Las Vegas Weekly

December 4, 2008 · 2:42 PM

NFR rides into town with country’s biggest and best superstars

By Robin Leach

Bareback action at the NFR.

Photo: National Finals Rodeo

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, the world’s richest and most prestigious rodeo, a slew of country music superstars will appear all over town for the next 10 days starting tonight. More than 170,000 rodeo fans are expected through next weekend!

First up is our rundown of the stars on stage to open the Thomas & Mack challenges each night: Thursday, Dec. 4 -- Trailer Choir; Friday, Dec. 5 -- Jake Owen; Saturday, Dec. 6 -- Reba McEntire; Sunday, Dec. 7 -- Brooks & Dunn; Monday, Dec. 8 -- Crystal Shawanda; Tuesday, Dec. 9 -- Red Steagall; Wednesday, Dec. 10 -- Ronnie Milsap; Thursday, Dec. 11 -- Charlie Daniels; Friday, Dec. 12 -- