Viva Las Vegas (Arena): Wayne Newton eager to jam with The Killers on opening night

By John Katsilometes

Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Many of the venues Wayne Newton has played in Las Vegas have been knocked down. But the next is being built, even at this moment.

Mr. Las Vegas is opening Las Vegas Arena on the night of April 6, performing ahead of Las Vegas rockers The Killers on a bill that also features North Las Vegas EDM star Shamir. Tickets for the show are on sale now by calling 888.9.AXS.TIX and available online at AXS.com. Prices are $35 to $90.

Over a career spanning seven decades in Las Vegas, Newton has performed at such notable hotels as the Fremont and Flamingo, where he made his showroom debut in 1965.

But he’s also performed in a wide assortment of hotels that have since been demolished, the Sands, Frontier and Stardust among them. This is the first arena opening for Newton, who has recently opened his famed Casa de Shenandoah ranch at Sunset and Pecos to the public.

Newton chatted over the phone about lifting the lid on Las Vegas Arena with his fellow Las Vegans The Killers. Highlights from that session:

Newton’s family and The Killers share an odd connection: As Newton relates, “The strange thing is that (drummer) Ronnie Vannucci’s uncle (Dominic) started the law firm that Kat was a part of in Cleveland. We ran into Ronnie at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah a couple of years ago and hung out with him and talked all about it.”

Indeed, Kathleen Newton was working in that firm when she met Wayne, and the two have been married since 1994.

Newton met the band during a video shoot more than three years ago: “I did this thing at their studios in Las Vegas, with Andre Agassi and Carrot Top and a bunch of others, and there is one shot of me schooling the musicians as to how they were to play and how they were to act,” Newton said, laughing. “You know, me being me.”

This clip for NME was a satirized tour of Battle Born studios in Las Vegas, which also featured UFC star Forrest Griffin as a security guard and appearances by magician Dirk Arthur, Cirque du Soleil artists and members of “Jubilee.” The five-minute tour begins with Vannucci saying, “This isn’t an ordinary studio. It’s something special.”

Newton has encountered Flowers randomly, and as planned, over the past couple of years: “We were together for a Billboard magazine interview where we were photographed at Shenandoah in our tuxes,” Newton said of a session at the ranch in February. “We’re friends with the band in all kinds of ways. Once Kat and I were out looking for property on the west side of town, we’re driving around this one area, and who’s walking down the street but Brandon and his three kids. So … (laughs) we know them.”

Newton is yet unsure of how the night will unfold, but he is expecting to perform with The Killers: “Brandon and I are going to get together and talk about it. I’ll be doing about 20 to 25 minutes, and then they’ll play,” Newton said. “I really can’t divulge any of that because we haven’t discussed it yet, but I’ll be performing on my own and, I think, with them.”

Las Vegas Arena is the largest venue Newton will headline ever in Las Vegas: “I did the Fourth of July concert years ago at the Washington Mall, 400,000 people there, and other venues like football stadiums when I was campaigning for President Reagan, but this is, in terms of just an entertainment performance in Las Vegas, the biggest,” he said. “I’ve done things where I’ve opened the rodeo, coming in on a horse and singing one song, but this is a full show with the emphasis on the show.”

It also is Newton’s first ticketed performance in Las Vegas since he closed “Once Before I Go” at Tropicana in April 2010.

Taking the stage at Las Vegas Arena is “a tremendous compliment.”: No surprise there, as Newton has watched the city’s growth explode around Shenandoah. “Kat and I were watching TV the other night, and I asked her, ‘Who opened the Thomas & Mack Center?’ It was Frank, Dean and Diana Ross. I think this really is more special because they’ve gone a totally different way in making sure the opening acts are all part of Las Vegas, and that’s a tremendous step toward recognizing some of our own.

“I think it’s really exciting and fun to do with people I know, I like and I respect.”

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