How well do you know Las Vegas’ history of live music? — QUIZ
Pat Christenson once witnessed a man get thrown 10 feet in the air after the car he was sitting on got struck by lightning.
It was May 1993, and the dude in question was hanging out in front of Sam Boyd Stadium, then known as the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, prior to a Grateful Dead performance.
Ironically, the Dead’s opener, Sting, was playing “Heavy Cloud No Rain” when the incident happened, jolting the man onto the blacktop.
Paramedics tried to get him into an ambulance. He refused. He didn’t want to miss the show.
Eventually, the guy relented, but only when promised a ticket to the Dead’s gig at the venue the next day.
Taking this all in must have been a shocking moment for Christenson, but it was also most likely a revelatory one: That Vegas could now attract the Dead and their intensely dedicated fan base, that they could sell out multiple stadium gigs, was a major turning point in the history of live music in Vegas.
And Christenson played a central role in it all.
As the manager of the Thomas & Mack Center and Sam Boyd Stadium from 1983 to 2001, Christenson worked over 500 concerts.
He was right there on the front lines as Vegas developed from a secondary or even tertiary concert market skipped over by plenty of star acts to one of the most lucrative cities on many touring itineraries.
All of this is chronicled in Christenson’s in-depth new book, “Rock Vegas: Live Music Explodes in the Neon Desert,” an immersive account of this city’s rise in the live music ranks as well as a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the industry in general.
To give you a sampling of the nuggets in the book, we’ve put together some Vegas live music trivia gleaned from this fast, fun read.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.
