Palms Spectacular Spectacular lives up to name

By Deanna Rilling

Friday, Jan. 1, 2010 | 1:08 a.m.

For the countdown to 2010, N9NE Group and the Palms Casino & Resort billed the festivities as a Spectacular Spectacular. Rightly so, as the property brought in the new year with a bang and planned on partying until the break of dawn with all four venues catering to a multitude of clubgoers and tastes.

Ghostbar got things started at 8 p.m., and doors for Moon, Rain and the Playboy club opened early for the holiday at 9 p.m. For those opting to go all out and looking for variety without the hassle of battling traffic on the Strip, the Spectacular Spectacular offered a VIP all-access pass to all four venues for $375 — a relative deal with most individual clubs on Las Vegas Boulevard going for $100-$250. For $100 more, partygoers could partake in a hosted bar at the N9NE Group hotspots. General admission passes to an individual club at the Palms ranged from $75 to $150.

Fans of nostalgia opted to check out Ghostbar, where nationally acclaimed '80s cover band Flashback Heart Attack rang in 2010 like it was the start of a decade of excess and Aquanet.

High atop the Palms tower, Ghostbar offered a prime vantage point of the entire Strip and the rooftop fireworks show at midnight. Also overlooking the mayhem of New Year's in Las Vegas from on high at The Palms' other tower, Moon was bumping to the beats of Z-Trip and his dizzying turntabilist skills. The 2009 America's Best DJ winner became a resident at Rain in October with the weekly Friday night party "Z-Trip's Revolution," and though he was at Moon for NYE, the energy he brought to the tables resonated with the crowd counting down the minutes to 2010.

Fresh off their concert at The Pearl during the last hours of 2009, Maroon 5 spent the start of their 2010 as hosts in the swanky Playboy Club. The band enjoyed the scenery of the Vegas lights through floor-to-ceiling windows while others in the club barely looked up from the gaming tables as 2010 approached.

And in the grandaddy of all property's clubs, legendary DJ/producer Paul Oakenfold reigned supreme for the second New Year's Eve in a row at Rain, the largest Palms nightspot. Known for his Saturday night Perfecto parties, the DJ amazed at the all-out bash, as fire effects skirted overhead in the packed club. Oakenfold paid respects to the fallen DJ AM - the fallen resident at the Palms on Fridays who passed away earlier this year - by wearing a DJ AM T-shirt.

As Rain prepared to say goodbye to another year, the giant video screens led the crowd in a communal countdown. Tissue-paper confetti fell from the sky at the stroke of midnight, and Oakenfold kicked off his set with a remix of U2's seamlessly appropriate "New Year's Day."