Las Vegas rock show closing after 12 years

Raiding the Rock Vault has survived a change in concept, a half-dozen venue moves and a pandemic pause. But the all-star rock revival is bugging out of Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip, its producer citing a decline in tourism and a drop in attendance. The rock show’s 12-year run ends Dec. 30.

Rock Vault now plans to tour North America, the U.K. and Europe next year. Dates are to be announced. The production has logged more than 1,800 performances in Las Vegas.

Raiding the Rock Vault producer Sir Harry Cowell says his show’s closing is prompted by sagging box-office figures in its 250-seat venue. Since last year, those numbers have fallen between 15 and 20 percent, “Those are the percentages you make your money on,” said Cowell, who says he doesn’t see a change in visitation patterns in the next two years.

Rock Vault has been on pause in July and August. Cowell says he predicted a downturn in January. The show relies heavily on Canadian visitors, with prominent band members Travis Cormier and and Todd Kerns from that country.

“The Europeans not coming, the Canadians are not coming, and having two Canadians in the band — that hurts,” Cowell said. The summer has been rocky for this rock experience.

“I looked at the figures we had in June, and they were pretty bad, and they were getting worse and worse,” Cowell said. “I thought July and August were going to be terrible. I thought, if we carry on we could go bust. So I closed the show, took two months off, and now we’ll reconvene and open up again August 30.”

The show will run at 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays in September, then add most Thursdays through the end of the run. It is dark the first three weeks of December.

Raiding the Rock Vault was originally a scripted rock musical when it opened at then-Las Vegas Hilton in March 2013. The show soon shed its story line, which involved the musicians discovering an actual rock vault in a Mayan temple. The production remained at the hotel through its LVH period, moving to Tropicana when Westgate took ownership. It moved to Vinyl at the Hard Rock Hotel, then to the Rio at Club 172 and The Duomo, before shifting to Hard Rock Cafe in 2023.

Rock Vault specializes in straight-up, classic rock, featuring the best of the Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Boston, Kansas, Aerosmith, Van Halen, AC/DC, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Heart, Journey, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and many others.

In keeping the show afloat for 12 years, Cowell has been regularly flying back and forth from Las to his home in West London. This year, the veteran producer says, “I’ve seen planes come back half-empty, and planes get canceled — I’ve had two planes cancel on me, I’ve seen planes half-empty. That would never, never happen three years ago.”

Cool Hang Alert

The inspired “Clown Bar” continues its run at Majestic Repertory Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, continuing through Aug. 14, 15, 16 and 17. Adam Szymkowicz and Troy Heard have developed a sinister-funny play at the Arts District haunt. Go to majesticrepertory.com for intel.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.