Mariah Carey announces Las Vegas residency
Mariah Carey has announced a Las Vegas residency for this April, consisting of eight shows at the Park MGM hotel and casino.
The Celebration of Mimi run is a mod to her seminal 2005 ‘comeback’ album The Emancipation of Mimi, which turns 20 next year.
The Live Nation-backed concerts will feature fan favourites from the album, as well as other hits from across Carey’s back catalogue, according to the announcement.
Shows are booked for 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27 April and will take place at Park MGM’s Dolby Live venue.
The concerts will feature fan favourites from the album, as well as other hits from across Carey’s back catalogue
The Emancipation of Mimi included singles We Belong Together and It’s Like That and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling more than 400,000 copies in its first week. It went on to become the US’s best-selling album in 2005.
Carey has performed a number of Vegas residencies in recent years. Between 2015 and 2017, the 54-year-old played 50 concerts at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace as part of a residency dubbed #1 To Infinity.
Between 2018 and 2020, she returned to the venue for a residency series called The Butterly Returns. In addition to those residencies, Carey played a string of Christmas-themed shows at Caesars Palace in December 2017 and 2019.
Park MGM’s Dolby Live venue will also host residencies from Bruno Mars, Maroon 5 and Lady Gaga this year.
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Lady Gaga announces new Las Vegas residency
Grammy-award winning artist Lady Gaga will return to Dolby Live at Park MGM for a new Las Vegas residency this spring.
Presented by MGM Resorts International and Live Nation, Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano will comprise nine dates starting from 14 April at the 5,200-capacity venue.
The show will see Gaga perform stripped-down versions of her hits alongside music from the Great American Songbook.
The 2022 stint will be Gaga’s second at Dolby Live after her 2018/2019 residency debut which comprised two shows: Lady Gaga Enigma and Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano.
Taking place in between Gaga’s Thursday, Saturday and Sunday shows at Dolby Live will be An Evening with Silk Sonic.
Silk Sonic – which comprises Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak – will deliver their first-ever residency on various nights between 25 February and 29 May.
The show will see Gaga perform stripped-down versions of her hits alongside music from the Great American Songbook
Elsewhere in Vegas, country star Keith Urban is picking up five of Adele’s dates at the Colosseum (cap. 4,300), Caesar’s Palace, following the postponement of her residency.
The five new dates, between 25 March and 2 April, will be in addition to Urban’s previously announced Colosseum gigs between 27–29 May.
Adele last month announced that she would be postponing her entire residency because the show “isn’t ready”.
The announcement came just 24 hours before her Live Nation-promoted residency, Weekends With Adele, was due to kick off.
The star, who is represented by Lucy Dickins and Kirk Sommer at WME, was due to perform two shows every weekend at Caesars Palace’s Colosseum theatre (cap. 4,300) from 21 January until mid-April.
Also due to deliver residencies at the Colosseum this year are Van Morrison, Sting and Rod Stewart.
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Gaga’s Vegas residency is the Strip’s hottest ticket
It might not have started yet, but Lady Gaga’s upcoming Las Vegas residency, Enigma, is already the hottest ticket in Sin City.
Enigma, the star’s first-ever concert residency, kicks off on 28 December 2018 at the 5,200-capacity Park Theatre, at the Park MGM on the Las Vegas Strip. Announced in August, it is produced and promoted by Live Nation and comprises two distinct shows: Lady Gaga Enigma, showcasing Gaga’s pop hits, and Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano, featuring stripped-back versions of her songs and music from the Great American Songbook.
The show will run for a minimum of two years, with 28 dates announced so far.
Gaga is pulling in more sales for a single performance than all scheduled shows of Spears
According to Ticket Club data, the show is dominating its competition, with sale grosses outstripping Celine Dion’s eight-year residency, which closes in June 2019, and Britney Spears’s Domination show, with Gaga “pulling in more sales for a single performance than all scheduled shows of Spears”, according to the US resale site.
While Lady Gaga is currently riding high on the success of the film A Star is Born – for which she is tipped for an Oscar nomination alongside co-star Bradley Cooper – the show’s sales success is skewed by its high ticket price, with tickets for the 28–31 December shows selling for an average of US$535 on the secondary market, compared to around $330 for Spears, $277 for Dion.
Tickets for Gwen Stefani’s residency at Planet Hollywood, meanwhile, are selling for $248 apiece, with Mariah Carey’s the Butterfly Returns show pulling in $160 per ticket.
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Lady Gaga announces “spectacular” Vegas residency
Lady Gaga’s upcoming Las Vegas residency will kick off on 28 December, promoter/producer Live Nation announced today, and comprise two distinct shows showcasing the star’s pop and jazz output.
Lady Gaga Enigma, which runs from 28 to 31 December 2018 and then intermittently from 17 January to 8 November 2019, is a “brand-new odyssey of her pop hits built as an experience unlike any other”, while Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano, taking place on 20 January, 3 February and 2 and 9 June 2019, will feature “stripped-down versions of her hits, as well as music from the Great American Songbook”, made famous by her 2014–15 collaboration with Tony Bennett.
All shows will take place at the 5,200-seat Park MGM, operated by MGM Resorts International.
“What she is planning for Las Vegas audiences is nothing short of spectacular”
Bill Hornbuckle, president of MGM Resorts International, says: “Working with Lady Gaga and her team has been a career highlight for me. What she is planning for Las Vegas audiences is nothing short of spectacular. Welcoming her into our family will firmly position Park MGM as the city’s most exciting new destination.”
“I can’t wait to share Enigma with all of my fans and with Las Vegas,” adds Lady Gaga. “We’re creating a show unlike anything I’ve done before. It will be a celebration of all that is unique and different within us. The challenges of bravery can be overcome with creativity and courage that is grown out of adversity, love and music.”
GA tickets are priced at US$77.90, with VIP options, including meet-and-greets, also available.
Live Nation has produced and promoted all Gaga’s tours since 2009–2011’s the Monster Ball tour, including, most recently, the Joanne world tour.
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