Monday, February 22, 2010

Elvis Lives!

I know I haven't written much lately, but what better to get me back to it than a Vegas trip? I'm in town for IBM Pulse and decided to have a little fun the night before the event begins. So, I headed over to the new CityCenter that I've been reading so much about. I have to say, I've been to Vegas at least 20 or 25 times and I thought I'd seen it all, but it's hard to describe the feeling when you turn off the strip to walk up to CityCenter. It is a very clean, futuristic design and there are so many buildings in the complex. If somebody built something like this in Manhattan it would be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Tonight was the premiere of the new Viva Elvis Cirque du Soleil show. Like I said, I've been here a lot and seen all the other Cirques in Vegas. This was far and away the most entertaining Vegas show I've ever seen in my few short years. Cirque is always impressive, but there are so many things to be impressed by in this one.

Unlike the Beatles Love show, all the music in Viva is performed by a live band with great horn, rhythm, and guitar sections (the drummer is particularly energetic and fun to watch). Various tracks have recordings of Elvis singing along with the band and sometimes even performing duets with a live female singer on stage. Also, there's a giant video screen backing the show to show photos and video clips of Elvis.

Essentially, the show is structured around the timeline of Elvis' life. Here's a bunch of the numbers, at least as many as I can remember:
  • A giant robotic blue suede show rolls around the stage while couples lindy hop and do aerials

  • A giant hollow Guitar Trapeze descends from the rafters while two male trapeze artists do ridiculous moves around the guitar

  • Trampoline stuff (like the Love performance but more people and more trampolines)

  • Footage of Elvis going to the Army, while a recording of Elvis sings a duet of "Love me Tender" with a live female singer

  • A full marching band drumline enters the stage and the dancers perform a step routine in army outfits

  • Lots of stuff related to Elvis' movie career. There's a Western routine with people doing crazy pistol and lasso twirling

  • A rundown of all of Elvis' movie women

  • Psychadelic 60's Bossa Nova

  • It wouldn't be Vegas without Pole Dancing, but of course it is done in crazy Cirque style. Absolutely ridiculous.

  • Roller Skating and Ballet Dancing

  • Vegas show style finale (since that's how Elvis went out), complete with showgirls covered in feathers and crazy feather headpieces

Like I said, a true variety and something for everybody. If you like Elvis music and various forms of dance, you have to see this show. I got lucky I think since it was opening night and a Sunday, because I bought a cheap seat up in the balcony but they closed the balcony and moved me down to about 10th row center. Definitely the way to go if you can swing it.