Imagine Dragons nailed their acoustic set at the end of the gala in the resort’s ballroom, with the Las Vegas rock band performing an orchestral set at the legendary music venue.
The band’s current lineup – frontman Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Salmon and bassist Ben McKee – will wrap up their “Room World Tour” with four shows at the Hollywood Bowl in late October.
The epic band will perform at the finale on October 27th, backed by the Los Angeles Film Orchestra.
“I really think Imagine Dragons was made to work with an orchestra,” Reynolds said ahead of Friday night’s Rise Up Gala to benefit the Tyler Robinson Foundation at the Wynn Las Vegas. “We always want to be epic. We want to be over the top and everything Las Vegas.”
As Reynolds was speaking, Salmon interjected, “I’ve always thought we should do The Warriors.”
“Why not ‘The Warriors’?” Reynolds responded, referring to the “Smoke and Mirrors” song used to promote the League of Legends 2014 World Championship. “They should definitely add it.”
Added.
Reynolds said he hopes to see more collaborations between Imagine Dragons and the orchestra. There were informal talks about a collaboration between the band and the Las Vegas Philharmonic when Donato Cabrerra was conductor before he retired this year. But COVID-19 has caused the momentum for that partnership to fade.
The band will perform a full concert with about 60 musicians under the baton of renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin, who is this year’s guest conductor with the Las Vegas Philharmonic. The model for such a venture was Metallica’s 1999 collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony, which resulted in the live album “S&M.”
“This is the first time we’ve done something like this properly with a large orchestra,” Reynolds said, “and I think we’ll learn a lot from it, and it won’t be the last.”
Intense Gala Action
Joel McHale, who is both sharp and hilarious, hosted the TRF event for the eighth year in a row. McHale’s flight was delayed but he made it to the show in time. Co-host Aisha Tyler’s flight was delayed even more, and she arrived midway through the show. Brian Quinn and Joe Gatto from the hidden-camera TV series Impractical Jokers filled in for Tyler until she arrived.
Beforehand, McHale had questioned why I’d split an evening between the TRF red carpet and the Eagles show at the Sphere.
“Where are the priorities,” McHale said. “What’s the cause? The Eagles Yacht Foundation? … This is much better.”
But seriouslyโฆ
“This is one of my favorite galas, one of my favorite bands and definitely one of my kids’ favorite bands,” McHale said. “For them to ask me to host all those years ago and then continue to ask me after that… was very brave.”
The total proceeds from the night were not released, but a public fundraiser and live auction hosted by Christian Colberg and his son Parker raised more than $750,000 for TRF’s efforts to end childhood cancer.
The guitar that Salmon played at the concert sold for $25,000. Reynolds bought John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” for $10,000 and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” for $25,000, neither of which were on the Hollywood Bowl setlist.
Flav and Urban “collab”
Rap icon Flavor Flav surprised guests backstage at the iHeartRadio Music Awards held at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.
That person was country star and frequent Las Vegas headliner Keith Urban.
“I love you, son!” Flave said as he hugged Urban and posed for a photo.
Flave also said, “If anyone gives Urban any trouble, I’ll knock their teeth out!”
During Saturday night’s show, Flav and Urban took the stage separately, with Flav performing an anonymous rendition of “Hangin’ Tough” with New Kids on the Block.
NKOTB has announced that they will have a permanent residency at Dolby Live in 2025. Flav was asked if they were planning such a series in Las Vegas, perhaps with Chuck D under the name Public Enemy.
“I’m working on it right now and I’m looking forward to finishing it soon,” Flav, 65, of Las Vegas, said.
Urban performed five songs on the iHeart show, starting with “Straight Line” from his new album, “High,” which was released on Friday.
Urban begins his residency at the Blue Live Theatre in Fontainebleau on Oct. 4. The 56-year-old headliner said he had been working on a planned album last year, but then suddenly abandoned it and started anew.
“I decided to pretty much scrap the whole thing, take four songs out of the 13 and start building a new album around them,” Urban said. “At the time, I was like, this has never happened before and I don’t know why this is happening, but I just kept on going and I kept on growing and this album came out.”
“Looking back, I’m really glad I stuck it out.”
The bulk of “High” will be performed in its debut at the Fontainebleau Theatre in Urban, where it is scheduled to run for a total of 10 performances, five this month and five in February of next year.
Cool Hang Alert
Myron’s at the Smith Center has been a hotbed of Las Vegas talent lately. The incredible singer Jonathan Karrant will be there on Wednesday at 7pm. Karrant will sing classics by accomplished lyricist Johnny Mercer, mixing “Autumn Leaves,” “Moon River,” “Skylark” and “Summer Wind” among others. Karrant’s latest album, “On and On,” reached No. 4 on the Billboard Jazz charts. For more information, visit thesmithcenter.com.
John Katsilometes’ column appears daily in Section A. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow us! Johnny Katz @JohnnyKats1 on X and @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.