Friday, April 16, 2004 | 9:19 a.m.
Mandalay Bay Events Center
The Joint at the Hard Rock
Thomas & Mack Center
MGM Grand Garden Arena
House of Blues
That was the case in July, when the Dixie Chicks, Mariah Carey, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Liz Phair and rappers 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes all descended on Southern Nevada for concerts during a three-day span.
It happens again this weekend. Beginning tonight, touring headliners Beyonce, Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys, Phish, Kid Rock, Morrissey, moe. and Henry Rollins will all be performing in town.
Looking for a capper? How about the annual "VH1 Divas" show, which takes place Sunday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena?
Here is a look at some of the weekend's top draws:
"Ladies First Tour" at Mandalay Bay Events Center, tonight: What do you get when you combine a budding diva, a superstar rapper and a soulful chanteuse/ pianist? An enticing concert expected to sell out the 8,800-seat arena by showtime tonight. Beyonce, who released her debut solo album, "Dangerously in Love," last June, is one of the hottest names in pop music.
The 22-year-old Destiny's Child alum won five Grammys in February and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her first two singles ("Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy"). "Dangerously in Love" remains No. 29 on this week's Billboard 200, 41 weeks after hitting stores.
Keys, who precedes Beyonce on tonight's bill, has garnered critical acclaim since releasing her first album in 2001. The follow-up, December's "The Diary of Alicia Keys," spent time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this year and is currently ranked 23rd.
Elliott, a mainstay on the hip-hop scene since the late 1990s (when she was best known by the nickname "Misdemeanor"), remains one of the most popular female rappers in the game. She has sent four singles into the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Gossip Folks" and "Work It," and her latest album, "This is Not a Test!," reached No. 3 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
Canadian singer/songwriter Tamia opens tonight's four-act concert.
Phish at the Thomas & Mack Center, tonight and Saturday: The world's foremost jam band continues its three-night Las Vegas run, which got under way Thursday.
Since returning from a two-year hiatus in late 2002 the quartet from Vermont has released one album ("Round Room") and played about 50 concerts. This week's Thomas & Mack dates are the band's first shows of 2004.
Tickets for both nights are sold out.
Kid Rock at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Saturday: Detroit's native son is back in town, with his band Twisted Brown Trucker. A frequent Las Vegas visitor, Kid Rock played Rain at the Palms in September as part of Playboy magazine's 50th anniversary celebration.
This time the former Bob Ritchie is armed with a new album, November's "Kid Rock." The disc marks a departure from the singer's rap-rock work to more rootsy, blues-based material.
At press time, plenty of good seats to the show remained available. And don't be surprised to see Kid Rock pop up at another venue this weekend. He's been known to make cameos from time to time, and will be a stone's throw from his buddies Phish and moe. after his show lets out.
Morrissey at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, Saturday: The gloomy ex-Smiths frontman returns to Southern Nevada to kick off his latest tour in front of a sold-out throng of screaming admirers.
Morrissey treated a pair of September 2002 performances at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay as career retrospectives, plucking tunes from his days in Britain's seminal college-rock band and from his solo career.
Saturday's show is likely to take more of a look forward, with the 44-year-old vocalist set to release his first album in nearly seven years next month.
Moe. at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, tonight and Saturday: For the second year in a row, the Upstate New York-based jam band smartly piggy-backs Phish's Vegas shows, scheduling midnight performances for the same nights.
The quintet's latest album, "Wormwood," was named album of the year at the fourth annual "Jammys," which celebrate achievement in improvisational rock music.
And you never know who might show up at a moe. concert. Last year former Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts and Phish bassist Mike Gordon dropped by to jam with the band.
Both moe. shows are sold out.
"VH1 Divas" at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Sunday: You might assume that seven years into its "Divas" concert series, VH1 would been forced to start scraping to find suitable performers.
That's hardly the case this year, with a quality assemblage of artists on tap for Las Vegas' third installment of the made-for-TV event, even if most of the names don't particularly fit the Mariah Carey "Diva" prototype.
Scheduled to perform: Patti LaBelle, Vegas resident Gladys Knight, Debbie Harry, Cyndi Lauper, Sheila E., Ashanti, Jessica Simpson, Eve, Joss Stone and Tom Jones.
Highlights from the two-year concert will air on VH1 (Cox channel 39) Sunday night at 9 p.m. and again at 11 p.m.
Henry Rollins at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, Sunday: The onetime Black Flag frontman brings his latest spoken word tour back to Las Vegas for the second time in 14 months.
Last year Rollins dedicated much of his show to discussion about the "West Memphis Three," an Arkansas trio jailed for a murder many believe they didn't commit.
This time around, Rollins is reportedly directing most of his ire at President Bush.
"I hate him so much. It doesn't matter who you vote for as long as you vote against Bush," he reportedly told an audience recently.
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