Venue off to strong start

It was like a museum, with chicken wings.

Over there were Keith Moon's pants. A garish peach pea jacket that Usher once wore on tour hung encased in glass. On one wall, an interactive touch screen display informs you of the whereabouts of some of Kool and the Gang's stage gear in Beijing.

There were ice sculptures, dudes wearing their sunglasses indoors at night for some reason and Chris Cornell belting out Soundgarden hits, his voice still capable of booming like a foghorn.

It was a recent Thursday night, and the new Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip, right across from the Monte Carlo, had its grand opening. It's a luminous three-story venue, with the top floor doubling as a concert hall with a capacity of 1,200.

With upcoming concerts by the likes of Everclear, Big Kenny from Big and Rich and Kiss Army, the venue is already off to an active start.

"It's going to be all over the place," says Andrew Courtney, special events manager at the new property, about the kinds of shows he will be booking there. "We're going to be doing a lot of radio station stuff. What we're going to be looking to do is getting emerging bands from all over the world in to play five nights in a row, bands that might have just been signed to a major label who are looking for a place to try out their new stuff. It'll be a cool place to send radio executives from all over the country, kind of like a showcase venue. And those shows are going to be free."

The room itself is a promising one, with clear sight lines and good sound that gets pumped throughout the property.

"I pushed really hard to make sure that the sound system was something that was going to fit the size of the room," Courtney says. "The Hard Rock has to be known for live music, and if the sound system isn't where it should be, it would do us more harm than good. It was worth the initial investment."

The only real shortcoming is the height of the stage, which needs to be raised. Standing in the middle of the room, you could still barely see Cornell as he shook his shaggy hair to and fro.

"We're going to try and fix that," Courtney notes.

In addition to up and coming national draws, Vegas bands will be sought for the venue as well.

"I do plan on booking a lot of local acts," Courtney says. "It's tough out there for local bands."

It remains to see if locals themselves will hike down to the Strip to catch bands, but the room does fill a niche in that it can bring acts to that area who aren't quite big enough to fill, say, the House of Blues, but who are still worth checking out.

Either way, the venue promises to be a busy one.

"It's definitely been a little overwhelming, just sifting through everything and trying to find authentic, cool stuff," Courtney says. "I want to try to do stuff that can appeal to everybody."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.