Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Deal-making done with country flair at the Colosseum and NFR

Daniel Boulud, Human Nature Mark Milestones

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

Venetian headliners Human Nature celebrate a milestone Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014, at the Venetian.

Daniel Boulud, Human Nature Mark Milestones

Venetian headliners Human Nature celebrate a milestone Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014, at the Venetian. Launch slideshow »

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is Cafe Presse at the Venetian, which faces Sands Showroom, home of one of the city’s great entertainment vehicles, Human Nature.

The embraceable quartet from Australia, which favors Motown classics and jackets shaded in crimson, just celebrated 25 years (together) and is soon to celebrate the lighting of the Venetian holiday tree at Doge’s Plaza. That’s the grand entrance of the hotel facing the Strip.

It’s a wonderful scene, and it seems the guys in the group are really settling down in VegasVille. Andrew and Mike Tierney, and their respective families, are spending their first holiday season in town.

At that, I can say, they’ve got me beat. In 18 years, I’ve never spent Christmas here. I usually buck outta Dodge for Idaho after the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

And speaking of country-western culture …

• There are two, or perhaps three, schools of thought regarding the upcoming headliners at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. One is that it might well be Katy Perry, as effectively hinted at by my colleague and spiritual adviser Ubiquitous Robin Leach.

Katy Perry Prismatic World Tour

Katy Perry's Launch slideshow »

The other is that the headliner to be announced Wednesday is not a single performer but a pairing of country superstars. It won’t be Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, from what I understand, nor will it be Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Also, understand the timing of the announcement, which is at the peak of interest in country-western culture in Las Vegas as it is the day before the opening of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Clearly, there are scant artists who can fit the requirements of a Colosseum residency. You need a healthy fan base, loyal and spanning generations, and enough hits or familiar numbers to cover 90 minutes. And it helps to be theatrical, into large staging, with the capacity to play it big to an audience that pays top dollar for the experience. This all reminds me of a column I wrote a while back about the decision-making process for Colosseum headliners. In a word, or two, the answer always seems to be “Celine Dion!”

Meantime, Jennifer Lopez, likely headed to Axis at Planet Hollywood amid coverage I’ve been told is “premature,” is performing an invite-only New Year’s Eve show at the Colosseum. This is not a concert show. This a full-scale production, the type that would be staged on a fairly regular basis in a 4,500-seat venue. So it’s likely J.Lo at P.H., maybe some C&W at the Colosseum, if not Perry, or both. The Colosseum announcement is next Wednesday and not a moment too soon.

2013 Wrangler NFR: World Champions Crowned

The world champions of the 2013 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo are crowned on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013, at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV. Launch slideshow »

• On the topic of big events with a western flair, I caught up with PRCA President Karl Stressman for the first time in several months. This was for a Q+A running in The Sunday this Sunday. Stressman and his PRCA Board of Directors inked a new deal with Las Vegas Events to keep the rodeo in town for another 10 years beginning in 2015, as the latest contract was due to expire after the 2014 campaign.

Running from Dec. 3-14, this year’s rodeo is going to hit hard, cowboys and cowgirls, with more events planned and more prize money at stake than ever, close to $7 million altogether. The big bump in purse is next year, when contestants will be battling for $10 million in prize money, or $1 million per night.

That’s a lotta Pendleton!

The negotiations late last year turned a little chippy, Stressman stresses. At one point, LVE had effectively (and publicly) kissed off the WNFR for Osceola County in Central Florida. Some nimble deal-making and cooler temperaments allowed for the rodeo to stay in Las Vegas, where this year it celebrates its 30th year.

Stressman had not been involved in talks at this level involving the Super Bowl of Rodeo, as the contracts are typically extended by 10 years and he’s been with the PRCA just six years. During our interview, I likened the back-and-forth between his board and Las Vegas tourism officials as a game of high-stakes poker.

“You know what, people on social media were commenting that it was a high-stakes poker game against the guys who invented the game (laughs) or certainly made it the worldwide game it is today,” Stressman said. “I’m not a card player. I’m the worst game-player in the world. I don’t like playing poker or blackjack. And here I am, in the biggest game of high-stakes poker in the world.”

But the PRCA came away from the table with a $16.5 million annual commitment, counting the purse and sponsorship money approved by the LVCVA. That’s a pretty healthy stack of chips.

“Yep, but how much luckier could I have gotten for it to work out like it did?” Stressman said. “It wasn’t because of skill, I’ll tell you that. It was sheer, dumb luck (laughs).”

Hmmm … Doyle Brunson could not have said it better.

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

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