Sunday, October 05, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GRAND SLAM EVENT: Stars come out in force for concert

Agassi show hopes to raise $6 million to help children

Andre Agassi holds court on Saturday afternoon, talking about the importance of the Grand Slam for Children Concert Benefit. Agassi told the media that he was overwhelmed by the caliber of celebrities who sign up for the concert. Singer Sarah McLachlan smiles during a Saturday news conference at the MGM Grand Arena, along with comedian Robin Williams. Elton John rehearses Saturday at the MGM Grand Arena, where he and others would later perform a benefit concert.

Billy Joel was practicing "New York State of Mind" on stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. He practiced "My Life." And, no surprise for Vegas, he mumbled through "Viva Las Vegas" as if he were Elvis, the later years.

"Thank you very much," Joel said. "Now -- do I get the drugs?"

A battalion of table servers in bow ties carefully prepared the room's 203 tables by placing wine glasses next to blue Tiffany boxes and gold napkins.

Servers seemed as if they weren't paying attention, as if this were just any other Saturday night in Vegas.

But it wasn't.

"When someone comes into (Vegas hotels), no one who works here goes up and ask for autographs. ... We get used to it," one banquet server who requested anonymity said, as he kept his eyes on his table work. But "this pretty much blows me away."

This was Joel, Elton John, Sheryl Crow and other stars, going through dress rehearsal for Saturday's latest Andre Agassi soiree. The Las Vegan and tennis champion oversees this event each year in hopes of raising another $6 million or so through the Grand Slam for Children Concert Benefit.

The day's preconcert events -- rehearsals, news conferences and auctions -- seemed to move smooth. And it yielded backstage news items, as usual.

Singer Sarah McLachlan told the Review-Journal that she plans never to resurrect her Lilith Fair tour. In the late 1990s, her all-women concert festival was the first -- and so far, the only -- galvanizing force that put adult, female singers on the radio en masse, and in front of stadium-size crowds on a regular basis.

"The day Lilith Fair ended, the door slammed shut" on women, McLachlan acknowledged. Then, angry men took over rock music, while pop was taken over by Britney Spears and 'N Sync, she said.

Even so -- no more Lilith.

"You know, I say 'no' flippantly, but it was a lot of work. And truthfully, I don't have the energy anymore," McLachlan said. "It had its time."

McLachlan's scheduled performance on Saturday was to be her first in public in three years, since taking a break in Canada with her husband and daughter, who is now 18 months old. The singer has also mourned the death of her mother in that time, she said.

During Saturday's news conference, the concert's musical director, David Foster, announced that the Agassi show would also mark the first time in 13 years that the two original songwriters of Tears For Fears would perform together.

At the news conference, the usual suspects were there, from Access Hollywood to US Weekly and the Tennis Channel.

Someone asked Joel what happened to his right hand. He was wearing a cast. He said he had broken it for the third time, this time by falling down stairs while his home was under construction.

Joel held up a bony lab model of a hand, to point out what was broken in his piano-playing hand. Comedic actor Robin Williams joked, "It's also an MP3 player."

Agassi told the media that he was overwhelmed by the caliber of celebrities who sign up for the concert. But the benefit is necessary, Agassi said.

Agassi made a social statement about the nature of Las Vegas' tourist-driven economy right there in the MGM by talking about maids who handle up to 15 rooms per shift in a struggle to raise their families.

"Unfortunately, we've been the fastest-growing city for 30 years," which has given rise to "the poverty and the desperation out there," Agassi said. "And the only way to get ahead of that curve is to educate the children."

Agassi said he and corporate donors pay all of his charity's administration costs. Because of that full commitment, John said he signs up for the benefit every year.

"You get updates, unlike other charities," John said. "You know the money goes where it's supposed to be going."