Ne-Yo opens his Wynn residency with his own day, and a key to the city

As soon as R&B artist extraordinaire Ne-Yo took to the stage Wednesday at Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas, it was apparent the night belonged to him.

Turns out the entire day belonged to him too.

Two songs into opening night of Ne-Yo’s “Human Love Rebellion” residency — his first in his hometown — the Grammy Award-winning artist was met by a surprise visitor on stage: Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who presented Ne-Yo with a proclamation designating Aug. 7 as “Shaffer ‘Ne-Yo’ Smith Day” in Las Vegas.

Goodman wasn’t finished, though, noting that “a day is not good enough … for this great talent, songwriter, dancer, inspiration and (Las Vegas) family (member).

“For this great, enormous city — the entertainment, now sports, capital of the world — we give out, very rarely, a special key to the city,” the mayor said, handing the honorarium to Ne-Yo.

The key, Goodman pointed out to the delight of the audience and the artist, “has extra jewels (compared with) the one that we gave to Usher two months ago. … When you’re home-grown, my dear man, you get extra jewels.”

Ne-Yo, decked out in a leopard skin-print suit and black fedora, was taken aback, joking that “I can’t be crying in this suit.”

Mayoral niceties aside, the night did belong to Ne-Yo, who grew up in Las Vegas, attended what is now Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, graduated from Rancho High School and described his “first real entertainment job” as being an understudy for the show “EFX” at the MGM Grand. Since then, he’s skyrocketed into fame, recording and writing hits of his own and for others, including some of the music business’s biggest names.

Surrounded much of the night by a sextet of dancers, Ne-Yo navigated through his 90-plus minute set dancing, smiling, storytelling and singing.

His set included what he called his “classic classics” — the songs that longtime fans listened to back in high school — and “future classics: his newer material that someday in the future may become their own ‘classic classics.’”

From the opening “Closer” to the ending “Give Me Everything,” Ne-Yo had the audience rocking. Often, he’d ask, “Vegas, you know the words to this song? If you do, sing along,” and the crowd would join in.

Among the highlights was a montage of his songs recorded by other artists, including Rhiannon’s “Take a Bow” and Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.”

His rendition of “Miss Independent,” which won two Grammys in 2009, brought the house down and was followed by the equally popular 2012 hit “Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself).”

“Work Hard, Play Hard” had the entire audience dancing and singing with the artist, as was the case with songs throughout the night.

For the Pitbull lovers in the house, Ne-Yo closed the show with the foot-tapping “Time of Our Lives” and “Give Me Everything.”

The artist, clearly touched by the occasion, ended the night — and his official day — with a nod to the audience, “Thank you for being a part of my first Las Vegas residency.”

“Ne-Yo’s Human Love Rebellion” residency continues at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at Encore Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas. For ticket information, visit this link.

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