The Joint is Open Again — and All New
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Photo by Linda EvansCarlos Santana, joined by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar
Goodman and dignitaries open the new Joint at the
Hardrock Hotel
Mötley Crue brought the curtain down on the old Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel less than three months ago ago, but it’s been a long ten weeks. Tonight — at last — rock ‘n’ roll has a new playpen. The legendary Carlos Santana, assisted by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, used a somewhat unwieldy pair of giant scissors to slice a remarkably resilient purple ribbon and officially open the new Joint.
With only 1,200 seats, the “old” Joint was tiny by concert venue standards. I haven’t been inside the new Joint yet, but somehow the Montreal-based design firm of Sceno Plus increased the capacity to 4,000 and still found room for seven VIP hospitality suites. The Joint now boasts state-of-the-art sound and front and rear DL3 projection systems.
The large open space in front of the stage — the hallmark of the old Joint — will remain “general admission,” providing ample room for fans and music lovers to rock as hard as the performers on the stage above them. The intimacy of the old Joint has also been preserved: the furthest seat in the theater is only 155 feet from the stage. The new $60-million facility has been designed so that it can be easily transformed to host boxing, mixed martial arts, and special events.
Appropriately, Las Vegas local heroes, The Killers, will christen the stage on April 17th. Sir Paul McCartney follows on Sunday the 19th. On May 27th, Carlos Santana brings “Supernatural Santana – A Trip Through the Hits” to the Joint — his first headliner gig in Las Vegas.
At the ribbon cutting ceremony, it was Santana who stole the show. Asked to make a couple of remarks for the assembled press corps, Santana expressed his hope that his performances would bring a resurgence of “hope, trust and faith” as a force against the prevalence of fear that seems to be gripping much of America. He spoke of his intention to channel the music of departed musical stars and issued a welcome for artists from a variety of musical traditions to come to The Joint and participate in this resurgence of hope.
While I was waiting for the ribbon cutting ceremony to begin, I wandered around some of the new parts of the $750 million expansion nearing completion at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. There’s a brand new tower, and the casino floor has been expanded. The pool area has also been significantly enlarged. But even though all the remodeling is impressive, it’s the sound and ambiance of the new Joint this music lover will be returning for.
(6 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Remarkably resilient purple ribbon, well if that doesn’t say it all. I must roll my self down to the Joint and see what’s happening.
Yeah, you’d think that with those giant scissors that no ordinary purple ribbon would be a challenge — but it took a few seconds of re-positioning to “cut” the ribbon. I kind of liked that it was a “purple” ribbon as well.
Mark
We also covered this story, great event! Mark would you happen to have images of the event you would like to share? We have over 100 high resolution images if your interested.
Kelly Goodman, Journalist
http://www.lasvegasmedia.tv