhead is a massive mobile of metallic hoops. Five humanoid robots, dubbed Aura, hold court and gather large crowds; each focuses on an aspect of human development (connection, innovation, creativity, longevity, and productivity).

The lobby also boasts two 360-degree “avatar scanners”; these scan your entire body, then email you a video of your avatar in a virtual world in 3D (very long lines by the time we got there). Plaques scattered around the walls display some of the equations used by engineers in Sphere’s construction.

The most attention-grabbing display was a 50-foot-tall hanging holographic structure that changed continually into bright and unusual images.

You get an hour (or more) in the Atrium before the movie starts, exactly an hour after the ticket time. If you want to eat or drink, the concessions consist of several bars, three cuisines, and snack bar. Everything, as you can easily imagine, is pricey. The Atrium Kitchen offers hot dogs for $8, waffle fries for $7, and burgers, bulgogi, poke rice bowl, chicken tenders, and andouille sausage $14-$20. The Cantina serves chicharrones with lobster guac tacos, and steak torta $16-$19. The Taphouse’s tri tip, fish and chips, and tenders and fries are $17-$20. Peanuts, popcorn, and snacks are $6-$10, while beer is $18-$19, cocktails $15-$16), margaritas $20, Red Bull $8, and water and soda $7.

When the time comes, you head up the dizzying escalators, find your seat (and find another link for the seating details below), and get ready to watch the most immense, immersive, and impressive movie the world has ever seen.

Postcard from Earth starts with a spaceship taking off from Earth, one male and one female sleeping deeply. We won’t give away the plot, but the “postcard from Earth” is a way for them to remember where they come from. We also won’t give away the first effects, other to say that they are, in a word, astounding. The ultra-high 16K resolution (meaning 16,000 vertical and horizontal LED lights) on a curving 270-degree 160,000-square-foot, screen, almost four acres and 20 times larger than the largest IMAX screen, largest in the world) is an experience you won’t soon forget.

The “postcard” returns to Earth with helicopter-eye views of panoramic land and seascapes—mountains, forests, plains, the Grand Canyon, underwater—as the movie delves into the history of the planet and starts to develop the theme of “life inventing itself.”

Every frame of footage was shot via a lens that combined 11 individual cameras to create a one-foot-diameter wide-angle fish eye for the massive super-clear views at 170 million pixels of resolution. In addition, thanks to the haptic effects (vibrating seats and 167,000 speaker drivers, amplifiers and processing channels for the audio), you can actually feel the footsteps 100-foot-tall elephants and the stampede of a herd of humongous horses.

After the idyllic naturescapes, the scenery turns decidedly human, culminating with cars, planes, and pedestrians accelerating to hyperspeeds to illustrate the pollution and destruction of Earth, “mankind ignoring every warning.”

From there it’s ruins, cemeteries, floods, deserts, and storms, with more special effects enhancing the action on the screen, then it’s back into space to rejoin the intergalactic travelers, waking up, heading out onto their new planet, doing the Garden of Eden, reinventing life. The inevitable conclusion is, to us anyway, a bit melodramatic, but it’s certainly life-affirming and green! The movie is 50 minutes long, though it’s so riveting, it feels like 15.

The future of entertainment? Postcard from Earth is certainly the biggest and highest-resolution movie anyone’s ever seen. You’ll also see in our seating post, however, that the prices are nothing if not prohibitive. That didn’t stop thousands from attending the movie with us or the horde who lined up in the hallway all the way back to the Venetian we all passed by as we were herded out.  

One detail we’ve seen is especially intriguing: live action. The Sphere’s creative team has confirmed that they’ve placed cameras in Antarctica, with plans to install another on the International Space Station. A real-time surround-view live hookup to a working space station 250 miles above the Earth? If that movie shows up at Sphere, we’ll be there to experience it—prohibitive prices and all.

Here’s your link for the parking details. And this one’s for the seats and prices.

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Seating at Sphere

Seating at Sphere 3

We went to Sphere and saw the movie Postcard from Earth a couple of weeks ago and here are our observations and a recommendation about choosing seats.

You can an escalator from the lobby up a long way to the 200-level seats, then another up to the 3090- and 400-level seats.

We read about an overhang problem, in which the three balconies obstruct views of the screen overhead, but we didn’t really see one over the seats available for the movie. In the corners of the 100-level seats, there’s a bit of an overhang, but seats for the movies are only on the second (200), third (300), and fourth (400) levels. The 100 seats are for the concerts, on the floor and closest to the stage.

