Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

Las Vegas After Dark
10
You will not lack for things to do at
night in Vegas. This is a town that truly
comes alive only after dark. Don’t
believe us? Just look at the difference
between the Strip during the day, when
it’s kind of dingy and nothing special,
and at night, when the lights hit and
the place glows in all its glory. Night is
when it’s happening in this 24-hour
town. In fact, most bars and clubs don’t
even get going until close to midnight.
That’s because it’s only around then
that all the restaurant workers and people
connected with the shows get off
the clock and can go out and play
themselves. It’s extraordinary. Just sit
down in a bar at 11pm; it’s empty. You
might well conclude it’s dead. Return
in 2 hours and you’ll find it completely
full and jumping.
But you also won’t lack for things to
do before 11pm. There are shows all
over town, ranging from traditional
magic shows to cutting-edge acts such
as Mystère. The showgirls remain, topless
and otherwise; Las Vegas revues
are what happened to vaudeville, by
the way, as chorus girls do their thing
in between jugglers, comics, magicians,
singers, and specialty acts of
dubious category. Even the topless
shows are tame; all that changes is that
the already scantily clad showgirls are
even more so.
Every hotel has at least one lounge,
usually offering live music. But the
days of fabulous Vegas lounge entertainment,
when the lounge acts were
sometimes of better quality than the
headliners (and headliners like Sinatra
would join the lounge acts on stage
between their own sets), are gone.
Most of what remains is homogeneous
and bland, and serves best as a brief
respite or background noise. On the
other hand, finding the most awful
lounge act in town can be a rewarding
pursuit of its own.
Vegas still does attract some dazzling
headliner entertainment in its
showrooms and arenas. Madonna’s
2001 show commanded the top prices
on her tour, Bruce Springsteen played
his first Vegas show ever in early 2000,
while Bette Midler did an HBO special
from the MGM Grand in early
1997 (and her Millennium show at
Mandalay Bay), U2 started their Pop-
Mart tour at UNLV’s stadium, the
Rolling Stones played both the MGM
Grand and the Hard Rock Hotel’s The
Joint, Pavarotti inaugurated Mandalay
Bay’s Arena, with Bob Dylan doing
the same for the House of Blues, and
Cher opened up The Venetian with a
rare live performance. It is still a badge
of honor for comedians to play Vegas,
and there is almost always someone of
marquee value playing one showroom
or the other.
Admission to shows runs the gamut,
from about $28 for An Evening at La
Cage (a female-impersonator show at
The Riviera) to $90 and more for top
headliners or Siegfried & Roy. Prices
occasionally include two drinks or, in
rare instances, dinner.
To find out who’ll be performing
during your stay and for up-to-date
listings of shows (prices change, shows
close), you can call the various hotels,
using their toll-free numbers. Or call
the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority (& 877/VISIT-LV)