Musical residencies are en vogue in Las Vegas.
Up and down the Strip, top performers are booked into theaters for extended show runs. It’s not a new phenomenon—but it’s become wildly popular and almost de rigueur at casino resorts.
In 2022, you can come to Vegas and catch performances by Lady Gaga. The Scorpions. Backstreet Boys. Carrie Underwood. Usher. Katy Perry. Keith Urban. Sting. Shania Twain. Luke Bryan. Aerosmith. Lionel Ritchie. Def Leppard.
And on and on.
I recently experienced the perfect musical-residency sandwich. My evening trifecta began and ended inside Park MGM. It started with dinner at the swanky restaurant NoMad Library.
Then came the meaty main course: a performance by Silk Sonic at the 5,200-seat Dolby Live theater. The Grammy-winning group is a shared showcase from headliners Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak.
For a nightcap: On The Record nightclub, right across the Park MGM casino floor from Dolby Live.
Here’s how you do it.
The NoMad Library
NoMad Las Vegas is a boutique hotel property with a residential feel. This hotel-within-a-hotel has 293 rooms that take up the top four floors of Park MGM.
NoMad Library is on the ground floor of Park MGM. The entirety of NoMad is somewhat secretive and clubby. The Library is actually shrouded from view by a floor-to-ceiling black curtain.
I’ve walked down the lobby outside the eatery several times and never knew it was there.
When the curtain is parted, The Library gives newcomers pause. The room is sparsely lighted but immense. It exudes the grandiosity of a grand edifice—specifically the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in Rio de Janeiro.
In the dark, red booths look like fancy study tables. And the walls are lined with 25,000 real books—all from the personal collection of David Rockefeller.
The menu offerings range from meticulously sculpted seafood dishes. A Fruits de Mer appetizer included oysters Madison served with mignonette and broiled Rockefeller style.
My Wagyu prime rib was carved tableside and it was complemented by Ridiculous Mac & Cheese, enlivened with lobster and black truffle.
It was the perfect belly filler in preparation for some Silk Sonic stylings.
Silk Sonic
Despite winning three Grammys in 2022, Silk Sonic is a slightly enigmatic fusion group.
Most people are aware of the all-around super talent possessed by Bruno Mars. Less of a household name but equally energetic is Anderson .Paak.
Together, and backed by Mars’ singers and instrumental squad, the Silk Sonic performance literally explodes (pyrotechnically, too) onstage.
The show at Dolby Live is high-energy and fun, offering 5,000 fans a chance to get up and dance to fresh sounds that draw from 1970s R&B.
Mars and .Paak clearly enjoy each other’s company. They alternate doing lead and backing vocals. Each even takes a turn playing drums while the other sings their own contemporary hits.
The show is well-choreographed and watching the dance numbers play out on a 140-foot stage is nearly half the fun.
Why is Silk Sonic a bit of a mystery to the general public?
Maybe it’s because cell phones and cameras are banned from their shows.
Guests arriving at the Dolby live entrance hand phones over to attendants. Cells are placed into secure YONDR pouches. You take the pouch with you, but it can’t be opened during the show.
The YONDR pouch is opened for you by staff as you leave the theater.
Silk Sonic’s residency at Dolby Live runs through May 2022. Shows are scheduled for May 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 25, 28 and 29. Get ticket information: HERE.
On The Record
Post-concert, the line swells at two-story night club Off The Record.
It looks like a throwback vinyl record store on the first floor. Hop on the escalator to the second floor and the needle skips. The 11,000-square-foot club is phantasmagoric.
In no particular order there’s:
A DJ booth built out of the front end of an actual Rolls-Royce (the car’s back seat rests across the way in the front bar). Anderson .Paak is known to DJ on occasion.
Fireplace-equipped VIP areas.
Disco-ball-lighted karaoke rooms.
Floor-to-ceiling walls made out of cassette tapes.
A speakeasy decorated with classic vinyl records and manned by rotating celebrity mixologists.
An open-air area half-filled by a red, full-sized double-decker bus (which had to be maneuvered in by crane).
Dinner, a show and a night-club nightcap. Fo’ show. J&J
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