While in UK, Matt Goss ignites MGM Resorts talk

Consider this an MGM – a Matt Goss Moment.

Amid a stir created by the just-announced reunion of the late-’80s pop act Bros (of which he is a member, with his brother, Luke), Gossy confirmed he has been in serious talks with MGM Resorts to return to a long-term residency on the Strip.

“We’ve been in talks for a long time,” Goss said from London on Friday. “They are beautiful people who understand what I do, and as an entertainer, that is the most important thing.” (An MGM Resorts spokesman declined comment on any talks regarding Goss and the company.)

Goss closed his 6 1/2-year run at the Gossy Room at Caesars Palace (again renamed Cleopatra’s Barge) on Sept. 24, and last Saturday performed at SSE Arena in Wembley. It was his third solo show at the 12,500-seat venue, where he and Bros appeared 19 times at the peak of their teen hearthrob fame.

Goss hopes to build the overseas momentum to a fresh start on the Strip, but stopped short of specifying which MGM Resorts hotel is being reviewed for a new residency. It is possible a new venue would be built, or an existing room renovated, for this new production. The Gossy Room was also retrofitted for Goss, adding seats at the Barge to reach a capacity of 165 during his long run at the hotel.

“I want to stay in Las Vegas, definitely,” Goss said, “but it has to be the right partnership.”

When tickets went on sale for the first reunion Bros concert next August at O2 Arena, they sold out faster than any other event at the venue, according to concert promoter Live Nation. A BBC report said the 20,000-seat setting sold all available pre-sale in seven seconds (which is British for “instantly”).

Friday, several additional concert dates were announced: a second concert at O2 (Aug. 20) Manchester Arena (Aug. 22); Nottingham Motorpoint Arena (Aug. 23), Newcastle Metro Radio Arena (Aug. 26), and Glasgow The SSE Hydro (Aug. 27). In the meantime, Goss is scheduled to bring his solo act back to Las Vegas at Fox Casino Resorts’ Fox Theater on Oct. 21-22 (Foxwoods is operated by a longtime MGM Resorts official, Felix Rappaport).

The Bros reunion is wonderful news for the still-substantial Bros fan base in the U.K. The brothers sold more than 17 million records (including “When Will I Be Famous,” which topped the U.K. charts in 1988) and filled Wembley Stadium with 77,000 devotees in their final live performance in 1989. The act went dormant in 1992, and the third original member of the band, guitarist Craig Logan, has declined to participate in the upcoming tour (Logan sued the twins in a royalty dispute after the split, and reportedly won a 1 million-pound settlement).

Goss was still buzzing from his return to the U.K. when we spoke. “Playing Wembley just blew my mind,” he said. “It’s one of my dream venues, and if you’re in the legacy business, it’s a place to play.”

HE COULDN’T HELP IT

During the naming of Oscar B. Goodman Plaza at City Hall, the honoree had not expected to talk about Cashman Field as a potential site for the 65,000-seat, domed stadium that might one day be home to the Oakland Raiders. But Goodman made the argument anyway, even as the downtown complex did not make the short list of sites proposed for the stadium (the preferred sits are the current Bali Hai Golf Course parcel south of Mandalay Bay, and the lot just west on I-15 and Russell Road).

“I hadn’t planned to talk about Cashman, but I had a great audience in front of me and a microphone, and I couldn’t help myself,” Goodman said Thursday, a day after the ceremony at City Hall. “They could start building tomorrow. You would save millions, the land is there and ready, there are 25,000 parking slots, and it is a location that is ripe for redevelopment.”

Goodman pointed to Petco Park at the entrance of the Gaslight District in downtown San Diego, and AT&T Park in the industrial waterfront district of San Francisco, and Camden Yards in Baltimore as stadiums that led to a business and aesthetic Renaissance in those cities.

“People see this as a horrible, poisonous pit, but if you have vision, it can become something great for the city,” said Goodman, who referred to Union Park in the days before such projects as the Smith Center for Performing Arts and Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health moved in. “It’s an area that needs a boost.”

Mayor Carolyn Goodman is planning to send a group to Monday’s legislative special session in Carson City to review the stadium proposal, as well as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority expansion plans on the Strip. The argument for the redevelopment of Cashman Field might be best applied to the more recent efforts to the city’s more recent “Field of Dreams” proposal, presented during Wednesday’s City Council meeting. That project would develop an NFL practice facility and Major League soccer stadium and spark the kind of downtown gentrification both the ex-mayor and current mayor endorse.

BLONDE PENN

Penn Jillette has changed his hair color for a pair of upcoming TV and film roles, with the help of Michael Boychuck’s Color salon at the Forum Shops at Caesars. Jillette will appear on the CBS medical drama “Code Black,” starring Rob Lowe, expected to air in December, and also begins filming the indie/cult film “The Grounds,” nest week. That movie, set on the site of “The Slammer,” his infamous Las Vegas residence for 25 years, is directed by Adam Rifkin, who directed Jillette’s most recent film, also an indie project, “Director’s Cut.” Jillette has said the film will culminate in the destruction of “The Slammer,” certain to mark the end of an era in Las Vegas real estate.

MORE FROM THE BARGE

Maybe it is time to set up a permanent Kats! Bureau at Cleopatra’s Barge. Caesars Entertainment officials have been busy, even covertly so, in animating the 46-year-old moated lounge. Added to the list of performers to play the Barge is Zowie Bowie, the Chris Phillips-Nieve Malandra dance party that is moving in for a night at 10 p.m. Saturday. Zowie Bowie is also back Oct. 22, but no word yet on any other dates at the Barge. The Thursday-through-Saturday schedule is occupied by David Perrico’s Pop Strings, but Perrico is playing the Lounge at the Palms on Saturday, and also on Oct. 22.

Joining Pop Strings and, Zowie Bowie at the Barge are the Moonshiners at 9 p.m. Sundays, and Reckless in Vegas at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Another idea, from the Bureau: Book the curiously latent, yet reliably legendary, Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns on the open Monday. Then, the Barge would be epic.

EXEC SHIFT AT PALMS

Station Casinos’ takeover of the Palms has led to the departure of that hotel’s entertainment director, Billy Conn. I learned this by calling Conn on Friday; he was on the Metro in Paris heading to Jim Morrison’s grave site. “I decided to take a trip, now that I have some time off,” said Conn, who was charged with signing the entertainment in the Pearl Theater and Lounge at the Palms.

Station is now handling the entertainment at the Palms at the corporate level, lumping the hotel in with its other properties under the stewardship of Entertainment Director Monica Reeves.

ROUND IT OUT

The buzz around Venetian/Palazzo is for a new production, backed by Base Entertainment, moving into the former “Rock of Ages” and, years back, Blue Man Group theater. The show is called “Revive,” and it has been described as a variation (or even knock-off) of “Absinthe.” The theater is being renovated, reducing seats from 1,800 to about 600 and – in a move that will remind of “Absinthe” – is set in the round.

John Katsilometes’ column runs Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNV Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.