Weekend Wrap-up

Splashin' in the wave pool to "Surfin' U.S.A." Hoisting a tequila shot "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." And they're not on the oldies station either.

Summer's arrival in Las Vegas does have its fun side, before the novelty wears off and you get tired of stuff melting in your car. Memorial Day weekend typically trails only New Year's for tourism, and the casinos go all out in response.

It's such a busy weekend that people can find plenty to do without the Natalie Cole concert that was to christen the outdoor stage of M Resort. That show was canceled when the singer had a kidney transplant Tuesday.

The big Taylor Swift concert and an encore of the Cheech & Chong reunion are featured elsewhere in these pages. But here's a guide to other ticketed-show highlights; see the Showguide for complete price information.

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND

The Allmans are roaring strong on a 40th-anniversary tour that celebrates survival, jaw-dropping musicianship and years of wise guys yelling for "Whipping Post" at concerts by other bands.

The seven-piece band includes singer-keyboardist Gregg Allman, original drummers Butch Trucks and "Jaimoe" Johanson and guitarist Warren Haynes, the Gov't Mule guy who brought new energy to the group in 1989. (8 p.m. Sunday, Red Rock Resort.)

THE BEACH BOYS

Seems like a fair match: The sorta Beach Boys -- the Mike Love and Bruce Johnston-fronted group with official rights to the name -- play the quasi-beach at Mandalay Bay, the man-made wave pool that's close enough to the real thing on a hot three-day weekend. (9:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Mandalay Bay.)

DANE COOK

Will power, Dane Cook fans. Will power. This is just an educated guess. But if you have tickets for Cook's shows this weekend at the Palms, you might want to hold off watching his latest TV stand-up special if you want the routines to be fresh.

The love-him-or-hate-him comedian probably hasn't had time to cook up a whole new set since "Isolated Incident" debuted Sunday on Comedy Central. Its CD counterpart came out Tuesday. If you cheated, you already know he talks about dropping his cell phone into the toilet and some darker things, too, such as coping with the death of his parents. (8 p.m. today and Sunday, 11 p.m. Saturday, the Palms.)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG

Goldberg and Steve Wynn go way back -- to 1987, when she took time to play the Golden Nugget, which Wynn owned at the time, while still in the heyday of her movie career.

Now "The View" co-host returns to help Wynn keep the Encore Theater busy after the death of Danny Gans (casino officials say she had been booked before he died May 1).

Goldberg doesn't do conventional stand-up; her publicist says it will be an evening of her "unique observations on current events and a wide variety of topics." And it won't be the theatrical show inhabited by her fictional characters either, "but you never know when a character might show up." (8 p.m. today and Saturday, Encore.)

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS

If you're not in on the joke, don't worry because Lewis Black, Joe Rogan and Cheech & Chong also are in town this weekend. But the power of HBO apparently is enough for these comic New Zealanders to play the Hard Rock's new 4,000-seater on Saturday.

If the show stiffs, however, that would fit right into the comic aesthetic of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. They make failure the driving force of their song parodies and "Spinal Tap"-like mockumentary. (9 p.m. Saturday, Hard Rock Hotel.)

SUZANNE SOMERS

An e-mail with the subject line "Suzanne Somers lectures ..." likely means the Conchords are no longer the strangest Memorial Day weekend booking. Somers isn't doing her singing-dancing, diva show this time. Instead, she will talk about "health, hormones, sexuality and wellness," according to publicity materials.

Somers, 62, and husband Alan Hamel are both big advocates of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. (4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Las Vegas Hilton.)

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.