Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Weekend Rewind: Toronto Raptors, St. Louis Blues, Steve Aoki and more

Toronto Raptors

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The Toronto Raptors celebrate their NBA Championship at XS on June 14.

Las Vegas hot spots were awash in sports championship glory over the weekend. The Toronto Raptors celebrated their first-ever NBA Championship in Vegas, first at XS Nightclub at Encore Friday night with one of the club’s biggest resident names, Toronto native Drake, leading the way. After the rapper’s quick introductory speech, MVP Kawhi Leonard and teammates Kyle Lowry, Jodie Meeks, Serge Ibaka and others kept the party going into the wee hours. On Saturday, the Raptors picked the party right back up at KAOS Dayclub at the Palms while Marshmello provided the soundtrack with several ballers hitting the stage to spray Champagne on the crowd. And members of the St. Louis Blues also hit the Strip to celebrate their team’s first championship, bringing the Stanley Cup with them to Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace Saturday night and the Wet Republic pool party at MGM Grand on Sunday.

Of course, there were already plenty of sports-minded celebs on the Strip for the Saturday night fight between Tyson Fury and Tom Schwarz at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Spotted at the fight were NFL stars Saquon Barkley and Ndamukong Suh, retired fighters Tim Bradley, Evander Holyfield and Andre Ward, current boxer Terence Crawford, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal (who also DJ’d at Encore Beach Club Saturday night) and Major League Baseball champ Alex Rodriguez (whose fiancé Jennifer Lopez was performing at T-Mobile Arena that night).

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Meghan McCain at "Opium."

You already heard about the big-name comedians that hit the stage for the grand opening of Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club at the Linq Promenade Friday night, but Kimmel and his funny buddies weren’t the only celebs in the house. Superstar chef Gordon Ramsay, Raiders owner Mark Davis and sports journalist Bill Simmons joined the celebration, but the crowd favorite was definitely Kimmel’s sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez, who also had more fun than anybody else at the club.

“The View” co-host Meghan McCain was spotted enjoying “Opium” at the Cosmopolitan Friday night and was even pulled onstage to help out with the sword-swallowing act.

First it was the Chainsmokers, then it was Steve Aoki’s turn on Thursday night to premiere his new Viva Vision light show at the Fremont Street Experience. The globetrotting DJ, producer, philanthropist and Henderson resident joined Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and FSE President and CEO Patrick Hughes to unveil a first glimpse of the upgraded Viva Vision canopy covering Fremont through a six-minute musical montage of Aoki’s hits “Delirious,” “Azukita” and “Waste It On Me,” set to original imagery. Aoki then performed a DJ set from the Main Street Stage, where he arrived earlier by soaring over the downtown drag on the Slotzilla zipline. His Viva Vision show has been added to a rotation which also includes shows from Green Day, Imagine Dragons, the Killers and Tiësto.