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March 28, 2024

North end of Strip is fired up with Party for a Cause and Lambert’s show

2016 ACM Party for a Cause: Day 1

Tom Donoghue / DonoghuePhotography.com

Day 1 of 2016 ACM Party for a Cause with Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Kelsea Ballerini and Maddie & Tae, pictured here, on Friday, April 1, 2016, at Las Vegas Festival Grounds.

ACM Hosts Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley

2016 ACM Awards hosts Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley on Friday, April 1, 2016, at MGM Grand. Launch slideshow »

It is the corner that needs to turn the corner: Sahara Avenue and the Strip. On the southwest parcel is the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. On the southeast, as you view the aerial mental map, is SLS Las Vegas.

As recently as three years ago, both of those areas were dark at night. The Sahara had been closed for the overhaul that would lead to the eventual reopening of Sahara as SLS. Across the Strip, that 50 or so acres sat dark, awaiting animation. That happened when MGM Resorts took over the property and built the infrastructure for major festivals and events, now dubbed Las Vegas Festival Grounds.

Both of those regions were alive Friday night, with the ACM Party for a Cause spread across the Festival Grounds and a capacity-crowd concert at the Foundry at SLS.

About 17,000 fans populated the Festival Grounds of Party for a Cause, the charity event tied to the 2016 ACM Awards set for Sunday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. That was about where organizers pinned their hopes in the run-up to the event, which Friday was headlined by Carrie Underwood and continues tonight with an afternoon- and evening-long set capped by Dierks Bentley at 10:10 p.m. Sunday, it’s Kenny Chesney at 7:10 p.m. as the Party for a Cause runs concurrently with the awards at Grand Garden Arena.

The dueling events Friday presented a rare chance to alternate between shows at SLS and the Festival Grounds. So I did that, in a challenging afternoon and evening even by the standards of my manic schedule. Starting at Party for a Cause, I caught the sets by Cam, Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, Kellie Pickler and Martina McBride before scrambling across to the Lambert show.

The afternoon crowd at the ACM Awards built quickly, with 7,500 or so in the venue in the first couple of hours. One young couple I ran into said they were staying at the Linq Hotel and had been issued RFID wristbands for all three nights of Party for a Cause. The gentleman, 25-year-old Craig Arnold, was in from Houston and said he took the Monorail to the site.

“It’s some walking, but you expect that when you sign up,” he said. “As long as you know how to deal with getting in and out, you’re OK. It’s a blast here, once you get here.”

The lot was laden with food stations, cowboy retail center, Ferris wheel and Big Shot thrill ride. Two stages were set up, a side stage for emerging artists (Lauren Alaina, Kelleigh Bannen, Brandy Clark and Jana Kramer played Friday) and the main Dodge Ram stage, which was a good bit smaller than the stage used for Rock in Rio. The sound didn’t carry particularly well to the back of the venue, but the configuration satisfied the SRO crowd packed near the front.

During that earlier segment at the main stage, Ballerini was presented her ACM Best New Female Artist of the Year award by ACM CEO Bob Romeo. The night was billed the ACM Women of Country Night. (To be honest, I’d not considered that the lineup was all-female until it was pointed out to me when I got to the show.)

Ballerini, whose current hit is “Peter Pan” and who is to duet with Nick Jonas on the ACM Awards telecast Sunday, is a natural performer and seems a star in the making. Pickler was especially impressive, too, and her set reminded of the list of great performers who appeared on Season 5 of “American Idol,” when she competed against Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Bucky Covington, Ace Hicks — and column friend Amanda Avila of Las Vegas. The champ was another buddy, former Paris and Bally’s headliner Taylor Hicks.

The break between McBride and Underwood presented the window to cross the Strip for Lambert. I’d not seen a full set by Lambert, yet another “Idol” alum (from Season 8, when Lambert finished as runner-up to Kris Allen). But I was struck instantly by Lambert’s range — vocally and for the wide demographic array in the room.

As Lambert said from the stage, “I can’t get over the diversity of my fans out there. We have everyone represented tonight.” He was right about that. Everyone joins the party for Lambert, who spent four years fronting Queen (two words: Instant credibility).

In that jammed Foundry crowd of 1,800 was SLS Las Vegas President Scott Kreeger, who says he is happy with the energy, feel and feedback from the Foundry (which opened as Life nightclub and has been reinvented as a killer concert venue). Also in the room were such local luminaries as Mark Shunock and his wife, Cheryl Daro, who were there to see Lambert and one of his backing dancers, Terrance Spencer, who appeared with Shunock in “Rock of Ages” when it was at the Venetian. (We also seize the moment to note the Canada-born Shunock’s new status as a U.S. citizen, achieved Friday, and his birthday today).

In an expertly delivered presentation, Lambert coursed through “Better Than I Know Myself,” “For Your Entertainment,” “Welcome to the Show,” “Ghost Town,” “Underground” and “Lucy” before I checked the clock, and it was Carrie: 30.

Back to the Party for a Cause in time to see Underwood, a vision in bedazzled white, accepting the ACM Lifting Lives Gary Haber Award from Romeo. The award is named for the late chairman of the Lifting Lives Board of Directors, who headed up a charity that supports wounded veterans as they return to day-to-day civilian life. Underwood broke down as Romeo thanked her, saying, “Every time we needed you to do something for the charity, you said yes.”

“Oh, no,” Underwood said, her voice wavering. “Here I go … and I still need to sing!”

She gathered herself to welcome Miranda Lambert to the show, and the crowd roared, knowing what was next: The throw-it-down duet “Something Bad.” Message: Do not piss off these women.

The set closed with an all-star rendition of “Before He Cheats,” with Underwood joined by many of the earlier performers, and an encore of “Smoke Break” and “Something in the Water.”

There is more of the same tonight, and we’re heading back to that lot on the corner, which is north on the Strip but — at the moment — the center of attention.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow Kats on Instagram at Instagram.com/JohnnyKats1.

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