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As you can probably tell by now, I really love to visit Las Vegas! Yes, I was just there in January for the last Raiders home game of the 2021 season, which you can read about here. It's a great place to visit if you're wanting to do a lot on your trip with a smaller budget. Another cool thing about Vegas is that you can go multiple times within the same year or, like in my case, within a couple of months and never have to worry about doing the same activities over and over again. The rotating residencies, other shows, and recent growth of professional sporting events in the city continue to keep things interesting. For my trip to Sin City a couple of weeks ago, I went to see An Evening with Silk Sonic and their new residency at the Dolby Live theater.
Something I haven't shared in any of my previous blog posts is my love for Silk Sonic! I am a big fan of both Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak as solo artists and was incredibly excited last year when 'Leave the Door Open' was released as their first single as the Silk Sonic duo. In fact, I immediately began saving money to get a ticket to a show without even knowing if they would drop an album or go on tour. Well, they did release a full album back in November 2021, but they decided to go for a Las Vegas residency rather than a tour. Since I already had the money saved up, it was only natural for me to purchase my ticket for a show. Plus, I had presale access from being on the Bruno Mars mailing list and also from being a top Silk Sonic listener on Spotify! It was very easy to make the purchase and from that point in late January 2022, I had plans for the evening of March 31, 2022.
Now, let's go over the important details:
Flights
As I typically do, I flew on Southwest Airlines for my trip. It's the most popular airline in my region and they had direct flights to Las Vegas. My experience was just fine on both flights and I racked up an extra 2,000 rewards points. I think I'm halfway to having enough points for a one-way ticket!
Resort Hotel
If you've had a chance to read about my 2019 trip to Las Vegas for Lady Gaga's residency, then you know I stayed at Park MGM. At the time, the venue she was performing at was called Park Theater and is located inside of the resort. The venue now has the new name of Dolby Theater and that's where Silk Sonic's residency is for the spring. I enjoyed my previous stay at Park MGM and decided to stay here again. I chose a room with a king bed that wouldn't be guaranteed to have a nice view, but I had a direct view of MGM Grand which was pretty nice. Their rates are good (especially since I was there on a weeknight), the ease of access to the Dolby Theater is beyond ideal, and it's the first smoke-free resort on The Strip!
Art Exhibit
I had originally planned on making this a solo trip to Vegas, hence the careful planning of staying at the same resort as the venue. However, my brother (@mrwelltravelled) was also planning to take a trip to Sin City to visit an exhibit at the Bellagio. Just a few days before I was set to arrive, he made arrangements to meet up with me! Once I settled in and changed clothes, I met up with my brother and his photographer/videographer who was joining us on this trip (@_semaj3) to check out the exhibit.
From December 23, 2021-April 18, 2022, the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is home to ASE: AFRO FREQUENCIES. This is a multi-sensory immersive exhibition of art by Vince Fraser. Visitors have the opportunity to see Fraser's point of view and celebrate the various aspects of the Black experience. Additionally, there is an incredible poem feature by ursula rucker. The use of interactive technology to create digital art along with an audiovisual component made for the most unique art exhibit I've ever visited! I thoroughly enjoy visiting art exhibits and museums, so I may write more about that one day. For now, here are some pictures from the exhibit!
After checking out the exhibit, we got snacks from the gelato shop in the retail space just a couple of doors over and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the patio by the pool before parting ways.
Transportation
Like I've done with my past couple of trips to Vegas, I took Lyfts to get around town. My brother was staying at the Hilton resort on the opposite end of The Strip, so he ordered about half of the Lyft rides I took so that he could keep track of where I was whenever we were meeting up during the two days we were visiting the city. The first Lyft he got me was epic because the driver was a professional DJ! He had a sub speaker in the back of his minivan and a variety of music mixes you could request while riding! My brother added his hotel as a stop on the ride so we could all get dropped off at the Bellagio together.
Rideshare is clearly a competitive market in Las Vegas, but I also love that the drivers have unique features in their cars to fit their personalities or interests!
An Evening with Silk Sonic: Review
Note: This section includes some details about the show, so please beware of any potential spoilers if you're planning on going to Vegas to catch an upcoming performance!
If you're familiar with Bruno Mars or Anderson .Paak, then you know they both put on amazing live shows. These two teaming up to perform as Silk Sonic and do an entire residency in Las Vegas? Well, that's truly what dreams are made of! They're also very self aware and had measures in place to make sure you could enjoy the show to the fullest no matter if you were there solo like me, with your significant other for date night, or with a group of friends like many other folks. There really isn't a bad seat in Dolby Theater, so I recommend just going for whatever seats are within your price range. If you purchased a ticket to a show or plan to, keep in mind that tickets will either be mailed to you or available at will call.
Yes, you do have to enter the venue with a physical, commemorative ticket because this is a phone-free show! Fans of Bruno Mars know just how much he hates people having their phones out during his concerts and now he has control over that. A company called Yondr is present at each show and they place your cell phone in a bag that locks from the moment you enter the building. If you need access to your phone during the show, you have to find one of the Yondr representatives in the lobby to unlock the bag for you. That's right, I have ZERO pictures or videos from the show. Clearly Silk Sonic loves these bags because they even made up a song just to tease the audience, singing "we took your phones away" with a little too much pride!
