greenie

Without a doubt the most packed I've ever seen ICE over the weekend. At $75 (plus) a head, you would have hoped they'd have limited the crowd a bit. I could care less about waiting a long time at the bar (makes it easy to meet people), but Deep Dish played such an incredible set, especially the second third (or third hour or whatever) was so banging... it was frustrating as hell that you couldn't move a muscle in the place. Without VIP, that is. Tiesto was solid but really not the best double-booking to follow up Deep Dish. Or it should have been the other way around, I dunno. On the flip side, Tiesto really got into stride just as the dance floor began to have a bit of room, so I really can't complain too much. Had I plenty of room to do my thing during DD I doubt I would have had the energy to explode during Tiesto's set. Can't speak to the lines or prices outside, my friends and I got there very early and stayed until the wee-wee-wee hours. Was it worth the $75 and the crowd? On any other weekend, hell no. But the crowd was ELECTRIC, and unlike other times when ICE has been packed people were not being assholes and/or idiots on the floor. Figuring that well, pretty much any place this weekend was going to set you back a bundle -- I heard even Drai's went $100+ just to get through he door -- and that DD/Tiesto went as long as you could have wanted them to, I really have no complaints. Now, we'll see if I say the same thing after this weekend, with Tiesto coming to Vinyl (in Denver) and tickets only $15...

Drai's. Drai's. Drai's. and Drai's.

Definitely, definitely hit up OPM. I'm not often in the mood for straight-up hip hop, but last few trips down OPM (and MasterWeb!) clearly had the party right, a really incredible time. Crowd was solid, music tight, good times. (although I do kinda miss the room with dancehall, I think it's been phased out?)

No matter what you call it, anytime you go through the process of setting up VIP treatment, are given one set of prices and then have them upped on you after you commit... total BS. I really love ICE, the size, layout and especially the music really matches my tastes, I can't wait for AVB this week... but this crap combined with $75 cover for short Tiesto/Dish sets combined with knowing they're gone in a year? Well, let's just say it's really sad that the one top non-casino joint is cashing out even worse than the most cooled single-text table. Sure sounds like an opportunity for a few of the other clubs in town to start reeling some of the crowds back in their favor. The return of Pleasuredome is a decent start... that is, if MGM allows that to continue... sigh.

Hitting the road late Thursday night, hopefully in town shortly after lunch on Friday, then no sleep til Tuesday, baby. Well, maybe a few catnaps at Mandalay. Old acquaintance has me hooked up in THE. Oh yeah.

Odd though that a convention would only spike the rates for one night. Is this a short convention for which Friday is a massive day? This just seems very weird: Wed $109 Thu $299 Fri $209 Sat $179 Saw this kind of spread at most of the center-strip properties.

Following up the MemDay pilgrimage with a "last blowout" trip for a friend being shipped out of the country... anyway, we're in town from June 8-12, and on Thursday night all the rooms are set a good $100-150 higher than they are for Friday and Saturday (and $200 higher than Wednesday). Odd. Anyway, wondering if anyone out there knows what's happening in town on either that Thursday night or during the day on Friday to drive this crap up. If it's something slick, we're all in, but if not we might try to delay by a week...

it's been a while since I've been there, but I definitely had some good times the Double Down Saloon out on Paradise... they kind of promote themselves as a dive bar, which of course brings to question whether a bar could be considered a "dive" if it's promoted... but hey, the crowd is usually fun and diverse, and it can be a refreshing break. Usually if I head off-strip to a bar though, my favorite is the Crown & Anchor, on Trop. It's a true pub, beats the crap out of anything the strip tries to manufacture (e.g. Nine Irishmen). I've often drag my ass in there early Saturday and Sunday mornings after leaving Drai's to catch some English soccer games with some Guiness 'n eggs.

