Tiesto is one of the headliners at the MGM Grand’s Hakkasan and Wet Republic (pictured). (© RD/ Kabik/ Retna Digital)
HEY, MR. DJ: Tiesto holds it down at Wet Republic (right); David Guetta makes the XS crowd sweat (bottom left); Kaskade has a summer residency at Marquee (top left). (
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Last summer Las Vegas was ballyhooed as the Ibiza of North America — and with good reason, considering that top-line DJs such as Kaskade, Swedish House Mafia and Avicii made for unforgettable times on the Strip. Venues including XS, Tryst, Surrender, Encore Beach Club and Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub provided Vegas with a noon ’til dawn soundtrack of joyous beats and daring drops.
This summer things ratchet up to the next level.
The city’s recent standard-bearers of electronic dance music face new competitors that boast outrageous spaces, eye-popping budgets and whale-size ambitions. On the night of April 25, Hakkasan Las Vegas has its grand opening at MGM Grand with Steve Aoki. One night later Light powers up with Nicky Romero at Mandalay Bay, and an accompanying beach club, Daylight, goes live over Memorial Day weekend.
Looking to rise above the city’s gold-standard fray, the 38,000-square-foot Light has partnered with Cirque du Soleil to augment DJ beats with mind-blowing acrobatics. According to Andy Masi, CEO of the Light Group, which has been operating in Vegas since 2001, “DJs met with Cirque, which then created custom performances. It’s not stop and start and stare at the show — it’s taking customers to another space. Amazing things will be going on all around you. For Axwell [who DJs on April 27], Cirque created a video and special costumes.”
In line with Sin City’s current modus operandi, Masi is aiming for a seamless day/night experience. From his perspective, it will ideally begin with revelers greeting the sun at the 50,000-square-foot Daylight, which draws inspiration directly from the best of Ibiza. “Sound, lights and LED at Daylight are like nothing seen before,” Masi vows. “You’ll have a true nightlife experience at the pool.” Keeping things hopping will be a stellar lineup of DJs who include Skrillex, Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso.
About a mile up the Strip at MGM Grand, electronic dance-music veteran Neil Moffitt, CEO of Angel Management Group, and his partner Hakkasan Ltd. will take aim at Vegas’s stylish, moneyed set. At 75,000 square feet, the five-story Hakkasan Las Vegas ranks as the largest night spot in town. Besides a big dance club, it will include an outpost of the blue-chip Chinese restaurant of the same name and the chilled-out Ling Ling lounge with hand-crafted cocktails mixed to a mellower playlist (Questlove is a Ling Ling resident DJ). Moffitt says that the overall space has been designed so that it can be broken up into four discrete experiences.
“My attention span is limited; I like being able to walk around and [see different things],” Moffitt says. “There are people who enjoy hip-hop, people who like live performances, people who are still enamored with celebrities hosting an event. We have not planned for tomorrow, we have planned for the next seven years.” For today, Moffitt, in collaboration with his deep-pocketed partner, has managed to lure some of the most coveted DJs in the world: Calvin Harris, Tiesto and deadmau5 have all signed exclusive deals to spin at Hakkasan and MGM Grand’s Wet Republic pool club.
While Light and Hakkasan have been designed to snag market share, entrenched turks of Vegas nightlife are not exactly sweating. Jason Strauss, co-owner of the Marquee clubs (as well as Tao and Lavo), sounds secure enough to welcome competition.
“I think it proves even further that Las Vegas is the nightlife capital of the world,” says Strauss, who’s presenting Kaskade’s Summer Lovin residency at Marquee in the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas starting May 4 and offering regular gigs by other elite DJs such as Gareth Emery and Sander Van Doorn. “Competing casinos [and nightlife entrepreneurs] are investing lots of money into the EDM space that Marquee helped create. It will be great to have new people doing giant marketing campaigns. We are not concerned.”
Nor is Jesse Waits, managing partner at Steve Wynn’s XS and Tryst. His solid DJ lineups include Steve Angello, Afrojack, Dirty South, Knife Party and David Guetta this summer. Waits, who is also sharing Avicii with Encore Beach Club and Marquee, has seen his clubs thrive in the face of well-hyped night spots like Haze, Hyde, 1OAK and, yes, Marquee infringing on his territory. XS celebrated its fourth anniversary with a Guetta DJ set earlier this month.
“People will want to see the new places, and I can’t blame them for that,” says Waits, sounding unfazed. “But I’m confident that they’ll come back to us. I’ve seen it happen before and I’m sure it will happen again.”