Summer and new shows

It’s the middle of the summer, and it’s finally warmed up. July was relatively warm for us, didn’t hit 115f (46c) even once, when we usually have five or so days up there. August is usually our wettest month, though that isn’t saying much because the average rainfall for August (according to the National Weather Service) is 0.55 inches (1.4 cm), but it seemed we had a lot of thunderstorms in July and quite a few days where the highs were only around 98. So far this year, since January 1, we’ve had only 0.66 inches of rain, down from our normal of 2.6, so it looks like we are suffering from the same drought that the rest of the country has. But the forecast for the next five days or so indicates temperatures over 112 (45c) so I can enjoy some more sun time. This is coupled with a humidity of 4%, so when you get wet it dries off rather quickly. Yea statistics on line! It looks like Vegas is getting back to being a country entertainment town. Two years ago Garth Brooks got a regular gig over at the Wynn, and is still doing quite well. Last year it was announced that ShaniaTwain would be in the rotation at Caesar’s with Celine and Elton John, her shows starting this coming December. Now that ‘Country’s Golden Couple’ Tim McGraw and Faith Hill will have a ten week forty show run over at the Venetian – tickets from $95 to $295 – with a possibility of more, but they are planning a regular summer tour so they won’t be exclusive here. The Venetian has lost all of it’s major shows. The Blue Men will be moving to the Monte Carlo in a few months, the Jersey Boys have already moved over to Paris and the Phantom of the Opera will just close down at the end of the year. This leaves three big theaters open, with no announcements yet as to what will be replacing them. Tim and Faith will be in the small 1,800 seat theater, not in any of the big rooms. All of the Cirque du Soleil shows (except for Elvis) are doing fine. Elvis will be replaced by Zarkana, and a new Michael Jackson themed show will be opening at Mandalay Bay to replace the lost Lion King. We’ve seen most of the Cirque shows (well, all of them except for Elvis) and I would recommend them to anyone, especially my favorite ‘O’ at the Bellagio and Bobbie’s favorite Ka at MGM. One tip for Cirque shows: don’t sit close to the stage. Too much goes on all over the stage, from the extreme edges into the center that you miss too much if you are close up; get a seat farther back so you can see it all. At O I like the very last row – the seats rise up at a steep angle from the stage, and at the back you are high enough to look down into the pool and see what is going on underwater, something you can’t see down in front where you are eye level with the stage. And the Ka stage is so huge that you have to be back to just gather it all in. We’ll probably be back at Mystere next, the first Cirque show to open and it’s still here, as they have a local’s Tuesday two-for-one ticket special, and I’m basically cheap. Well, it’s still over a hundred dollars for us at that rate. Most of the Cirque shows do special pricing for locals, usually during the slow winter times.