Las Vegas Spotlight: June 2005
performing six times daily at Tropicana.
Ticket prices for shows on the Las Vegas Strip are enough to make over-priced Broadway blush. So whether you’re a gambler who’s had a bad night at the casino, a UNLV student strapped for cash, or a tourist on a budget, you need to know where you can get a show on the cheap. Or better yet, absolutely FREE. Let’s take a look at some Vegas entertainment available for the reasonable price of absolutely nothing.
In a city often characterized by overly glittery entertainment, Acoustic Asylum offers asylum indeed from the superficial. No surface, it’s pure soul at this weekly showcase where up-and-coming musicians and bands play acoustic sets of great music. From 10pm to 2am every Sunday, the best of homegrown musical talent is on display in the lounge at The Palms.
No, it’s not a mirage — at the underwater fantasia Azure, “mermaids and mermen” swim a choreographed dance created by former Olympic synchronized swimming coach Stephanie Miermont five times a week. The aquatic dances include a humorous take on the classic ballet Swan Lake, an old Vegas-style piece called “Boogie,” and even pole-dancing! The performers swim in a 117,000-gallon saltwater aquarium amidst beautiful coral and thousands of fish. Azure takes place at the Silverton Hotel & Casino Wednesday through Friday at 6pm, Saturday at 4pm, and Sunday at 1pm.
If you’re looking to get your jollies, there are a couple of free shows that are good for a laugh. Every Tuesday night at 9pm in the Big Easy Showroom of the Bourbon Street Hotel and Casino, the Mandatory Friends offer an hour of skits and comic bits. The comedy troupe improvise characters and vignettes based on audience suggestions, so it’s like you’re getting your very own personal performance. Meanwhile over at the Fitzgeralds Showroom, comedian Wild Billy Tucker performs his outrageous routine Thursday through Monday at 10:30pm. This one’s free too, but keep in mind that there’s a one-drink minimum.
Forget the pricey pyrotechnics of Cirque du Soleil, and run over to Circus Circus to see amazing feats at The World’s Largest Permanent Circus. Every half hour from 11am to midnight, every single day, world-renowned circus acts perform live. Different acts perform at each interval, so you can get hours of enchanting entertainment for free. And over at the Tropicana, amazing acrobats put on an aerial show above the casino slots in Air Play every other hour from 11am to 9pm. While daredevils fly through the air, singers provide an accompaniment of Broadway show tunes.
Two of Las Vegas’s signature attractions are also free of charge. The Bellagio fountains provide a breathtaking show of water choreographed to spectacular music and light. Catch this wonder Monday-Friday at 15 to 30 minute intervals from 3pm to midnight (12pm to midnight on Saturdays and Sundays). Not to be outdone in spectacle, The Mirage sports its very own volcano, which blows every 15 minutes from 7pm to midnight. It starts with earth-shaking rumblings and smoke, and ends in a display of fire shooting up into the sky as its waterfall is overcome with molten lava.
The Las Vegas Strip has changed a lot since the days of those Rat Pack movies, where the neon cowboy greeted people coming to try their luck at the tables. But The Fremont Experience has preserved some of the old Vegas by turning the historic Fremont Street into a sprawling walkway, where street performers entertain and shows take place on two permanent stages. Visit once the sun has gone down, when every hour a spectacular light and sound show appears on Viva Vision, a gigantic overhead LED screen (the biggest in existence!).
