In 2014, the Word of the Year in VegasVille was …

By John Katsilometes

Published Friday, Dec. 26, 2014 | noon

Updated Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 | 10:45 a.m.

It was a late-night hang typical of any in VegasVille as we closed the show at Piero’s Italian Cuisine. Chatting in an animated fashion were Frank Sinatra’s longtime band leader Vinnie Falcone; top Elvis tribute artist Justin Shandor of “Million Dollar Quartet” at Harrah’s; Rob Lyons, who plays Carl Perkins alongside Shandor in “MDQ”; and, naturally, Pia Zadora, the star of the “Pia’s Place” performances on Fridays and Saturdays at the restaurant.

Those who could not quite make it to closing time were legendary impressionist Rich Little and the restaurant’s storied owner, Freddie Glusman.

During this night, Lyons said that having Zadora join “MDQ” onstage as one of the show’s guest stars would be “groovy.” He stopped, and considered that word, and said, “We need to bring ‘groovy’ back.” I nodded and promised that I would do whatever I could in my admittedly limited sphere of influence to return the word to the lexicon. And throughout 2014, we re-animated “groovy,” talking of people who groove and events that were groovy, and of course one of those were Zadora’s walk-on with “MDQ” in January.

Occasionally, over the course of 2014, I would see Lyons around the scene, either at Harrah’s or during a performance with his band at the Sand Dollar.

“How’s it going?” I would ask. “Very groovy,” he would say. And by the end of this year, “groovy” has grown as a casual and familiar term amid a circle of groovesters in Las Vegas. We really wanted it to be the Word of the Year.

But “groovy” was not the Word of the Year in VegasVille. Another word took hold of the city as it expanded its identity as a tourist destination. That word was …

Activation.

This word was mentioned at every groundbreaking and rendering unveiling in the city in 2014. It was used most frequently in reference to the heretofore-unused parcels on the Strip and downtown that became activated with festivals and special events.

MGM Resorts took the lead in activation, at least in terms of parcel size and entertainment scope, with its two festival venues on either ends of the Strip. The MGM Resorts Village hosted the outdoor afternoon performances of the iHeartRadio Music Festival (featuring acts led by Iggy Azalea, Neon Trees, 5 Seconds of Summer and Kacey Musgraves); the first Route 91 Harvest (Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean headlining over the three-day event); and the 9th annual Rock ’n Roll Wine Amplified Festival (with Train and Blink-182 the top draws over two nights).

Some 15,000 to 20,000 fans populate that space, which was formerly an unused dirt lot just east of Mandalay Bay and the Luxor. The backdrop of the main stage, with those hotels in full view as the sun sets, has become one of the Strip’s great photo ops. Expect more of the same activity there in 2015, as all of those events are to return next year.

MGM Resorts Festival Grounds, an even more aggressive activation, unveiled its plans to host the Rock in Rio music festival at the previously undeveloped acreage just west of SLS Las Vegas on the southwest corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue. This is a little less than 50 acres of dirt being moved to rock, as the Rock in Rio signature guitar sign now illuminates that corner.

Rock in Rio’s activation takes hold during two weekends in May, with Metallica, No Doubt, Mana and Linkin Park appearing on the main stage for Rock Weekend from May 8-9. Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran headline the main stage during Pop Weekend from May 14-15. A total of 300,000 music fans are expected to take part in the rock festival, set in a temporary community known as the City of Rock.

There is more to come at both of those sites. As MGM Resorts Senior Vice President of Entertainment Chris Baldizan said during the groundbreaking of MGM Resorts Grounds in October: “Right now we’re going full steam ahead with the construction here, and I’m looking at the fall with this venue, as well. We wouldn’t have built this venue for one particular event. We’re looking at other music festivals. We’re looking at nontraditional events, sporting events, food festivals, boxing, rodeo, UFC, rugby, soccer …”

The list of possible activation seems boundless. Already activated is Downtown Las Vegas and Life Is Beautiful, which drew a reported 90,000 in October and has found its footing as a pedestrian-friendly music, food, art and speaker festival. Founder Rehan Choudhry is committed to hosting the event annually, seeing a return of investment by the fourth year, hopefully. But again, LIB takes over territory for entertainment that was previously underused asphalt.

The lots for the main stages at LIB have been activated by thousands of fans attending performances by Lionel Richie, Foo Fighters and Kanye West, to name three headliners. Even the Western Hotel, so dilapidated it took a half-dozen coats of paint to mask its nicotine-stained walls, was activated by the Learning Series appearances by such famed orators as Pussy Riot, Oscar Goodman and Ricki Lake.

Sensing an opportunity to activate a downtown parcel he purchased in 2013, D Las Vegas owner Derek Stevens opened Downtown Las Vegas Events Center on the site of the old Clark County Courthouse at Third Street and Carson Avenue. Sammy Hagar, Bret Michaels and Lady Antebellum have performed on that formerly latent, 2.74-acre plot.

Back on the Strip, activation at the Linq Promenade, which opened in what was once a service alley between Flamingo and Imperial Palace (now the Linq Hotel) is commonplace, with the 550-foot High Roller now a Strip landmark and visited by Olivia Newton-John, Britney Spears and the online sensation Grumpy Cat in its first year of operation. In a slick marketing move, Caesars Entertainment activated the High Roller by offering wedding packages in the cabins, including those for couples who wanted to wed on 12/13/14.

To the west, now under construction, MGM Resorts is activating the space leading to MGM Resorts Arena with the Park. The 8-acre, outdoor attraction will lead to the new arena between Monte Carlo and New York-New York. In the blueprint are a 13,000-square-foot Hersheys outlet, a Shake Shack, the gourmet waffle restaurant Bruxi, the “social dining experience” Sake Rok, the Robert Mondavi Jr. Wine Experience and Cuba Libre Restaurant. A beer garden, 75 mature trees, tulip-styled metal sculptures for shade, fountains and water walls are in the plans.

The Park is set to be activated, in pieces, in 2016. The activation of the year 2015 will be in the form of 340,000 visitors packing the Strip and Fremont Street on New Year’s Eve, but in the coming year we’ll be playing outside almost year-round. If there is a parcel on the Strip or downtown Las Vegas that is suitable for a stage or a food station, consider it ripe … for activation.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.