Brooklyn Bowl’s first strike: Elvis Costello & The Roots

By John Katsilometes

Monday, Jan. 27, 2014 | 7 p.m.

As its name reflects, Brooklyn Bowl is the place where it’s OK to crash the party.

The 80,000-square-foot bowling and live-music venue wonderland is throwing a heavyweight opening party March 15-16, as Elvis Costello & The Roots will be the first act to play the rapidly developing Linq entertainment district. Costello & The Roots, who collaborated on the album “Wise Up Ghost” released in September, kick off an ambitious and adventurous set of dates through the summer at Brooklyn Bowl’s 2,000-seat concert venue.

Set for April 18-20 is The Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh & Friends. Primus is slated for May 1-3. Gogol Bordello (in a late-night performance) is May 2-3. Jane’s Addiction, performing “Nothings’ Shocking,” is May 8-10. The Avett Brothers are Aug. 29-31. (For information, go to Brooklyn Bowl’s official website.

Brooklyn Bowl founder Peter Shapiro is partnering with AEG Live to book shows in the Las Vegas outpost of the New York hotspot, where such artists as Kanye West, Adele, M.I.A., Bruno Mars and Bob Weir have headlined.

The strategy is for the shows at Brooklyn Bowl to complement those at the Linq’s outdoor venue, where the first show will feature Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts for the Academy of Country Music Party for a Cause festival April 4-5. Those artists are headlining the two-day event, all of it outside, also featuring Joe Nichols, Jerrod Niemann, Thomas Rhett, Chris Young, The Cadillac Three, a trio of ACM New Artist of the Year nominees and more artists to be announced.

But the scene at Brooklyn Bowl is rooted in multiplicity. You do bowl in this place, with 32 lanes open for business (twice as many as in the original venue). You can eat between frames, or during performances, as Brooklyn Bowl’s culinary partner is Blue Ribbon Restaurants, which already operates Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Five lounges are being built into the massive, three-level structure, which is nearly four times the size of the original in Brooklyn.

The concert hall’s venue is somewhat akin to the design of the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and the new Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, with a vast standing area and upper level facing the stage. At stage right are a set of 16 bowling lanes, where those who are bowling have full view of the performance but are out of sight for those who are watching the show. The lanes, or “lounges” as they are called, are replete with leather-upholstered couches. High above are a series of private lounge boxes.

The Brooklyn Bowl team is clearly intent on becoming a major player — and we are not talking about just bowling — in the Vegas entertainment scene.

“We are thrilled to bring the unique Brooklyn Bowl vibe to Las Vegas,” Shapiro said in a statement being issued this week. “This multi-sensory, free-standing performance venue will allow people to have a full dining, social and concert experience under one roof.”

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.