9-hour show closes downtown Las Vegas entertainment venue
I ran into a few entertainment peeps at a piano bar late Valentine’s Day night. Scores, actually. The place was shoulder-to-shoulder. The overarching sentiment, “Too bad we didn’t have this crowd every night.”
Such support probably would have made for a happier outcome for Don’t Tell Mama at Neonopolis. The open-mic venue closed Saturday night — or rather, Sunday morning — at 4:53 a.m.
This is when Neonopolis shines.
Showman and host Kenny Davidsen held forth for nine hours without a break (you can drive to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, in that amount of time). He lost track of how many songs and guest singers joined the fray. He guesses it was 80 to 90 songs, 50 to 60 singers. Amazing stats on the club’s send-off.
Davidsen announced Jan. 31 the club would be closing. Co-owners Minh and Joanna Pham slugged it out for nearly seven years at Neonopolis.
Out-of-order elevators greeted Valentine’s Day visitors to the fortress on Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.
The club’s heyday was its pedestrian-friendly Fremont East location, from 2009 through its move in 2018, when its lease with Corner Bar Management timed out. Cheapshot is in the space now.
Davidsen’s final solo was John Mayer’s “You’re Gonna Live Forever in Me,” followed by a full-crowd effort on “Piano Man.” Sing me a song, brother. And I’d bet we’ll see Davidsen’s party resurface elsewhere in town.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