There is a Vons pretty close tot he Hard Rock, along Maryland about block north of Flamingo. There's also one at the intersection of Trop & Maryland. (I know only because I hit them both a few times this weekend, we had to keep stocking up on fruit, water and gatorade for a soccer tournament)

Hit up La Bete this past weekend. Nice place. Gorgeous place. And some beautiful people. But it's really got no vibe. Perhaps it was the music -- not as bad as I was fearing, but still a bit weak no matter what stykle you're into -- but mostly I think it's that the club seems that it's pretty much designed for Wynn guests that want to "do something different tonight." Speaking as an out-of-towner yet quasi-Vegas-regular (7+ trips each year), I can't speak to what they are or are not doing in terms of promotion, but if they want this place to be crowded or otherwise revered by the community, they need to do something right. Nice that they're going to do locals on Wednesday or something (if that is indeed the case), but it probably wouldn't hurt to hook up the locals on most nights for a few weeks. The club really has potential, it's oozing out of every aspect of the joint. But our group (which included clubbers, bi-monthly clubgoers and two first-timers) was all pretty much in agreement that for all it's beauty and presence, it really needs to figure itself out. In the general sense, it'd be nice to see the place succeed. But for clubbers that want a great night out, there's hardly a shortage of solid nights in other parts of town.

Yes, you can consider this yet another post to this forum that's just going to gush over Bill's services. This is straight up, and in all honesty I really felt compelled to spread the love on a few of the boards out there. I've connected with a lot of VIP reps over the years in a number of different cities, and without going into too much detail let me just say that what Bill was able to provide for my group this past Sunday night at BE... well, it was simply remarkable. There are a lot of reasons that BE should be considered the best overall club in town, and most certainly one of them should be their relationship with Bill and Mecca Entertainment. BE is always tight, but this past Sunday it was inconceivably off the hook. My man Bill, my friends and I owe you big time for one of the best nights of our lives.

Man, wish I was around... caught Roger at ICE in late January and it was sweeeeeeet.

Define "a bunch." If it's just 4 or 5 of you, shouldn't be a problem if you go early enough. Get there before midnight and your wait won't be too long. Before 11, even better. If it's 6 or more, bottle service will wind up working out best on so many levels beyond simply getting in... especially if it's a bachelor weekend...

If I want to go to wannabe "urban scene" clubs with a weak and predictable selection of MTV rotated hip-hop tracks and a 10:1 male/female ratio, I'll stay in Denver. The only thing that Rain offers that other wannabe clubs don't is a light rig that shoots fireballs and an inexplicably high cover... for $20-25 you should be getting a serious headliner. Much better vibe and crowd at Tangerine OPM on any night. Ra can be great if you have the right people packing the place (spend those extra 5 minutes to check out who's going in/out).

Ice is so huge I would only worry about big lines if they've got someone MASSIVE boooked... e.g. Oakie/Tiesto/AVB. Even then, I had friends that arrived late (12:30-1:00) for both the AVB and Ferry Corsten nights last year and they didn't have to wait much more than half an hour. For the Roger Sanchez show a few weekends ago, even though it was a fairly big event and the place was packed inside, I arrived around 12:15 and was through the door in less than 10 minutes. CP usuaally has a guest list for Ice on Fridays -- which IMHO really kicks ass thanks to Glaude, one of my favorites -- but for headliners on Saturday, no dice.

Isla at TI. Outstanding and unique food for a lot less than they could be charging. Not to mention the best tequila selection I've seen anywhere in town (and great prices for them, too).

Thanks to everyone in this thread and in private that offered up some advice, which I pretty much took in hitting Ice both nights (with Drai's after Sanchez Saturday). And both nights were truly incredible. I thought it might feel a little routine hitting the same spot on back-to-back nights, but the DJs did me right in creating their own atmospheres during each set. Brilliant. djmasterweb -- I did also manage to swing by OPM on Sunday. Didn't see your note until getting back home tonight, but I wasn't surprised that things were changed up a bit. In any event, met a couple of gals at Mist beforehand that were trying to figure out where to go and convinced them to accompany me to OPM, and we all had an absolute blast. Thanks for the info and keep up the great work over there, OPM seems on the right track for a solid hip-hop vibe that is less... um... well, "Rain-like."

Caught Joey's entire set at TGIF this past weekend... INCREDIBLE! Been a long time since I've seen a (supposed) warm-up DJ put down such a great that not only built things up proper, but had the crowd hopping as hard as they would at any other part of the night. Joey man, this was the first time I you work it but by no means will it be the last. Respect!

