7 GOOSE BUMPS THE NEW FRIDAY NIGHT: TRAVIS SCOTT AT JEWEL NIGHTCLUB
FREE February 2–8, 2017
WHAT TO DO
AFTER DARK By Mark Adams
Alison Wonderland (top) and Ariana Grande (right)
THURSDAY 2 HEAR : The Vegas Music Summit presents a two-night showcase at Backstage Bar & Billiards, with local bands headlining. Tonight’s installment features Almost Normal, Avalon Landing and Smoke Season. Through Feb. 3, 8 p.m., $10, 601 Fremont St., backstagebarlv.com
DANCE: Thirsty Thursday means
it’s Ladies Night at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country, where all women score $1 wells, drafts and glasses of wine. And even if you can’t partake in the drink specials, you can still hit the floor on what’s likely the dancehall’s busiest night of the week. Yee-haw! 7 p.m., Town Square Las Vegas, stoneysrockincountry.com
FRIDAY 3 HEAR: Time to dust off your
baggy JNCOs and Doc Martens! Vanilla Ice, Naughty by Nature, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, All4-One, Tone Loc and Young MC join forces on the I Love the ’90s tour, which hits The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino tonight. 8 p.m., $45$200, hardrockhotel.com
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DANCE: “Get Ready” for the
trippy, trap-laced beats of classically-trained cellist-turned EDM DJ Alison Wonderland, who plays Surrender at Encore tonight. 10:30 p.m., $25-$45, surrendernightclub.com
SATURDAY 4 HEAR: Promoting her hit 2016 album
Dangerous Woman, pop/R&B sensation Ariana Grande brings her tour of the same name to the MGM Grand Garden Arena. You’ll be there all night, but probably not all day … Little Mix and Victoria Monét open. 7:30 p.m., $30-$200, mgmgrand.com
DANCE: Maybe best known for his 2014 smash “Heroes (We Could Be)” collab with Tove Lo, Swedish DJ/producer sensation Alesso drops his latest single February 3. Give “Falling” a listen before hearing him drop it live at XS. 10 p.m., $20-$30, xslasvegas.com EXPERIENCE: The Church Lady and
Master Thespian share the stage tonight at The Foundry, where Saturday Night Live alums Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz are again teaming up for their Reunited residency. 8:30 p.m., $49-$89, inside SLS Las Vegas, foundrylv.com
SUNDAY 5 HEAR: Drai’s Nightclub fittingly goes
big for big game weekend, featuring a lineup of top-notch live performances at the rooftop Cromwell club. Playing the big finale tonight is 2017 album of the year Grammy nominee Future. 10:30 p.m., $50-$75, draisnightlife.com
DANCE: Borgeous takes the crowd at Hakkasan “Over the Edge” tonight with his house-tinged EDM tunes. 10:30 p.m., $20-$30, inside MGM Grand, hakkasanlv.com
MONDAY 6 DANCE: Give some local love at Marquee Nightclub tonight, where veteran Las Vegas-based spinner DJ M!KEATTACK hits the booth. 10:30 p.m., $23-$32, inside The Cosmopolitan, marqueelasvegas.com
Borgeous (right) and Mexico’s national soccer team (bottom)
EXPERIENCE: Show off your own talents
during Monday Night Karaoke at Downtown’s Bunkhouse Saloon tonight. We recommend a couple beers to take the edge off. 10 p.m., bunkhousedowntown.com
TUESDAY 7 T AS T E: Local wine experts go head-tohead at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, where sommeliers will pair dishes in a three-course meal during the Downtown Summerlin location’s annual Sommelier Smackdown. Tonight’s round puts Lupo’s Jenna Boyer against the MGM Grand WPB&G’S Jason Jones. 6:30 p.m., $65, wolfgangpuck.com
WEDNESDAY 8
tinues to thrive, with local breweries routinely releasing some seriously stellar suds. Get a taste of Henderson’s Lovelady Brewery tonight at Khoury’s, during a tap takeover which features the can release of its latest beer. 6 p.m., 9915 S. Eastern Ave., khourysfinewine.com
EXPERIENCE: Goooooooaaaaaallllll!
Catch a Major League Soccer exhibition game tonight at Sam Boyd Stadium, where the national teams from Mexico and Iceland will spar off. 6:30 p.m., $29-$154, unlvtickets.com
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SOCCER BY MIKE DINOVO/USA TODAY SPORTS
T AS T E: The Las Vegas beer scene con-
Fridays
The Good Life Februa r y 2 - 8, 2017 vegasseven.com
Februa r y 2 - 8, 2017 vegasseven.com
By Zauni Tanil
Photography Nick Knight
“The Travis Scott Experience”
And it kicks off with
Launches at Jewel Nightclub
J
ewel Nightclub inside Aria recently announced its latest venture, The Good Life Fridays, a party that promises unforgettable moments focused on the guest. Once a month, hip-hop artist and producer Travis Scott will host “The Travis Scott Experience,” where he’ll perform a set of his chart-topping hits, kicking off on February 3. Here are a few reasons why this will be the place to unwind after a long week. You’ll Get a Taste of the Good Life It’s not a concert, it’s an experience and Jewel works as the perfect backdrop. Whether you reserve a table or choose general admission, all partiers are treated to the good life. Jewel may be one of the more intimate venues on the Strip because of its size and jewel-box design, but it doesn’t skimp on extravagance. Dazzling light displays, themed VIP suites, confetti balloons and insane production are just a few of the elements that guests experience throughout the night. Without a bad table in the house, and plenty of GA room, clubgoers are able to fully immerse themselves in Scott’s vibe wherever they choose to party. Travis Knows How to Put on a Show It’s nothing but high energy when Scott performs—and these moments are promised to be longer than the average nightclub set. The artist, known for pulling crazy stunts onstage like crowd surfing, has a natural ability for getting the place hyped. But there’s more to look forward to than just outrageous party antics. Scott is a perfectionist and is all about giving guests a quality show. Exclusive New Music? Fresh off the success of his album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, Scott is currently working on his next album, AstroWorld. With the album expected sometime this year, clubgoers may end up getting a preview of new material.
