As city grows, so does quality of concert venues

The lights dim. The crowd roars. And the show is about to begin.

Las Vegas boasts some of the premier concert venues in the United States, possessing major arenas, intimate halls and cozy settings under the stars, but that wasn't always the case.

Heading into the '90s, performers largely were relegated to playing arena shows at the Thomas & Mack Center, built primarily to house the UNLV men's basketball team; nondescript Sam Boyd Stadium for mega-concerts such as U2, Paul McCartney and the Grateful Dead; and the historic, but ragged, Huntridge Theatre for smaller shows.

But as the city has grown, so has the quality and quantity of available concert venues, which has widened the range of musical acts that visit Las Vegas. Many of those venues -- the MGM Grand Garden, the Joint, House of Blues, The Pearl, the Theatre for the Performing Arts and the Orleans Arena -- have played a big role in hosting the fall Vegoose music festival the past three years.

"There's so much that happens in Vegas, there's absolutely great venues there," says Rick Farman, co-founder of Superfly Productions, which helped create Vegoose. "The venues in Vegas really know how to host a party. In some other places, it might be difficult to have shows late at night."

The Grand Garden, christened by Barbra Streisand on Dec. 31, 1993, provides fans with a full concert experience, complete with crisp sound and huge video screens that flank the stage, making the arena, which has a capacity of more than 17,000, feel smaller.

Many major bands and artists have followed Streisand on the MGM stage, including Billy Joel, Elton John, U2 and Pearl Jam. And headline-grabbing stars such as The Police, Van Halen and Miley Cyrus recently have graced the stage.

But while the MGM might have opened up the door to more renowned acts, the first venue to really shake things up was The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. With the Eagles and Sheryl Crow inaugurating the room, The Joint started rocking in March 1995.

With a standing-room capacity of 2,000, The Joint provides an up-close environment to see artists that normally fill arenas and stadiums.

The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the many that have performed on the 800-square-foot stage over the years.

"It's got that feel. It's got that smell. It's real rock 'n' roll," Philip Shalala, the Hard Rock's vice president of marketing, says of The Joint. "We're not trying to fabricate anything. We're not trying to create something we're not. We're the real deal."

With the Hard Rock undergoing expansion, a new Joint is scheduled to debut next year, one that will double in capacity, house a bigger stage, possess even better lighting and sonic abilities, and the capability to present bigger productions.

The oldest of the major concert venues still in use is the Theatre for the Performing Arts at Planet Hollywood. The 7,000-seat hall, which opened in 1976 as part of the then-Aladdin, has survived despite major setbacks to the property, including bankruptcies, closures, changes in ownership, complete renovations and even the Aladdin's implosion in 1998.

Despite it all, the classy, venerable theater, which was the place to see concerts in Las Vegas in the late '70s and much of the '80s, remains one of the city's foremost venues.

The newest darling on the scene is the state-of-the-art Pearl, which opened a year ago, inside the Palms. The three-level hall, which has a capacity of 2,500, doesn't have a seat farther than about 120 feet from the stage.

Despite its small size, The Pearl can stage big presentations, including last year's MTV Video Music Awards, with top-notch lighting, video and sound systems. It's also hard-wired into the recording studio at the Palms, allowing artists to record live performances.

Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar played the room on Feb. 2 and offered a glowing endorsement of The Pearl from the stage.

"This place is awesome," Hagar said. "Maybe I should just retire and spend the rest of my life performing here."

Mandalay Bay, which opened in March 1999, houses three concert venues -- House of Blues, Mandalay Bay Events Center and Mandalay Bay Beach -- that offer dramatically different experiences.

"It offers our guests an array of diversity," says Chris Baldizan, Mandalay Bay vice president of entertainment.

The House of Blues has become the concert workhorse of the city, averaging no less than three shows per week. The intimate, funky bandbox, with a capacity of 1,800, provides space for headbangers and shoegazers up near the stage and seating above for those who prefer a more comfortable environment.

The facility offers the most eclectic lineup of any local venue, with shows ranging from punk to indie, from country to hip-hop.

"Las Vegas has never been known as a city that breaks acts like L.A. or New York," Baldizan says. "But House of Blues certainly fits that bill."

While not nearly as busy as the House of Blues, the Mandalay Bay Events Center, with a capacity of 12,000, hosts concerts, boxing and mixed martial arts cards, and award shows, and attracts major acts in a quality setting that is similar in style to the MGM Grand Garden.

The most unusual setting for concerts in Las Vegas is the Mandalay Bay Beach, which hosts shows each May through September. With 2,700 tons of sand, up to 5,000 people can bring blankets and sit on the beach or wade into the water to watch musical acts perform on a stage that overlooks the pool.

Though best known as the home of the Las Vegas Wranglers hockey team, the 9,000-seat Orleans Arena also hosts concerts and a variety of other events each year, offering clear sight lines and large video screens on each side of the stage.

Contact copy editor Sean DeFrank at sdefrank@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0352.