Ah. Forgot to mention the lone down point of Saturday w/ Roger, and that was what seemed like an excess of seriously drunk/horny couples that were too interested in trying to squeeze into each other's bodies to allow most of the other crowd to get down with Roger's set -- let alone really dance. It would have been tolerable if they had at least ground to the beat, but instead their utter lack of coordination and rhythm (and awareness of people around them) led them to resemble a pair of awkward teens trying to bump uglies for the first time. On a packed dancer floor, that is. Just the Saturday night crowd, I guess... because this was a non-issue on Friday. Oh well. At least these people were gone by 3, which left 2 solid hours!

Just got back from my extended wekeend and I gotta say that Sanchez definitely brought something special on Saturday. On their own -- and when spun by other DJs -- the kind of tracks he put down generally don't do much for me, but between his mixing, pacing and working with the crowd it wound up being a truly fantastic time. Not to mention, Roger played for what, 4+ hours. Insane. I'm not entirely sure what time he came on, I arrived somewhere between midnight and 1 and he was behind the decks... all I really know time-wise is that he played through until closing, which according to my phone had just crept past 5. This show combined with TGIF has given me a spring in my step that oughtta last for weeks. Weekends there should be branded TGFI - Thank God For Ice.

Was he at the last one? How was the event as a whole? I was in LA over Halloween weekend and was torn between going there and seeing the Sander/MarcoV show that Godskitchen put on in Hollyweird. Went for the latter, had an incredible time (zero regrets!), but am still curious how Monster Massive went off.

Count me as one of the many who used to consider Ra one of their favorites, but haven't back since the format shifted away from house and prog.

Hitting Ice up both nights is starting to look more and more likely, talking to a few other friends off-line and everyone is telling me that TGIF is hitting a great stride and that I really shouldn't miss the chance to catch Roger Sanchez... they say he's in outstanding form right now. Checked out your site and saw you're involved with OPM -- which coincidentally is where I was thinking of heading Sunday night. Some big dancehall friends of mine brought took me to Sex Sunday back in October, definitely had a good time. Gotta give it to a good DH night just for the people watching factor. Anyway, when I was there it wasn't overly packed (good crowd, but line wasn't a factor at 1AM), has it really picked up a lot? Between flying solo (so far) and not having an excess of paper this weekend, VIP won't be happening for me so let me know if I should think about getting there before midnight. Mazzola - what room at Ice will you be working? I'll make sure to check out some of your set either there or at Drai's. tx guys.

I've seen Roger Sanchez spin in NYC on a few occasions and have always liked his gigs, but I'm already hitting TGIF at ICE on Friday. As much as I love the place I'm not sure if I want to double up on back-to-back nights. I haven't been in town since the first week of October, so I'm not sure if any clubs have changed their musical styles or residents on Saturdays and would really love some recommendations or insight. A perfect location for me would have a great sound system and a DJ spinning either heavy/progressive trance, but hard house always makes for a good time at a good club. I can definitely get into hip-hop and mashups as well, but only if it means playing custom instrumental mixes and not the top 40 crap with its ever-present vocals (e.g. my trip to Rain on a Thursday in October). It it helps at all, here's a small list of the best club nights I've had in Vegas (I can list other parties in other cities if that would help as well) the past 2 years: ICE - Armin van Buuren - Oct 04 Tangerine/MIST - residents & guests - Aug 04* ICE - Tall Paul - Spring 04 RA - DJ Irene - Spring 03 HOB - Deep Dish - Spring 03 (granted not a club, but a killer night) Baby's - Jerry Bonham - Summer(?) 03 Drai's - every time I go * the Tang/MIST night was a lot of fun largely because I was part of a VIP group, a couple of guys associated with Mile High House, who did a little guest spinning at both venues. There are more nights that have been great but no need for too huge a list.. Finally, I see no reason that I won't end up at Drai's and stay there past dawn... so if some of you think I'd be better off just hitting a few bars and lounges and stick Saturday clubbing to Drai's, I'm all for it. (or for that matter, should I go elsewhere on Friday and check Sanchez on Saturday? I've never seen Glaude work a club night, I've only caught him in non-club shows/festivals but I really dig his music and style) Oh, I should probably also mention that I'm in town this time on my own and am not able to drop VIP dime. If it's a good night and I meet a fewg great people, I'm happy to spend $100 but too much beyond that is out of my budget.