Europeans could be forgiven for scratching their heads over what’s happened to US pop. When house was invented in Chicago and techno in Detroit, 30 years ago, European clubbers went mad for the new sounds, yet electronic dance music – now referred to by its acronym, EDM – never took off in its home country. Until now. Suddenly it’s as if the US charts have taken a time machine back to the 90s.
But what formerly seemed inexplicable starts to make sense once you visit Las Vegas. The US’s number-one party town discovered EDM a decade ago, and ever since then the rival superclubs have been locked in an escalating DJ arms race to sign the biggest weapons of mass distraction (Calvin Harris, Tiësto, Steve Aoki) at ever higher fees. And you need to know that when I say “superclub” that really is too small a word.
Consider that the recent threat of closure to London’s Fabric caused a minor panic: it was the capital’s last remaining superclub. Yet there are half a dozen clubs on the Strip bigger than Fabric’s measly 2,500 capacity. The two largest, Hakkasan at MGM Grand and XS at the Wynn, fit 7,000 and 4,000 revellers respectively, and bring in revenues of more than $100m (£82m) a year.
When you consider that Las Vegas itself receives more than 40 million visitors a year, this means anyone in the US who’s into music will, at some stage, be waving their hands in the air to some thumping tunes at a Las Vegas superclub, and be won over by the EDM vibe. And you can add to that the influence of social media. “Because of social media,” says Wynn’s nightlife executive vice-president Alex Cordova, “everyone sees what we’re doing. So when you go to Miami or New York, you now see people doing the same thing.”
Cordova is Las Vegas’s king of clubs. He started in the nightlife industry 20 years ago, at the age of 18, and before being headhunted by Wynn last year worked for Las Vegas’s finest: first Pure at Caesars Palace (recently reborn as Omnia), then Hakkasan at MGM Grand. “When electronic music came into the market,” he says, “there was an explosion; it all grew very fast. Before, it was only recognised overseas.”
Though Wynn’s mighty XS has signed some of the biggest DJs, its newest club, Intrigue, aims to create its own names. “We have an entire talent division whose job is to go to festivals and spot the next thing,” he says. “It’s exciting to work with young artists. Diplo first played here in Las Vegas and now he’s a superstar. We’ve just signed the Chainsmokers to an exclusive three-year deal at XS and Encore Beach Club. They play a mix of old music, they perform, they’re great live. A breath of fresh air.”
On the night I visit Intrigue, the decks are manned by RL Grime – not exactly unknown, with 420,000 Facebook likes, but not in the same league as Tiësto’s 19.5 million or David Guetta’s 55 million. The music, for the record, is absolutely banging, and the crowd treat it like a rock concert – crowding up close to the DJ booth and all facing the stage. The days when people actually danced with each other in a club are, seemingly, long gone.
In its place, there is spectacle. Intrigue has an outdoor waterfall and fountains that spurt fire. By Las Vegas standards, this is low-key. Just wait till you get a load of the laser light displays at Hakkasan, or, after a fit out that cost more than $100m, the gigantic revolving and descending LED-chandelier-cum-UFO on the ceiling of the newer Omnia.
“That’s the recent development that excites me most,” says Cordova: “the incorporation of technology into nightlife. At first people didn’t understand how to incorporate EDM into a high-class venue.”
But despite all the changes to Las Vegas nightlife, Cordova stresses that one thing remains constant: the focus on the customer, and the resolve to “surprise and delight”. This might be through elaborate bottle service “rituals” for the high-spenders, or it might be inviting random groups up behind the DJ booth. “Now you’re fighting with the best venues in the world within a three-mile radius, it’s elevated everyone’s game.”
