Las Vegas Weekly

September 18, 2012 · 12 PM

Taylor Hicks marks return to Las Vegas, but not (yet) to Bally’s

By John Katsilometes

Taylor Hicks, Joey Fatone and Frankie Moreno at the Stifler show in the Lounge at the Palms on Saturday, July 14, 2012.

Photo: Gabe Ginsberg/Vegas Kool

While we await word by our city’s greatest SEC football tailgate rocker and his possible return to Bally’s, we can report that Taylor Hicks will be back in town this week.

He won’t be at Indigo at Bally’s. Not yet, at least.

Instead, Hicks is the featured entertainment at the Las Vegas Hospitality Association’s 2012 Distinction Awards dinner gala Thursday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The emcee is Las Vegas author Jack Sheehan. The most recent convention-style event Hicks played was the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., where he sang “Takin’ It To the Streets” just before Clint Eastwood took the stage.

Sheehan should offer a more scripted, lacking-in-furniture appearance than did the film legend.

On Friday, Hicks is set to perform at the Auburn vs. LSU Tailgate Concert at the Event Center Downtown in Opelkia, Ala. The show precedes LSU’s game at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium. Hicks was born in Birmingham and spent three years in study at Auburn before turning his focus on his music career.

His chosen field of study? Journalism. That has us worried …

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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