My survival strategy for these long, hot summer weekends is to get out and go big on Friday nights, then recover poolside for as long as possible on Saturday and Sunday. My master plan took me to Park Theater Friday night for the Night Running Tour, an alt-rock extravaganza featuring opening sets by Starcrawler and Spoon before headliners Cage The Elephant and Beck took over. Cage frontman Matt Shultz spent his band’s marathon set slowly shedding pieces of an oddball outfit until he was left gyrating and bounding across the stage in a white spandex ensemble. After wrapping up with hits “Shake Me Down,” “Cigarette Daydreams” and “Teeth,” the Kentucky-born group gave way to lo-fi fave Beck, who dove straight into his most beloved, genre-defying tracks like “Loser” and “Devil’s Haircut” while whimsically psychedelic imagery was plastered on the video screen behind him. He performed for just under an hour and closed with “Where It’s At,” breaking in the middle of the 1996 track to introduce his band and dabble in a few other musical styles.
For me, it was refreshing to hit Park Theater for a show that wasn’t one of the venue’s superstar headlining residencies (and Janet Jackson is back to take over the room this week, starting on Wednesday). For the visiting rock stars, it was just the start of a long night of fun. Both Beck and Schultz hit On the Record just across the casino floor at Park MGM to help the club’s creators, twin brothers Jonnie and Mark Houston, celebrate their birthday. The birthday boys and the frontmen teamed up for a karaoke version of A-Ha’s ‘80s classic “Take On Me” in one of the speakeasy-style club’s private rooms before returning to the party, also attended by actor Shane West, actress Tatiana Carr and model and vegan restaurateur Tina Louise.
Miles Teller, one of the stars of “Top Gun: Maverick,” held his bachelor party at the Palms over the weekend. The actor is set to tie the knot in September and he was spotted out and about with friends and incoming in-laws at Scotch 80 Prime and KAOS Nightclub and Dayclub, including Saturday’s sweltering day party starring Marshmello. Also celebrating a Strip dayclub on Saturday: Actor Cory Feldman, who partied with friends to mark his 48th birthday at Bare Pool Lounge at the Mirage.
Also at the Palms, Kevin O’Leary from the “Shark Tank” investment competition show stopped in at Bobby Flay’s Shark restaurant for dinner Thursday, after taking a look at the shark art by Damien Hirst in the casino’s Unknown bar.
On Saturday night, DJ and tennis whiz Redfoo (aka Stefan Gordy, son of Motown icon Berry Gordy) hit Tao at the Venetian with a big group to celebrate his mother Nancy’s birthday with dinner and more at Tao Nightclub. Redfoo is a longtime friend of the Tao Group as his former act LMFAO was a mainstay at Marquee Nightclub, and he’s also an assistant coach of the Vegas Rollers, the city’s new pro tennis team competing in the World Team Tennis organization. At Tao on Friday: actor Anthony Mackie, who was in San Diego for Comic-Con over the weekend to help announce his new Marvel TV show “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Good news for fans of beer, downtown Las Vegas and the Vegas Golden Knights: The City of Las Vegas has granted appropriate licensing to Ryan Reaves’ 7Five Brewing Company and his collaborator James Manos of Able Baker Brewing to start brewing some suds at their new bar, restaurant and brewery at 151 S. Main Street in the Arts District. The facility is expected to be completed and begin production later this summer.