Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Celine reminds: ‘I live here’; Moreno toggles Cabaret Jazz, Kennedy Center; Santana in tune with Isley

2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

Presenter Celine Dion at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, May 17, 2015, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

2015 Billboard Music Awards

Host Chrissy Teigen and performer and presenter John Legend at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, May 17, 2015, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

The Kats Report Bureau at this writing is The Beatles Revolution Lounge at the Mirage, an uncommon posting station, but it’s not exceptionally busy right now as it is about eight hours before the club opens.

I remember Felix Rappaport, then the president of this hotel, talking a few years ago of refashioning this space. Not a bad idea. It opened about a decade ago and was sufficiently groovy at the time but feels like it can use a good design and technological upgrade. Music is great, of course.

Across the way, there also is a plan to overhaul the high-limit space that closes off most of the casino space. That area was originally a lounge venue, and plans are moving forward to return it to an open entertainment venue.

More from the scene:

• Celine Dion had a quick response to the first question she took from the media at Sunday night’s 2015 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena. "So, you’re coming back here in August …" a member of Billboard started. "I am not coming back. I am here. I live here," Dion said to laughter from the assembled media.

Aug. 27 is the date she is back onstage at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace, ending her 10-month respite from the stage to focus on the health of her husband, Rene Angelil, who is suffering from throat cancer. The health of the 73-year-old Angelil is a serious matter, as he is undergoing treatment after having a cancerous tumor removed from his throat in December 2013 and has since been restricted to using a feeding tube.

Angelil remains instrumental in Dion’s stage show, which is a topic of great interest in VegasVille after Celine’s new management team announced that four key members of her orchestra would not be returning for the August residency. Gone are 30-year music director Claude "Mego" Lemay, Yves Frulla, André Coutu and Jean-Seb Carré.

This move led to rumblings and concerns that more musicians, including many from Las Vegas, might subsequently be cut from the orchestra. But Dion indicated that the orchestra was set at “31 or 32” musicians, though she plans to change as much as 40 percent of her setlist, focusing more on originals and less on covers.

As for Angelil, she said, "He wants me back, he wants me strong, he wants to see me again because I am his favorite singer. ... It’s hard, but we’re ready. I can’t say, ‘I am,’ but, ‘We are.’"

Frankie Moreno at Carnegie Hall

Las Vegas headliner Frankie Moreno performs at the Launch slideshow »

• Frankie Moreno is performing again in a major American music hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., from June 5-6 in another performance of “Let’s Be Frank: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra.” This is the same production and lineup that rolled through Carnegie Hall in March, with Moreno joining Tony DeSare, Ryan Silverman and Storm Large in the Sinatra tribute. Those singers are given solo spots and also duet in all configurations while backed by the National Symphony Orchestra Pops musicians.

At 10 p.m. Saturday, Moreno is hosting a popup-fashioned show at Lounge at the Palms (this is a more organized effort than the Stifler performances, with Skye Dee Miles, Travis Cloer and Martin Kaye scheduled to play). Also, Moreno is back at Cabaret Jazz next week as he winds down his inspired run of Tuesday night shows at the Smith Center.

Last week, it was a 30-piece orchestra and a tribute to Mozart, coming off his tribute to James Brown two weeks ago.

If only this guy would show some versatility …

Carlos Santana Book Signing

Carlos Santana hosts a book signing for Launch slideshow »

• Carlos Santana is inviting a singer of great fame and merit to his sessions on “Santana IV,” which are continuing at Odds On Studios in Henderson. “We are almost finished recording, and we’re doing some vocals together with, possibly, Ronnie Isley. The Ronnie Isley. He’s doing great, and we want to have him on the record.”

For the uninitiated, The Isley Brothers are one of the most influential rock and R&B bands to originate in the early 1950s. They were initially famous, in part, for recording the original version of “Twist and Shout.” The Isleys were among the original stars on the Motown Records label.

“Santana IV” reunites original Santana bandmates Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie, Michael Shrieve and Michael Carabello. Santana says the album will be finished “when it’s finished, maybe within the year, but when it is perfect.”

• One of the cool lounge hangs on the Strip is being disassembled, as the bands at Label at Palazzo have been cut in favor of a single piano player. Once known as the Zebra lounge, this venue was retrofitted to match the vibe of Bob Anderson’s performance in “Frank: The Man, The Music” at Palazzo Theater.

Label is positioned at that theater’s entrance, and those who have attended Anderson’s show have funneled into Label to enjoy more Vintage Vegas-style entertainment. But Laura Shaffer’s band ended its run Thursday night. Can’t say what these means to the greater whole in the Palazzo entertainment experience, but it is not a good thing for fans of live entertainment.

• A couple of openings to note: “The Rat Pack Is Back” is now set to return to the stage July 6 at T Spot at Tuscany. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 7:30. This date has moved back from the most recent targeted opening of July 1. Tickets are $70 for VIP seating and $50 general admission. The show’s dinner packages are $69.95 for general admission, $79.95 for VIP.

Meantime, the “Crazy Girls” production has been relaunched at Sin City Theater at Planet Hollywood. The theater has been redesigned and its seating drawn down from 285 to about 225. There is a pole involved.

Cost for the longest-running adult production in VegasVille (the show is 28 years old) is $61.20, $86.20 for VIP and $111.20 for the front row, or what we call “The Phallus Section.”

Other shows in the theater remain, um, robust: Murray Sawchuck’s afternoon magic show and the original Sin City Comedy production join the Crazy kids in the newly revamped hovel. Save for cat juggling, this room seems to have it all.

‘Frank: The Man, The Music’ Opening Night

Opening night of Launch slideshow »

• Returning to the Palazzo …

Anderson recently welcomed his old friend Tony Bennett to “Frank: The Man, The Music.” Bennett advised Anderson afterward to shed the Sinatra persona just for a bit — at the end of the show.

“He told me I should say, ‘There will never be another Frank Sinatra,’ as myself,” Anderson said last week. “So I loosen the tie and sing, ‘My Way,’ as myself.” And it works. That Tony Bennett, he has a future in this business …

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

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