Taylor Swift returns to Las Vegas Strip; album rockets to No. 1
By dangling ducats to a Taylor Swift concert, Travis Kelce hit pay dirt again in Las Vegas.
This time, the happy-go-lucky tight end scored as a substitute auctioneer at the 15 and the Mahomies Las Vegas Golf Tournament dinner on Saturday night at Bellagio.
Swift called the audible alongside the night’s enlisted, professional auctioneer, Harry Santa-Olalla of New York.
“I was just talking to my Significant Other, and we might have one other auction item, that wasn’t on … the docket,” Kelce told he crowd, drawing laughs with the pause and his guest toward the tournament logo projected in the background. “Has anybody heard of the ‘Eras Tour’? There might be a fun gig where there are four tickets to the New Orleans, Miami, Indianapolis or New Orleans dates when the tour comes back to the United States. Does that fire anybody up right now?”
Kelce, naturally, was fired up. He bounded around the room during the bidding to gin up the price of Swift’s tickets.
That clip was among a series of posts on model Sophia Romano’s Instagram story feed, re-posted by Vegas Revealed. Romano attended the event with UFC star Justin Gaethje.
To the surprise of no one who pays attention to popular music, Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department” made a huge debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart released Sunday. This is Swift’s 14th No. 1 album, now tied with Jay-Z for the most No. 1s for solo artists. Only The Beatles, who notched 19, have more. The chart dates 70 years.
According to Billboard, “The Tortured Poets Department” kicked off with 2.61 million equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Thursday, with traditional album sales (purchases of digital download albums, CDs, vinyl LPs and cassettes) accounting for 1.914 million of that sum.
Of that sales figure, vinyl sales represent an impressive 859,000 sales. The 31-song set on the deluxe edition generated 891.34 million on-demand official streams.
Late Saturday, Kelce blew into XS Nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas as star DJ Kygo headlined. TMZ posted video of his appearanc. The all-pro took over the DJ booth, as the crowd went nuts. Swift was not spotted at the club.
During Saturday’s auction, it was is not clear how much Swift’s “Eras Tour” tickets went for. But there was a bid of $35,000 on another of Romano’s clips. The invited guests (including Swift) waved red-and-yellow towels as the bidding heated up.
An Elvis impressionist and a pair of showgirls were brought in to entertain the VIP crowd.
Swift and Kelce were reportedly back in VegasVille beginning Friday, confirmed to be hanging with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes at Easy’s Cocktail Lounge at Aria.
The venue’s scheduled headliner was to be Mecca Martini (stage name of M3cca), whose gig was canceled last-minute Thursday because Mahomes rented out the venue Friday night.
TMZ was first to report Saturday that the group was at the resort’s hideaway behind Proper Eats Food Hall. “A night of drinking and fun,” was how the celeb pub framed the visit.
The collective visit is timed alongside the 15 and the Mahomies golf event, scheduled through Monday at Shadow Creek Golf Club. The organization supports initiatives focusing on health, wellness, communities in need of resources, and other charitable causes related to improving children’s lives.
Martini shrugged off the near-miss to perform for Swift.
“It would have been a great opportunity sing in front of Taylor Swift, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of our generation,” Martini said. “I’m a little disappointed, a little sad, but I understand.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
