1. DJ Calvin Harris, the man who wrote “We Found Love,” Rihanna’s biggest smash ever, is celebrating his birthday by spinning at Las Vegas’ XS nightclub on Jan. 16. Crazy thing is, the XS resident DJ whose song just spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart isn’t even the highest-profile DJ at XS this month. Electronic dance music legends Tiesto and Deadmau5 both just kicked off their 2012 residencies there. Afrojack, the XS resident DJ who’s now dating Paris Hilton, is behind the decks on Jan. 14. And Swedish House Mafia’s Sebastian Ingrosso is back on Jan. 21.
XS (which had Ingrosso and Steve Angello on New Year’s Eve weekend) is sharing many DJs with other Steve Wynn venues including Surrender. But Wynn doesn’t have a monopoly on the dance parties. On Jan. 2, which was actually declared Deadmau5 day by Mayor Carolyn Goodman, Marquee at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas celebrated its one-year anniversary with Avicii, whose “Levels” might have been the top club anthem of 2012. Kaskade, a Marquee resident who rang in 2012 with a 12-hour set, is back on Jan. 14 and already thinking 13 hours for 2013. P.S. You know what knocked Rihanna and Harris off the top of the chart? “Sexy and I Know It,” by LMFAO, whose frontman, Redfoo, DJs at Marquee at the monthly Party Rock Mondays party. Not everything has to be EDM, right?
2. Caesars Palace, post-“Hangover” and post-recession, is in full-on expansion mode. It just opened the luxurious 668-room Octavius Tower, giving the property a total of nearly 4,000 rooms. A boutique Nobu tower is slated for later this year. And Caesars’ new Old Homestead is dazzling visitors with its opulent mix of New York (Pat LaFrieda beef) and Vegas (a solid team led by general manager Paul Slagle, formerly of Bartolotta). Old Homestead owners Greg and Marc Sherry like to say that their NY restaurant invented the doggy bag. One tip: It’s fine to take steak back to your hotel room after eating a seafood tower featuring king crab claws colossal enough to scare the Mandalay Bay sharks.
3. First thoughts on the new Hyde lounge at Bellagio: The mixology (including a Jose Andres-liquid nitrogen drink) is serious, the view of the fountains is grand, Hyde could work as both a pre- or post-dinner hotspot. At 10,000 square feet, Sam Nazarian’s new lounge is smaller than the party-until-you-drop clubs all over the Strip, but that’s not a complaint. Vegas needs more nightlife that feels grown-up, and Hyde could fill that need. First thoughts on the new 1OAK at the Mirage: Any spot that gets Kanye West to DJ last-minute and is run by New York’s Richie Akiva and Scott Sartiano should do fine. Locals snark that there’s not much wow factor, that it’s actually one more of the same in Vegas, and they have a point. But the club is bringing New York to Vegas with regular DJ sets from downtown fixtures like Jesse Marco and Jus-Ske. That’s not a bad start.