Once inside, I made my way to my directly to my seat. I didn't attempt to purchase alcohol and I wasn't going to try to buy any merch until after the concert because I didn't want to lose track of whatever I would purchase. I sat in section 305, Row G, seat 4 which is slightly left of a center view from the middle of the theater. With the way the venue seating was set up, it was actually an ideal spot for me since there was a clear walking path that created space between my seat and the section in front of me, including a railing as an additional barrier between the sections. The blue velvet seats were comfortable and the lighting was perfect to set the mood and vibe for the show. There was a large disco ball hanging from the ceiling, purple and orange strobe lights, purple champagne bubbles were projected onto the ceiling, and the stage had an elegant red velvet curtain to hide all of the setup that was taking place. While waiting for showtime, the two LED screens that framed the stage highlighted upcoming residencies for the venue (including Lady Gaga in April and Usher in the summer) and Selva Rey sponsored events associated with the show. Selva Rey is a brand of rum from Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. Since I was there alone, I unfortunately did not go to any of the sponsored events.
The show was set to start at 9:00pm, but the curtains didn't open until about 9:20pm and then Silk Sonic hit the stage. They gave everyone a groovy warm-up by opening with a rhythmic percussion-heavy prelude. Anderson .Paak was on the drums with his now iconic wig and Bruno Mars was playing some additional percussion while the rest of the band was grooving in the back. While shifting the set around, the intro from their album played as a video of Bootsy Collins in his classic hat and outlandish glasses. It was basically like he was actually at the show with the way they included his video clips and voiceovers throughout the night!
Of course with the show being in Las Vegas, they officially kicked things off with a performance of '777'! This is one of my favorite songs on the album and I had been waiting to see Anderson .Paak play that song live because the drums on that song are simply amazing! It was just as exciting to see Bruno play the lead guitar on that song. If the show were to end right after that, I would've been completely satisfied! The set had several instruments and decorations that were rotated out during the show, but they all had a Soul Train essence and helped with creating a 1970s atmosphere. The choreography throughout the show added to this and there was clear inspiration from artists such as Michael Jackson, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and pretty much any other similar solo artists or music groups.
Silk Sonic performed all of the songs on their album along with their cover of 'Love's Train' by Con Funk Shun. I absolutely LOVE their cover and once again would've been satisfied if the show were to end after they sang that song. They also played some of their individual hit songs for part of the show. In fact, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak each backed each other on drums for a song from the each other their first albums! I've been following both artists since their first albums, so this was a big deal for me. Hearing Anderson .Paak perform 'Come Down' from Malibu (his first album) live with Bruno Mars on the drums was so unexpected and fantastic all at once! The song from Doo-Wops & Hooligans (Bruno's first album) was 'Runaway Baby' which is a staple for all of his shows. During interludes, the audience got to hear beautiful horn and guitar solos from the band members. I never knew I needed to hear a rock 'n' roll version of 'Pure Imagination' from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory until the guitarist started playing! Silk Sonic does have an encore performance, so you'll want to make sure to stick around after the curtain closes the first time. I won't give away what the encore performance is in case you plan to go. I'll try to remember to update this story with that detail after their residency concludes.
This show has a little bit of everything fans of Silk Sonic would want! I got to see Anderson .Paak with a big smile each time he was on the drums, Bruno Mars was actually playing the drums (he typically doesn't spend much time doing that for concerts when he's on tour and mostly sticks with guitar or keyboard), and their comedic moments were genuinely funny. These two give off such great energy. They had already been doing the show for a month, but you'd think it was the first time with how much fun they were having on stage! It's obvious that they take themselves seriously as performers, but not so serious that it gets in the way of them just also being a couple of friends who really love and appreciate old school music while sharing that with the world.
The GRAMMYs were set to take place across the street at MGM Grand a few days after the show and Silk Sonic had just been announced as the opening act. Other celebrities were getting into town early and that included none other than BTS! The most popular K-Pop group ever happened to be at An Evening with Silk Sonic the same night I was there, and Anderson .Paak gave them a shout out. I know how exciting that is, but the audience that night was likely averaging around 40+ and I don't know that there were many people there who knew just how huge of deal it is to be in the same space as BTS. The crowd didn't give off the overly hyped up reaction I assumed would come with the mention of BTS, but I also thought that was a cool experience for them to be able to just watch the show and be Silk Sonic fans like the rest of the audience. Everyone was there to have fun and turn up on a Thursday night with Silk Sonic and it was an unforgettable experience!
Pro Tip: Be sure to check out the Silk Sonic GRAMMYs opener if you want a preview of the residency! I also recommend checking out their acceptances of the awards they won that night if you need a good laugh. They swept the 4 categories they were nominated for and it was hilarious watching them go up to accept their awards!
Wrap-Up
All in all, this was a near perfect trip! I got to see my brother for the first time in several months, go to an art exhibit that wasn't originally part of my itinerary, and see two of my favorite artists perform live. I've been to a couple of Bruno Mars concerts in the past, but never one for Anderson .Paak. I'm so glad they teamed up as Silk Sonic and the Las Vegas residency is honestly perfect for the way they perform and for this music on their album. The only thing that would have made the trip perfect is having the ability to stay a couple of extra nights to catch the show that was two days later. This is the only concert where I can confidently say I need to see it again and I'm already trying to recruit people to try and go with me for one of their final shows in May!
Feel free to leave comments below, tweet (@KimiThoughts), or leave a post/message on Facebook (@KimisTravelThoughts) and share your favorite songs from Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak or your favorite Las Vegas residency!
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