"People can expect to see something that the town has not seen before. It really speaks for itself. The talent speaks for itself. I think I can sit and talk forever, but we have been very focused on what we want it to be and the design and the sound. People come here to see a show. There are good venues and there are bad venues and we want to be a great venue. Our first goal was to create a space where every seat had a perfect view. The comfort level of the customer was number one and right behind that is the comfort level of the artist we needed the perfect space, the perfect sound and once they play it, everyone will want to play it. We will go after A, B and C acts, but the goal was to create an atmosphere that wasn't a nightclub, and afterthought or a converted square box where banquets were held. This is for music and all about music. The Palms is becoming a music city in its own right. We can offer these great venues and a place for musicians to play. This city deserves the best.
We started with the recoding studio and now this. It was for making a special place for those people who love music. The venue is hard wired to the studio so if the band wants to record a track from the venue they will be able to do that. It is the only studio that is equipped to do that. The natural outcome will be a series of Live from the Palms albums. We have an agreement with iTunes for 3 years and we are going to create content so that is the goal. Everybody wants to know about the opening star but first we want to figure out when the actual date is first, but we have had a lot of interest in it and we have had a lot of big names that want to perform at the opening. Throughout the years ever since we started the design of this I have talked to everybody including Britney. They can't wait and it will be a true venue that the whole city will be proud of. We wanted to ensure the artists' comfort level was important, that the stage was big, but not too big, deep, but not too deep, the load in was important, the placement of the video. Where the video walls are, lighting, sound, multiple green rooms, and just an overall comfort level and making the connection of the tower to the venue so that way if the artist is staying in the tower, they don't have to walk through the casino, the have a direct route. A lot of our suites will be used for that purpose. It will be a 30-second walk for them to the stage."
I so much admire Richard Abowitz's unique writing style, that I thought you'd like to see a portion of his blog entry:
"Along with AOL's Robin Leach I got a hard-hat tour of the new Pearl concert theater the Palms plans to open in March. Palms owner George Maloof led the tour, and noted this was the last major project in the Palms expansion that also includes the Fantasy Tower, the Playboy Club and the Palms recording studio. I mentioned to Maloof that he caught a lucky bounce on this one. The Pearl will be opening while both the Hard Rock's concert hall and Aladdin's Theater are being revamped; there may be reduced competition when he opens. Maloof smiled at me kindly and shook his head: "When you enter the market in Las Vegas you have to expect to compete and compete very hard every moment, every day, all year. If you don't have the stomach for that, Las Vegas isn't the place to be." Click here to read the rest of Richard's blog. You'll be happy you did.
George admitted that he's spending north of $50-million on the state-of-the-art theater to make it the most fantastic concert venue of its size in the country, if not the world. The development team carefully crafted each aspect to make certain everyone from production, the artists themselves and the band members, to the audience and employees working the venue, had all the tools needed to experience a live music event unlike any other. The intimate venue is designed to be a true modern marvel of technology and innovation beginning with seating design. The Pearl comfortably tucks into its intimate setting all of the high-end amenities you would find in larger venues. With special scalable curtains, The Pearl's capacity can easily adjust to accommodate from 1,100 to 2,400 guests. In addition, the floor will allow for seated concert viewing or general admission standing room audiences. With no seating obstructions, the farthest seat from the stage will be a mere 120 feet away, allowing performers to personally connect with the entire audience. Two 14-foot by 16-foot video screens will be located on each side of the stage for close up looks at the on-stage action with additional plasma screens located throughout the concourse areas. The Pearl has three levels of seating with beverage stations and restroom facilities located on each level. The state-of-the-art venue features 18 private and semi-private skyboxes with exclusive bars and restrooms and many including personal lounges, ensuring the ultimate in luxury concert viewing.
RECORD WITH YOUR FAVORITE STARS
During my ABC Radio producer Al Mancini's chat with Palms recording studio director Zoe Thrall, he learned how it's all connected seamlessly and at the same time how any well-heeled fan can record with his or her very favorite recording group at a pretty steep price! Here's their conversation...
Al Mancini: Tell me how this new venue plays into this recording studio and this master plan you have going on here.
Zoe Thrall: Well, coming from a purely studio-orientation to now have a music venue directly connected to the studio. I cannot wait until this opens. From the perspective of the artist to be able to easily and effortlessly record at a moments notice. It is very special and unique. I have never heard of any sort of thing like this before. It is a very cost effective way of doing a live album.
AM: Do you think that Vegas in general and the Palms are becoming a music capital of the world?
ZT: Without question. I have only been in Vegas for a year and a half and I have seen more music in that time than I did in New York in 10 years. Every genre of music is represented here and the Palms and George Maloof specifically wants to make this a great music place.
AM: Now, I know there is a certain amount of confidentiality that goes with music studios, but can you talk about some of the artists that have been here?
ZT: I am happy to talk about people that have been here, we have had everyone from Lil' Jon, The Killers, Michael Buble and Kelly Rowland; we have had Britney Spears, Celine Dion. We have had wonderful artists that have been here.
AM: Could you tell me a bit about these Fantasy projects that you are running?
ZT: This is a fun thing that we are putting together, the Palms attracts really fun guests and I thought how could we make this fun, not only for the artist but for a layperson also. So we put these packages together as a music fantasy. So you pick your favorite artist, let's say you are a KISS fan and you were a guitarist and now you are an executive and what we will do is put together a package where we will bring Kiss in and set up a recording session with them one on one.
AM: So you have called artists and they have been receptive to this idea?
ZT: They have been very receptive and if you go to the website www.studioatthepalms.com you can see a sample of a music fantasy. Glen Hughes did the first one. It starts at $20,000 and it can go up to $700,000 and more depending on the package and the artist.
AM: Give me an example of an extravagant package.
ZT: We will fly a private jet to pick you up wherever in the US and you and 10 of your friends and we put you up here in the suites and you get to record with your favorite artist and eat at the finest restaurants and you stay here for 3 nights and then you get bragging rights with your CD.
AM: All for less than a million dollars. Have you gotten a good response to this so far?
ZT: We are just launching it now, so I will tell you at the end of the year.
Now the Palms is looking to maximize the appeal of its open rooftop nightclub at its new Fantasy Tower, and a 360-degree panoramic landscape of the moon now wraps around akin to an enclosed circular video wall that has dancers in awe. Another 80% of the pre-built video tricks are slowly being integrated into the unique system and the roof movie-panels that open up to the real moonlit sky. And tonight is the launch of the new Supersonic night, which includes The Italian Harvest at the new Nove restaurant there. Over 1,000 party revelers will be able to wander the 3 top floors of the Fantasy Tower partying in MOON, the Playboy Club and Nove with a pre-Thanksgiving Dinner!
Related Pop-ular Stories:
- Luxe Life: Tool to Kickoff Tour at the Pearl
- Luxe Life:Gwen Stefani to go Bananas at the Palms
- Luxe Life: Pearl Theater Set to Open Next Month
1. my father was inducted with gene kelly at the univ.of pittsburg 05-07 -1943 hall of fame and recently with their uso new hall of stars to be i am a jewelry designer of 35 years a certified gemologist over 30 million in custom designs for high profile clients my father and i were accomplished in music and dance i wish to add and be a part of this exciting and unique future in some way with my creative talents and ability thank you re greenberg
greeny greenberg at 11:27PM on Nov 24th 2006