Las Vegas News and Information Since 2005
Purple Reign is a Prince tribute band that has played numerous resorts in Las Vegas over the years and gets good reviews for its show. Recently the group performed at the off Strip Westgate and, when that came to an end less than a month ago the question was how long before they showed up somewhere else in town; Starting November 1st, Purple Reign are back on the Strip this time at the Tropicana, if you are a fan of Prince or his music this show is well worth checking out.
The remodeled sports book at the Wynn Las Vegas is now open with of course the latest technology with the betting desks equipped with usb outlets as well as power outlets. The betting wall has also been updated with a huge 137” x 11’ LED video screen with 21 million pixels as well as an additional 35 monitors. Zoozcrakers Deli has also been renamed to Charlies Bar & Grill after legendary casino host Charlie Meyerson. The remodeled Encore sports book is due to open today and, with the huge remodeled sports book at the Westgate also a good option there is lots of updated places to watch a game and bet.
The annual World Series of Beer Pong tournament is nearly here with it scheduled for July 6th to July 10th at a new home at the Westgate. We have reported on the World Series of Beer Pong before at the Flamingo but with its most recent home at the Riviera now closed its good to see the event has found a new home at the Westgate. The event is in its 11th year and the players are competing for $65,000 in prize money and thats a lot of beer money.
When the Suzanne Somers show called ‘Suzanne Sizzles’ was announced for the Westgate it seemed a little unusual choice to us as the former LVH makes an overhaul to the property including its entertainment offerings. The thought might have been Suzanne Somers would be popular to the Westgate time share owners who tendered to be older and might remember her from her fame in the 70’s and 80’s. Suzanne Somers has announced that the ‘Suzanne Sizzles’ show will not return after its break in September and no word yet on what will replace it but the recently announced Dirk Arthur show will most likely be in the mix.
There was a time in Las Vegas that every big resort would have a magic show featuring big cats in its showroom. Most of this type of show have vanished because of changing audience tastes in Las Vegas as well as lot more variety in the types of shows and acts available with many Cirque shows taking over the big showrooms. One big cat magician that has performed fairly often is magician Dirk Arthur who has performed all over town most recently at the Riviera where he had the bad fortune to open his show there at that property as the days for the Riviera were numbered. Well Dirk Arthur has a new home for him and his big cats as his new show ‘Dirk Arthur’s Wild Magic’ is scheduled to open at the Westgate with a debut of August 24th set as the first performance. The show runs Monday to Saturday with a start time of 4 pm with tickets starting at $50 plus the usual taxes and fees with tickets now on sale. Dirk Arthur’s past shows generally get good reviews and, it’s also an early show which is a plus if you plan to go out after the show for dinner, gambling or clubbing etc.
The revamp of the restaurant offerings at the Westgate continues as TJ’s Steakhouse has closed and has been replaced with another steakhouse called Edge Steakhouse which is a brand from Utah. The Edge Steakhouse at the Westgate LV had an announced opening date of July 28th although a call to the property confirms that the change has already occurred and its open for business. This isn’t the first Edge Steakhouse to open at a Westgate resort as one opened at the Park City Utah property in 2012 and has won many awards so it will be interesting to see how it fairs in a very competitive Las Vegas market. Edge Steakhouse features Wagyu Beef from Snake River Farm as well as tableside preparations such a fresh seafood tower, micro deserts and tableside caesar salads made to order. Its nice to see Westgate update the former LVH which was longtime know to many as the Las Vegas Hilton a property that although in good condition hasn’t been updated a lot over the years.
Last Monday the Riviera Hotel closed after 60 years on the Las Vegas Strip to make way for more exhibit and meeting space for the Las Vegas Convention Center. If you still have some casino chips left over you can still cash them in if you desire even though the Riviera is closed until September 1st 2015 after which time they will become souvenirs. If you want to cash out those chips take them to the nearby Westgate Las Vegas and redeem them at the casino cage while you still can. Most likely the Westgate is getting a cut of these transactions but it’s not uncommon for this to happen when a property closes down; When the Sahara closed to be reborn as the SLS there was a similar deal where you could cash out your Sahara chips at MGM’s Circus Circus also for a limited time.
Tomorrow is the 59th anniversary of Elvis Presleys first ever Las Vegas performance at the former International Hotel now called the Westgate so it seems fitting to pick tomorrow for a red carpet event and, a ribbon cutting of an Elvis themed attraction at the property. The new attraction called Elvis: The Exhibition showcases artifacts from the King’s live with a special emphasis on Las Vegas related items such as his lavish costumes from his Las Vegas stage shows. The red carpet event also marks the debut of ‘The Elvis Experience’ production show with Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley both due to appear at the ribbon cutting and event tomorrow. When the former Las Vegas Hilton which briefly was the LVH was taken over by Westgate a timeshare company many were worried that the property would be just that a place for timeshare owners not the regular visitor to Las Vegas who wouldn’t have a reason to visit the property; Fortunately for the visitor to Las Vegas the new owners of the now Westgate have upgraded the property without changing the historic nature of the property and in fact by drawing on the history that Elvis has had with the building they have enhanced the experience and givien a reason for the Las Vegas tourist to take a monorail or cab over to the property from the Strip to check it out.
The changes continue at Westgate Las Vegas as the new owners revamp the former LVH with work currently going on include an installation of a marble path across the casino. One recent addition to the property is a new bar added just inside the main entrance with the name of International which is a nice choice for a name; The reason why the name is cool is because its a nod to the original name of the property ‘The International’ which was the home of Elvis for many years. Next on the list is a update to the famous sportsbook which hopefully they don’t change too much but it does need an update as for example many of the large televisions on the board are dated. It a time when we have often seen resorts cutting services or deferring maintenance and improvements its nice to see a operator put money in to refresh their property.
The Westgate continues to update its property with the revamping of rooms, pool deck and shows as well as making changes to its restaurant line up including the recent opening of the Silk Road Noodle Bar. The new restaurant is open from 5:30 to 10:30pm daily and includes items all the items you might expect on a noodle restaurant menu including an item called Five Flavor Chicken which sounds interesting. Upcoming changes at the restaurants also include rebranding of TJ’s Steakhouse in to the Edge Steakhouse and, most likely more changes down the road as we get nearer to the Graceland Elvis attraction opening.
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