Rolling Stones tribute, adult revue to reopen Strip venue
It’s (re)start me up time for a Strip venue that has been dark for years.
The Rolling Stones tribute band Sin City Stones and topless revue “X Rocks” lead revival of what was once The Back Room at Bally’s. The cozy 125-seat room is renamed X Rocks Theater at today’s Horseshoe Las Vegas. The showroom/theater/rock club is activated for the first time since Caesars Entertainment pulled the plug in May 2021. Both are in the Stabile Productions stable of shows.
“X Rocks” moves into the space on Aug. 27, performing at 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. The show is currently running at Horseshoe’s Imagine Theater through Aug. 2. Sin City Stones take the room at 7 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays beginning Aug. 28. (Tickets are on sale Friday at Ticketmaster.com.)
Sin City Stones launched in the fall of 2023. The fiery rock band has performed previously at Vamp’d Bar & Grill, Chrome at Santa Fe Station and at Monday’s Dark’s 11th anniversary show at Pearl at the Palms in December, among other appearances. “Start Me Up,” “Street Fighting Man,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Brown Sugar” lead the act’s hit parade. This is the burgeoning band’s first residency.
“X Rocks” draws from such classic rock staples as “Still of the Night” by Whitesnake, “Welcome to My Nightmare” by Alice Cooper, and “Wildside” by Mötley Crüe. The cast opened for Metallica at T-Mobile Arena in 2018, a very impressive booking to have on the resume.
“X Rocks” had a short-lived run in The Back Room until the pandemic shutdown. Caesars Entertainment then shut down that room and several small-capacity venues, among them Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace, Chippendales Theater at the Rio, Sin City Theater at Planet Hollywood and Anthony Cools Experience at Paris Las Vegas.
Chippendales Theater room reopened for the, and is now home to “The Empire Strips Back — A Burlesque Parody” under new resort ownership Dreamscape Companies. Sin City Theater is open and renamed for — ironically — the Chippendales show.
The Back Room, just behind Jack Binion’s Steak, had been nearly forgotten among entertainment observers. But not the Stabiles, who had two shows the company was eager to pair in the space.
“It wasn’t easy to get this done,” co-producer Tiffany Stasi says. “It took two years.”
Stabile Productions is a family venture, expanded in this instance as Tiffany Stasi is formerly Tiffany Stabile, and her husband is Sin City Stones co-founder Anthony Stasi. Her parents are Stabile Production founders Angela and Matt Stabile. Stasi is the Keith Richards of the bunch, with engaging vocalist Drew Johnson taking on the Mick Jagger role.
The Stabiles and Caesars Entertainment have been partners for more than two decades, dating to the opening of Stabile Productions’ flagship show, “X Burlesque,” at the Flamingo in 2002. The Stabiles also produce “X Country” at Harrah’s Cabaret.
Angela Stabile says the shows breathe “new life” in to the resort. There is no question the show breathe new life in to the venue, which has been dark for four years. Says Stabile, a longtime producer and original member of the “Crazy Girls” cast, “This new chapter celebrates Stabile Productions’ decades-long partnership with Caesars Entertainment and continues our shared commitment to spectacular, cutting-edge entertainment.”
On the topic of “Empire” …
That show was mentioned somewhere already. But “Empire Strips Back” producer David Foster has opened “A Nightmare on Strip Street’ in Denver last week. The show gives the same treatment to horror as “Empire” gives to “Star Wars.” And as some shows are suffering a 30-percent drop in tickets this summer, “Empire” has been strong and selling our “pretty frequently,” Foster reports. Hot “Stormies,” a life-size Jabba and a wild dance number between Chewbacca and Han Solo seem to be the show’s sweet sauce.
Who Was Where
Arena headliner Jo Koy, late of Las Vegas, dropped in on Carrot Top, currently of Las Vegas, at the prop comic’s show at Luxor on Saturday. Koy is a huge Manny Pacquiao fan. Both are Filipino. The comic wore a Pacquiao T-shirt to the Luxor.
Cool Hang Alert
The first “Battle of the Fans” kicks off at The Usual Place at 100 South Maryland Parkway at 7 p.m. (doors) and 7:30 p.m. (performances/competition) Wednesday. This is where fans choose the winner by voting (or, possibly battling). Vendicion, Purple Card, Superhiro and Card of Lies throws open the tournament-style competition on opening night. Cost is zero, hero, to the public. But $10 to vote. Winning band advances, with shows continuing Aug. 27, Sept. 24 and Oct. 22 to the Grand Final on Nov. 21. Go to theusualplace.vegas/shows for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
