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Keith Sweat performs at the Palms this weekend.
Monday, July 31, 2023 | 2 a.m.
The last time Keith Sweat performed in Las Vegas, he was sharing the stage with reunited R&B group New Edition as part of the massive Legacy Tour, which landed at T-Mobile Arena in April. This time, the 62-year-old singer who has too many hits to count will be alone in the spotlight.
“To be able to tour with the legendary New Edition along with Guy and the other [artists] on that tour, and let people know where all this real music came from, that felt good,” said Sweat. “It felt like we got to rejuvenate people and let them reminisce and relive those moments. And I only had a certain amount of time [to perform] on that tour, but these shows, I get to do everything, all the songs I want to do.”
Sweat takes over the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms for 8 p.m. concerts Aug. 4 and 5, with tickets available at ticketmaster.com.
Vegas audiences are beyond familiar with his radio-saturating grooves from the ’80s and ’90s like “Make It Last Forever,” “I Want Her,” “Nobody” and “I’ll Give All My Love to You.” And this isn’t the first time Sweat has played multiple nights in a casino venue; he performed a set of mini-residency engagements at the Flamingo Showroom on the Strip during the winter and summer of 2017.
“I’ve got a lot of fans in Vegas and it’s somewhere I always enjoy,” he said. “I’m just fortunate to be the type of artist that’s had that staying power, and to have people that appreciate all the songs I’ve written and recorded through the course of my career.”
Some fans might not know Sweat has written a handful of pop-soul hits for other artists through the years, including “Just Got Paid” by Johnny Kemp, “Come Around” by Chantay Savage, and “Freak Me,” recorded by Silk.
He’s also diversified his output by hosting the syndicated radio show The Sweat Hotel for more than a decade now. It’s available in Las Vegas through iHeartRadio online, and Sweat said it’s been an important part of connecting with his fans and continuing to advocate for his genre of music.
“Everything helps,” he said. “It helps create that legacy feeling, it keeps you relevant, and everything I do is about putting myself and this music in front of people. I understand the value of trying to do different things to keep moving forward and keep that legacy alive.”