Pop Bottles and Balloons There are only so many ways to release confetti, but confetti balloons are blowing up in 2017. Multiple times throughout the night, Jewel releases giant balloons for partygoers to bounce around. When they pop, it’s confetti showers all around.
You Never Know Who You’ll Run Into Scott is an industry favorite, with artists such as Metro Boomin, Kanye West, Lil Uzi Vert and Quavo touting him as a genius. With such a large circle of supporters, who knows who may show up at Jewel?
Any Given Friday On the dates when Travis isn’t in the house, catch open-format talent such as Lil Jon, Irie, FAED, LA Leakers and more, performing on Friday nights. 7
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Travis Scott February 3 and March 17, Jewel Nightclub in Aria, jewelnightclub.com; Instagram: jewelnightclub
putting the “ intrigue ” in FORTÉ’S SCOTT ACTON BRINGS LAS VEGAS’ DREAMS TO NIGHTLIFE
By Robert Spuhler Photography Barbara Kraft
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S
ome may look at Intrigue, the latest jewel of the Wynn’s nightlife portfolio, and think its most memorable feature is the lagoon, complete with its own waterfall; others might say it’s the Living Room, the VVIP lounge with its curated vinyl collection along one wall. But for Scott Acton, founder of Forté Specialty Contractors, the beauty is in the details. “I like the stainless steel wave panels on the wall,” he says. “It’s a brilliant idea. It’s unlike anything else in Las Vegas.” It’s the attention to those little details that has made Forté a go-to firm for several of Las Vegas’ most design-forward companies and properties. Acton’s amassed a body of work up and down the boulevard, recently bolstered by Milk Bar and Momofuku in The Cosmopolitan and Intrigue in Wynn. The desire to build spectacle may be hereditary. Acton’s grandfather Hubert did construction and fabrication for Disney and numerous amusement parks. Next came Ken Acton, Scott’s father, who joined the family business after creating, among other things, the shark for the film Jaws. Acton Animation moved to Las Vegas in 1995, and Scott started to work with his father. One of their first projects: the pirate ships in front of TI. “I was only going to be [in Las Vegas] for 11 months,” he says. “I overshot it by a little bit.” That “little bit” has turned into more than 20 years of projects, first independently, then with his company Trevi Manufacturing. Selling that business on the precipice of the economic downturn in 2007, he returned in 2010 with Forté, combining construction with design under one roof to cut down on the number of middlemen between an idea and a completed project, and figuring out how to lower costs without affecting the end experience for patrons. “We come in and modify a design to make it more palatable for the budget,” he says. “We go to work, looking at different materials, applications and attachment methods, and figure out how we can get the same look and feel but shave dollars off.” Over those two decades, Acton has worked on restaurants, nightclubs and theaters while continuing the family’s legacy in amusement parks; like his father and grandfather before him, Acton still does substantial work for Disney. Up and down the Strip, there are few resorts that don’t have a Forté project: Planet Hollywood has Gordon Ramsay BURGR, The Palazzo has SushiSamba and Aria has Bardot Brasserie. “As these different chefs and restaurateurs come to town, they want to put their stamp on the world,” Acton says of his restaurant-heavy portfolio, “and I believe Vegas is becoming a place where people come to do that.” One of his regular Vegas-based clients has been Wynn Resorts. Forté has been involved in the Zodiac Dome and, his personal favorite, the entrance displays at Wynn Palace Cotai, along with the spa at the Encore and the Preston Baily floral display in the atrium of Wynn Las Vegas. Most recently, Acton was involved in the construction of Intrigue, where the original design was in place, but needed to find a way off the page and into the real world under both budgetary and timeline pressures. “Mr. Wynn never misses a date—or you have to move to a different state,” he says. “It was very schedule-challenged, and with the number of changes that occurred, we were always making modifications.” The end result—the sum total of the details, the modifications and the smallest of touches—is the type of large-scale spectacle with which Forté seems comfortable: a huge centerpiece chandelier, a bar even before revelers get inside the club, the ultra-VIP Living Room and the iconic waterfall. “People come from all over the world to be entertained,” Acton says. “They want the dining experience, the show experience—they really want to be wowed.” 7
ACTON COURTESY OF FORTE
intrigue