Rock in Rio, the ‘City of Rock,’ lures Taylor Swift, Metallica, No Doubt, Linkin Park to L.V.

By John Katsilometes

Friday, Sept. 26, 2014 | 6:43 p.m.

NEW YORK — If the Rock in Rio festival staging is anything like what we saw in Manhattan today, this should be a remarkably impressive event. Efficient, too.

The Rock in Rio team built a fully functional, LED screen-backed stage with a booming sound system in the middle of Times Square in about 12 hours. Within two hours, that temporary concert venue was just about completely taken apart, with John Mayer and Brazilian hard-rock outfit Sepultura with Les Tambours Du Bronx already a faint memory.

It meant for an entertaining, and wide-ranging, 15-minute set for a few thousand onlookers in the city’s glowing tourist district.

That’s how Rock in Rio delivered the big news of the day, with a concert following an announcement of the initial artists to headline the May 2015 festival on the Strip. Scheduled to break the glass for the festival in Las Vegas are Metallica, Taylor Swift, No Doubt, Linkin Park, John Legend and Deftones.

No Doubt even showed up — for a breathtaking 3 minutes or so — at the NASDAQ Building in Times Square, where the announcement was presented in a room adjacent to a tabletop model of the festival grounds. The festival’s ticket pre-sale packages are now available online at RockInRio.com/tickets. The event is spread over four days — May 8-9 and May 15-16.

Each day’s festival will run about 10 hours, total, with six stages activated amid a sea of food stations, merchandise booths and rides. A Ferris wheel is being built, as is a zipline — which is fast becoming a signature Las Vegas attraction — running from north to south across and above the Main Stage.

A partnership among MGM Resorts, Cirque du Soleil and Ron Burkle of The Yukaipa Companies (owners of Fresh & Easy and Aloha Airlines, among other holdings), Rock in Rio is expected to draw a total of 80,000 fans each day. Officials are confident that they will exceed 300,000 paid fans on the Strip during the four-day festival. They promise an efficient park-and-ride plan for attendees, and the plan includes using the MGM Resorts Village as a parking lot and shuttle station for the festival.

Otherwise, guests at nearby hotels can hoof it over. The grounds cover about 40 acres (37 officially), with SLS Las Vegas, Riviera, Wynn/Encore and Circus Circus nearby. At least near enough to walk over during a period when it’s not terrifically hot — yet — in Las Vegas.

The specific order of who plays when, or even on which stage, is to be determined. It is certain that Metallica, Linkin Park, Taylor Swift and No Doubt will be taking up the Main Stage, which is to be built right on the northeast corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue. Or across the Strip from SLS, Bonanza Gift Shop and the under-construction Walgreens on a suddenly bubbling-with-activity corner.

Metallica and Linkin Park will headline during the first weekend on the Main Stage, and Legend and the Deftones will be performing on the smaller Sunset Stage. Swift is set for the second weekend, when artists with a more pop-like flair are featured. As for No Doubt …

“We don’t know. They really could fit in both weekends,” Rock In Rio CEO Luis Justo said after today’s events. “The lineup really is still under construction.”

The full lineup will be announced in January, and then fans who have bought vouchers for either of the two weekends can select which of the two they plan to attend. Or they can purchase for both weekends, with a core package cost of $295 per weekend, which allows access to shows at all stages and also unlimited access to all the rides. Rock in Rio is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and has been staged in Rio (its original site), Portugal and Spain.

“We call it the City of Rock, and it really is that,” Justo said. “It’s like an amusement park of music. The stars are the stars, of course, with six different stages with acts off all types. We have a full music experience and also a full experience in entertainment with the rides going on during the performances. We have street dancers, magicians and a big VIP experience for our corporate partners and guests facing the Main Stage.”

Justo smiled when asked why Rock in Rio has expanded to Las Vegas: “Las Vegas can handle this type of event, and we have the kinds of partners who understand all of the needs for a festival like this.” One of those partners, Cirque du Soleil, is described by Justo as an “equity” partner and event consultant, but with all the entertainment being presented at Rock in Rio, it seems a waste not to use some of the company’s onstage artists. Cirque was represented at today’s event by its chief New York production executive, Scott Zeiger, most recently the co-CEO of Base Entertainment.

Aside from Rock in Rio, the site will be used as a permanent, outdoor event venue throughout the year, with MGM Resorts Senior Vice President of Entertainment Chris Baldizan heading up the booking and staging effort. Longtime Las Vegas events official Daren Libonati, whose resume includes stints at MGM Grand, UNLV and with Justice Entertainment Group, also is on the team filling dates at the site.

As for the future of Rock in Rio, the plan is for the festival to be staged on the Strip again in 2017 and 2019. But there is some wiggle room on this massive dance floor.

“The Rock in Rio model is to come to a country every other year, and we have done that in the other countries we play,” Justo said. “We like the tease of waiting a year for the event to come back, to raise expectations for Rock in Rio to come back to a specific place. But, you never know. The model nowadays can change, and this is especially true in a place like Las Vegas, where we could do it every year. We might say, ‘Why not?’"

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