Party Town
Nicola Corthay glams up, waits for midnight and heads off to experience the latest, hippest and most happening nightlife in Las Vegas, city of eternal parties.
The thing about Las Vegas is that it always has to push the boundaries. Visitors have seen it all before: themed hotels, big-name shows, chic bars and jaw-dropping nightclubs. If you want to keep them coming back – or at least lure them into your particular venue – you have to offer something pretty special. Take HAZE Nightclub, which opened in December inside Aria Resort & Casino: it sets about challenging its visitors’ sense of perception and reality. Huge walls flicker with lights; projection screens surge with sound and images; reflective surfaces and two-way mirrors confuse – and every now and then, the ceiling ‘explodes’ into peeling layers.
Of course, the whole of Las Vegas can sometimes seem like a hallucination, popping out of the Nevada desert in flashing neon excess. This is the crazy American dream writ large. Sure, it’s kitsch and unbelievably vulgar; it’s mindless and mind-boggling. But it’s also fascinating and so splendidly original as to be almost surreal. And when it comes to its shows and nightlife, things have never been better, hotter, trendier and raunchier. The ‘family experience’ that Vegas tried to tout in the 1990s is now a thing of the past: this is Sin City once more, featuring ultra-lounges and huge dance-clubs, all trying to up the ante in chic and energy.
Frankly, you haven’t really experienced Vegas until you’ve been here after dark, when the Strip comes out to play, draped in neon lights. And it’s not until around midnight that the party really gets going. That’s when all the local restaurant workers and show employees come off-duty and head out for a good time.
But before you hit the clubs, take in a performance. Second only to gambling in their appeal to visitors, Vegas shows are a huge drawcard. In the old days, these were typically small-scale cabaret acts and topless revues featuring showgirls. Today, the city’s lounge-style entertainment is nearly all gone; the showgirls seem a bit passé. These days, it’s all about big productions (most notably, Cirque du Soleil, which seems to have taken over the entire town) and even bigger headlining names. Some of these – Bruce Springsteen, Sting, The Rolling Stones, Madonna – come just to give concerts. Others, such as Elton John and Stevie Nicks, are Las Vegas regulars. A few have permanent acts: currently, they include Bette Midler, Cher and Barry Manilow.
When it comes to shows, the most difficult to explain but undoubtedly one of Vegas’s must-sees is the Blue Man Group. No big names, no plot, not even any dialogue: just three bald men in blue makeup and blue suits who, with quirky and amazing originality, keep audiences spellbound every night of the year at The Venetian.
At the other end of the Strip, the MGM Grand lives up to its name: this is a truly mammoth place. A ‘modern reinterpretation’ of New York’s infamous Studio 54 nightclub is here, and Tabu Ultra Lounge, oft cited as one of the best lounge bars in Vegas; big-name boxers and rock singers turn up at MGM’s arena and Elvis impersonators seem to wander the gaming floors continually. It also has terrific shows. MGM Grand’s Crazy Horse Paris, modelled on the famed Parisian venue, is a topless revue that manages to be both sexy and rather amusing at the same time, with great choreography and the dancing figures ‘painted in light’ – certainly the classiest of the many topless shows in town.
Cirque du Soleil’s KÀ also features at the MGM: the show is loosely based on Chinese martial arts movies and is just as gob-smacking as the venue’s other shows: expect the usual mix of stunning costumes, amazing acrobatics and imaginative routines. Many think KÀ is the most impressive show in Vegas, which is saying something.
For the cash-strapped, the best show in town could be the famous dancing fountains that erupt from the artificial lake in front of the Bellagio – seeing them costs nothing. Accompanied by music, the fountains soar and spurt, bringing the crowds along the Strip to a standstill. Las Vegas has pulled out another piece of pure schmaltz but there’s something strangely spellbinding about this insolent and rather beautiful cascade of water, here in the middle of the desert.
Not all the action is happening outside the Bellagio. Inside, The Bank is considered one of the best high-end nightclubs in town. You’ll find the bar – lined with gold crocodile skin and staffed with bartenders in haute couture – past the entrance, which is lined with hundreds of bottles of Cristal champagne. The lighting is superb, the crowd chic and beautiful, and machines create artificial snow just as things are getting a little too hot. Also in the Bellagio complex, Caramel Bar & Lounge is a smooth, after-party, wind-down sort of place where your chilled cocktail glasses come coated in caramel or chocolate and hip-hop music caters to a largely 20-something crowd.
Two other popular clubs, less intimidating than The Bank – with no VIP lines and barely a dress code – are Privé and the Living Room, both inside Planet Hollywood. They entice a broad mix of patrons and the amphitheatre-style set-up gives you a good view over the seething crowd of partygoers and the waitresses dancing on tabletops. The Living Room is smaller and more laidback – think leather lounges and a fireplace – but is hardly a place for relaxing: the music is deafening. One cover charge grants you access to both venues.
At JET, a three-storey dance club at The Mirage, each level has its own creative cocktail bars, chill-out rooms, music and vibe. JET is Vegas’s club of the moment and is generally packed and pumped, particularly on Monday nights. The lights and laser effects are brilliant; the sound system is staggering. Expect rock, hip-hop, dance and house music, with one area hosting both in-house and occasional international guest DJs.
Who said nightclubbing in Las Vegas had to be sophisticated? Okay, it’s a tourist trap and as corny as the movie it inspired; it has buxom barmaids gyrating on bar-tops and hosing down patrons at whim – but Coyote Ugly Saloon is strangely appealing, for its high-octane energy and hedonism. And if you want to find one of the few clubs in town with a genuine rock feeling, head to Rok Vegas, where DJs and VJs work their magic and a giant screen running right around the wall shows animation, live rock concerts and – well, we aren’t quite sure what but it looks good anyway. The outdoor patio is a nice place to unwind.
Talking of patios, VooDoo Lounge, perched on the top floors of Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, offers spectacular views over the Strip from its several tiers of patios, on which you can dance the night away between stars and neon lights.
You don’t have to stick to the Strip to have a good time in Las Vegas. Looking for nightlife that’s a little more edgy and provocative? Double Down Saloon is one of the best un-scene scenes in Vegas. This is where the more bohemian, blue-collar and eccentric residents of Vegas come to chill out after work. ‘Shut up and drink’ says the slogan above the door, followed by the house rule: ‘You puke, you clean’. Don’t let that or the graffiti-covered walls and battered furnishings put you off: the venue has a brilliant jukebox and hosts live bands.
Some of the city’s better lounges are also off the Strip, along Las Vegas Boulevard, and are often better value, friendlier and less artificial than their on-the-Strip counterparts. Of these, Downtown Cocktail Lounge tops my list. The décor might be best described as contemporary Asian meets bohemian, with comfy leather armchairs, private booths and no outrageous theme: just a laidback space for youngish professionals looking for a relaxed vibe and excellent cocktails that change with the seasons. The music here consists of funky remixes and some international tracks, and there are live DJs some nights.
The lounge is just a short walk from the Fremont Street Experience, a late-night must-do. A giant mesh vault covers city blocks: inside it, you’ll find computerised music and lights showing what are effectively movies via the flickering of more than 12 million LED bulbs. The shows last only a few minutes but are spectacular – and absolutely free.
Photography courtesy hotels and resorts.
Article courtesy of Vacations and Travel Magazine.
