Pure nightclub will up the ante with a New Year's countdown by Britney Spears along with a prime vantage point to view fireworks. Photos by Jane Kalinowsky/Review-Journal Kid Rock, shown at Jet nightclub last New Year's Eve, is set to take over the club's DJ console again this year at The Mirage. One of Tao's partners says The Venetian club's $250 entry fee on New Year's Eve includes 2 1/2 hours worth of free drinks.

Who do you hope to rub elbows with on New Year's Eve? The Beach Boys, Lionel Richie and Hootie & the Blowfish? Or Britney, Pam and Kid Rock?

The lines are drawn as the balance of power for the year's biggest party shifts further from ticketed concerts (represented by the first group) and more toward the nightclubs, where the latter three are billed as celebrity guest hosts.

To decide whether the balance has tipped, the weigh-in could be at the Hard Rock Hotel. The Joint concert hall hosts Rock Star: Supernova, the reality-TV band featuring Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. But the Body English club offers an arguably brighter stellar explosion with Camp Freddy, the Los Angeles pickup band that promises Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park.

If the Strip's outdoor fireworks display started the retreat from formal entertainment in 2000-01, nightclubs catering to the YouTube generation have sealed the deal.

"People come to Vegas for that release experience, that energetic experience," says Jason Strauss, co-owner of Tao at The Venetian. "I think nightclubs are the perfect umbrella to deliver on that."

Tao boasts Pamela Anderson as its celebrity center of attention, one-third of a New Year's "tabloid triangle" that includes not only her ex-husband Lee, but more recent ex Kid Rock doing a DJ set inside Jet nightclub at The Mirage.

Each star's level of participation is as unconfirmed as their appearance fee; representatives of Pure at Caesars Palace have denied online reports of Britney Spears' getting $300,000 for her countdown, but sources have said that number isn't more than $50,000.

Strauss says Anderson will be "extremely visible" from a center table off the dance floor, and based on previous visits to the club, "she's very interactive and very approachable. ... All the energy that comes around her just adds to our experience."

Beyond generating publicity for the club, Pure operator Robert Frey says celebrity hosts are "a way to reward your customers. If they come from all across the country, they like to say, 'I partied New Year's with so and so.' "

The three-day weekend offers major concert acts, to be sure, but they stay away from the big night. The Black Eyed Peas perform today and Van Morrison takes the stage Saturday, both at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Prince adds a New Year's Eve show at $315.10 to his Rio shows that expertly merge the concert and nightclub worlds. Los Angeles favorite the Dan Band probably will serve up a similar kind of party at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.

When their customers are reaching for the aspirin bottles Monday morning, club owners probably will be reaching for a fresh bottle of bubbly while ringing up the receipts. Advance tickets for general admission to Pure or Jet were $200. The bird's-eye view at the Palms' ghostbar will set you back $300. Tao's Strauss says his club's $250 tab is a relative value if you factor in 2 1/2 hours worth of open bar and pass-around hors d'oeuvres.

(Bargain seekers might investigate the older clubs: The Palms' Rain, which suddenly seems so, well, ground-floor after the opening of the casino's new Playboy Club, will let you in for $100.)

Sitting down will considerably add to the tab. A table for 10 at Jet goes for $3,000. The full treatment at Prince's 3121 club goes for $1,379.84 per couple.

Some customers still "get a little taken back" by the cost of table seating with bottle service. "It's not only about the bottles, but it's also about the real estate," Strauss says. "On these nights where everyone's vying to be in the right spot and have a place to entertain, once it's explained (to the customer) they usually get it right away and they usually see the value in it."