The bigger issue for us was with the 200-level seats. They seemed a bit low in relationship to how much of the dome the screen covers, two-thirds of it in total. In other words, it’s like any movie you see in a theater: The closer you are to the screen, the more you have to look up at it. And this particular screen stretches over four acres of dome surface! The screen towering over the 200 seats might not be an issue, but to us, it seemed like it could be.

Also, those seats cost $249. Each. True, the entire “Sphere Experience” is two hours, but the movie, definitely the main attraction, is only 50 minutes.

We paid $68 for our 300-level seats, the lowest price available at the time, but a check for this post showed that prices have gone up considerably since early November. Our 300-level seats now cost $99, while the lowest price for a seat is $89 in the 400-level nosebleed section. We did find $68 seats still available, but it looks to us like those are outside of the 10,000-seat section where you get the haptic effects (vibrating seats, wafting scents, and breezes) in conjunction with the action on the screen. 

Needless to say, we weren’t prepared to pay $500 for two to see a movie, spectacular though it may be (and it is; it’s the most unbelievable movie experience we’ve ever had), and we sincerely hope you’re not either. So we say buy the least expensive seats you can get; you’ll see the screen just fine from the 400 level.

We do need to add one other note of caution. Getting to the upper-level seats in this arena requires a fairly steep climb. The landing is between the 300- and 400-level seats; you climb down to the 300 seats (and up on the way out) and up to the 400 seats (and down on the way out).

Either way, if you have trouble on stairs, this will be a challenge for you. We watched unsteady moviegoers gripping the handrails for dear life. But breaks in the rails allow passage between seating sections and those were scary for a number of spectators. More than one asked for help from people seated near them, which proved a bit hazardous for both parties. 

We do recommend the movie and you can see our review here (as well as our recommendations for parking), but it presents a couple of tests: financial and physical.

Click here for the review of the Sphere Experience. And here for the parking details.

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Parking at Sphere

Parking at Sphere

Sphere is located at the intersection of Sands Avenue and S. Koval Lane across Koval from the Venetian Expo. With the 580,000-square-foot screen, largest in the world, lighting up the exterior of the dome, trust us when we say, you can’t miss it.

There is some street parking on Manhattan Street (east) and Westchester Drive (south) of the arena, but you’d have to get there very early and be very patient to bag a spot. At six p.m. for the 7 p.m. ticket, we saw a line of cars double parked on Manhattan Street, hoping for someone to pull out. Actually, someone did and there was a mad dash from the lanes in both directions; we say you want to stay as far away from that chaos as possible. 

Six on-site self-parking lots and one valet lot are all also east and south of the arena. In total, there are 307 parking spaces for an arena with a capacity of 20,000. Absurd. Worse, only two are currently available; the rest are still occupied by F1 grandstands and on the ticketing site, there’s no indication that they’ll be opening up anytime soon. 

Lot S charges $75 for the movie. Ridiculous. You can also valet park in the adjacent lot $125 (plus tip, preposterous).

There are also four garages across Manhattan Street at the Howard Hughes Center with 2,000 spaces. Though they face Manhattan Street, you access them from a single entrance on Howard Hughes Parkway (one long block east). That’s where we dropped off our trusty steed. There’s a pretty good view of the exosphere from the top of Lot 1. And from there, it’s about a 10-minute walk to the building.

We bought our parking ticket in advance on Ticketmaster — and if you don’t have that app on your phone, you should; these days, many if not most tickets are QR codes on your phone. So we don’t know how it works if you don’t have the code, though we assume an attendant can assist. For us, we showed the code and flowed right in. Though the initial price you see on Ticketmaster is $40, the final price is $20 (at least at the time of this writing). Not bad for an easy into and out of a highly popular attraction. 

Here’s the link to the Ticketmaster parking page.

We imagine that prices rise for self-parking at the Wynn and Venetian on Sphere concert nights, but so far at least, neither has changed the pricing structure for the movie. The Wynn is $20 for the day, but it’s a fairly long walk through that large property and across Sands Avenue to Sphere. The Venetian charges $15 for four hours and a walkway from the hotel takes you right to one the west entrance to Sphere. 

If you’re walking from elsewhere on the Strip, four of the five entrances to the arena are along Sands Avenue; the fifth, the Plaza entrance, is east of the building on Manhattan Street opposite Lot A. That’s the one you enter when you park in the Howard Hughes lots. 

Click here for the review of the Sphere Experience. And here for the seats and prices.

