Christine Hahn
Katy Perry will begin her first Las Vegas residency show at the Theater at Resorts World on December 29.
Monday, June 21, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Resorts World is set to open this week on the Las Vegas Strip, but the $4.3 billion hotel and casino has already made history by rolling out an unprecedented lineup of superstar headlining residencies. Rarely in the modern era of Las Vegas has a megaresort announced headlining entertainment before its opening; Resorts World dropped four big names in April with Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan set for shows in its high-tech 5,000-seat theater.
The property’s president Scott Sibella said that announcement captured a lot of attention across the country and reminded potential post-pandemic visitors about the long awaited opening of the first new Strip resort in more than a decade.
“Unfortunately we were building this place during the worst time we’ve ever experienced. The pandemic held us back from talking about this property a lot,” he said. “We thought, who are we to announce things like this when people don’t have jobs and can’t leave their houses? And a lot of people don’t really know where Resorts World came from, so we have a lot of catchup to do in educating people.”
While Resorts World opens Thursday and is planning a series of big events for a grand opening celebration over Fourth of July weekend — including a performance by Miley Cyrus at Ayu Dayclub that will be broadcast on the hotel tower’s Strip-facing video screen on July 4 — the first event currently scheduled for the theater is Dion’s opening performance on November 5.
“Our goal is to be the best in class of everything, not just entertainment, but it’s a really big piece,” Sibella said. “We’ve committed to creating a state-of-the-art theater like no other [venue] in the world, and we knew that building had to have the best entertainers and we had to find the right people to make a statement.”
The design and planning for Resorts World, the first Las Vegas project from Malaysia’s Genting Group, has changed significantly since the global conglomerate first announced development plans in 2013 after purchasing the north Strip site from Boyd Gaming. But Vegas-style entertainment and nightlife was always going to be in the mix, and the opening this week will showcase several of those offerings.
The Singapore-based Zouk Group will handle nightlife, daylife and some dining concepts, including Ayu Dayclub, set to open July 2. Among the big-name DJs and artists slated to perform there and at Zouk Nightclub, which will open in September, are Tiësto, Zedd, J Balvin, DJ Snake, G-Eazy and Becky G.
Gatsby’s Cocktail Lounge from Clique Hospitality will open this week and host a DJ performance from the Roots drummer and “The Tonight Show” bandleader Questlove, and Nashville transplant Dawg House Saloon and Sportsbook is expected to bring more live music including Uncle Kracker on July 4.
Of course, there are many other elements and amenities to discover at Resorts World that come together to form a complete experience and generate even more excitement about the reopening of Las Vegas.
“This city has proven itself in the past and shown how resilient it is, and Las Vegas tends to rebound quicker than other cities when we have terrible times,” Sibella said. “We are so happy to help the city rebound and be a part of it and make a little more noise in Las Vegas.”
