Pretty much every major performer of every music genre spends some time in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Strip hosts residencies featuring many of the biggest stars of today including Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Adele, Bruno Mars, Luke Bryan, Usher, Miranda Lambert, Pitbull, and John Legend. In addition to those current stars, the city also serves the nostalgia market with residencies featuring Sting, Barry Manilow, Santana, Shania Twain, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Lionel Richie, and ZZ Top.
Sin City also has hologram-based shows in memory of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson as well as a Cirque du Soleil show based on the music of the Beatles. Add in that pretty much every DJ and electronic music figure works regularly both at night and day clubs all along the Strip and you have a very crowded market competing for tourist dollars.
So, to get attention -- especially when you have a property that's off the Strip -- you have to do something very different. That's why Caesars Entertainment (CZR) and the newly-reopened Palms both have planned a new type of headline act trying to find an unserved niche in a city that seemingly has something for every musical taste.
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Caesars' Rio, Palms Casino Lean Into Music Trend
Rio, Caesars only property off the Strip, and Palms, which is owned by the San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority, an affiliate of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, both have less-than-ideal locations. Being off the Strip and not in the downtown Fremont St. area makes it harder to attract customers so both resorts have tried to offer unique things to lure people in.
Rio, for example, is an all-suites hotel, while the Palms has built an impressive array of dining options designed to make the property enticing. Both resorts have also tried to differentiate their entertainment options.
Palms has its Pearl Theater which hosts headline acts as well as its Kaos & Soak nightclub/dayclub (where major names like Diddy and Frankie Moreno appear). Caesars' Rio has Penn & Teller as major headliners along with a classic Las Vegas revue-style show, a comedy club, the Chippendales, and The Duomo, a venue dedicated to band-based music performances.
Now, both Rio and the Palms have leaned into a new trend called yacht rock that has a soft rock vibe of the '70s and '80s, and both resorts are adding musical acts that perform it.
Caesars Rio and the Palms Host Yacht Rock Acts
Rio will bring in The Docksiders, a yacht rock act that covers all the hits of the genre for a residency that begins Sept. 8 and runs at least until the end of November.
"The Docksiders have dropped anchor at The Duomo – inside the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino – with a unique tribute to your favorite soft rock songs of the 70s and 80s! Las Vegas’ only Yacht Rock sensation, led by 3-time Grammy™ nominee, Kevin Sucher, The Docksiders will immerse fans into a bygone era with costume changes, visual production and world-class performance," the band shared on its website.
The Palms won't be making quite as big a commitment to yacht rock as its off-strip rival, but it will be bringing in one of the titans of the genre (if yacht rock cover bands can have a titan).
"The Docksiders both follow and precede the long-established yacht rock band Yächtley Crëw to Las Vegas. The band returns to Kaos at the Palms for six dates, running Nov. 18-19, Dec. 29-30 and Feb. 24-25. The aquatically inspired act joins Frankie Moreno as Kaos’s recurring residency performers (Moreno returns Sept. 23-24, and is expected back in early 2023)," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
