Risky remix: Spears returns

Lock up your sons, hide the booze, and shut down the wedding chapels: Britney Spears is coming to town to "perform" Saturday at MGM Grand Garden arena.

Will she suckity-suck-suck again? Will she lip-sync again? Will concert-goers leave severely disappointed again?

It'll only cost you up to $283 per ticket to find out. That's also the price of 14 lap dances, or a top-tier spa-massage package at a fancy hotel, or 10 tickets to see Rick Springfield and Eddie Money on Saturday.

It's your money -- your choice. Britney and Vegas go together like "vomit and velour," says Jason Bracelin in today's Neon section.

WEEKEND PLANNER

• Bon Jovi rocks the new Joint at the Hard Rock tonight.

($195-$750; 693-5066)

• Kenny Chesney and Miranda Lambert play Saturday at the new Joint. ($100-$400; 693-5066)

• Twisted Sister's Dee Snider adds to the metal band of Monster Circus tonight and Saturday at the Hilton. ($48-$70, but locals pay $9 less)

• The Reverend Horton Heat slams into the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on Sunday. ($26-$36; 632-7000)

• Rick Springfield, Eddie Money, Lou Gramm and John Waite do the throwback, old-time show on Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. ($28; 739-3267).

• And all you film snobs who complain about mainstream movies? Go support the CineVegas film and Italian crime drama "Gomorrah," at the Palms theater. Movie details are in today's Neon.

THE BUZZ

The Hard Rock is back. For some years, it lost cachet to the Palms, Wynn and elsewhere. Now the buzz that radiated the hotel a few years ago is back or closer to it.

Look at last weekend. First, The Killers opened the new Joint, a big sweet spot of a concert venue. (Some serious surprise concerts might go there this summer.)

On Sunday, Snoop Dogg showed up for the dayclub pool promotion, "Rehab," where people stood in line for hours to find out whether they were pretty enough to get in, then dropped big dollars for drinks, all to be part of the see-and-flirt of bikinis and shorts.

At 6 p.m. Sunday, I saw a girl in a bikini getting wheelchaired out of Rehab. Drunk. Then I got passed by a girl in a bikini who was crying her eyes out. Did she spot her boyfriend making out with someone else?

This might all sound too much for you. (And for me, I'll admit it.) But this means ... buzz.

Later Sunday, Paul McCartney brought in not just the oldsters but a lot of younger music fans. He's 66, yes? Whatever. His was my favorite concert in a year.

So -- between the pool and concerts, and the casino stripper-pole dancers (they look hotter than they dance), and the boob-spilling dealers, and the still-a-secret steak-and-shrimp special at Mr. Lucky's -- it looks like the Hard Rock's $750 million renovations and concepts are paying off.

My column appears Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. E-mail me at delfman@reviewjournal.com or comment on my blog at reviewjournal.com/elfman.