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Rooms for NYE

Rooms for NYE

This year’s rate check was conducted on Nov. 29 and turned up 90 casinos that have rooms available for New Year’s Eve, compared to 79 last year. The number of nights is the minimum required stay; the dollar amount is the total cost; resort fees aren’t included. 

1 night: Buffalo Bill’s $110, Longhorn $188, Arizona Charlie’s Boulder $200, South Point $215, Silverton $223, Suncoast $224, Westin Lake Las Vegas $227, Arizona Charlie’s Decatur $229, Silver Sevens $239, Aliante $242, Palace Station $243, Gold Coast $248, Sunset Station $249, Sam’s Town $249, Skyline $255, Serene $256, Boulder Station $269, El Cortez $269, Gold Spike $269, Santa Fe Station $279, Binion’s $279, Hilton Lake Las Vegas $290, Downtown Grand $293, Orleans $298, Cannery $299, the D $299, Lexi $300, Rio $319, Fremont $320, Tuscany $320, OYO $323, Main Street Station $325, Four Queens $329, California $330, English $339, Circus Circus $368, Tropicana $379, Strat $399, Ellis Island $415, JW Marriott $441, Circa $459, Westin Las Vegas $484, Westgate $420, Sahara $445, Green Valley Ranch $499, Red Rock $499, Planet Hollywood $799, Four Seasons $970, Caesars Palace $1,011.

2 nights: Plaza $303, Railroad Pass $342, Palms Place $588, Casino Royale $640, Excalibur $665, TI $679, Luxor $707, Golden Nugget $708, Harrah’s $718, Horseshoe $718, LINQ $718, Flamingo $758, NY-NY $798, Mandalay Bay $807, Park MGM $808, Platinum $858, Palms $868, Mirage $868, MGM Grand $893, Cosmopolitan $898, Delano $958, Cromwell $1,058, Trump $1,086, Vdara $1,098, Resorts World $1,132, M Resort $1,198, Aria $1,238, Durango $1,298, Bellagio $1,348, Nobu $1,548, Palazzo $1,598.25, Venetian $1,598.25, Waldorf $1,651.30.

3 nights: Hotel Jefe $450, Virgin $874, MGM Signature $1,052, Elara $1,270, NoMad $1,627, Encore $1,697, Wynn $1,697, Paris $1,797.

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Show Holiday Dark Days

Show Holiday Dark Days

Many shows are on hiatus this month. Following is a list of dark days (no performances) for the major productions. All dates are in December and most shows are dark Dec. 31.

Alexis Park: Flashback 21, 30; King of Diamonds 21, 24, 27-29; Wonderland All except 2, 23, 25

Bellagio: O 25

Excalibur: Australian Bee Gees Show 22, 23, 29, 30; Spice Wannabe 19, 26; Thunder from Down Under 24, 25

Flamingo: Piff the Magic Dragon 19, 20; RuPaul’s Drag Race Live 25; X Burlesque 24

Four Queens: Mike Hammer Comedy Magic Show 16-25

Harrah’s: Donny Osmond All of Dec;  Hyprov 12-25; Menopause the Musical 16- 25 & 31; X Country 31

LINQ: “Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club” 21

Luxor: America’s Got Talent Live 1-19, 25; Carrot Top 18-25

Mandalay Bay: Michael Jackson ONE 11

MGM: “Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club” 24, 25; David Copperfield 7-16; Jabbawockeez 5, 9, 12; KA 13; Tape Face 7-15, 18-21

Miracle Mile Shops: The Mentalist Live 2, 3, 5, 9, 26

Mirage: Beatles Love 19, Jan. 1-10; “Center Stage Comedy” 22-23, 29-30; Shin Lim 5-20, 27

NY-NY: Mad Apple 19; Terry Fator 3, 8, 12-18, 25

Orleans: Adam London Laughternoon 24; Marriage Can Be Murder 11, 24; Late Night Magic 11, 25

Planet Hollywood: Criss Angel MINDFREAK Live 6-14, 24

Rio: Penn & Teller 4-22; WOW 17-18

Sahara: Magic Mike Live 24, Jan 1-7

The STRAT: Banachek’s Mind Games 3-4, 17-18, 25; Rouge 19

Tropicana: “Laugh Factory” 25; MJ Live 25; Murray the Magician 25; Rich Little 25

Tuscany: Haunted Vegas Ghost Hunt 9, 20; Jew Man Group 30; Rat Pack is Back 30; Vegas Mob Tour 10, 24, 25

Westgate: Comedy Cabaret 1-30; Soul of Motown 7-16, 24; The Magic of Jen Kramer 1-16, 24-30.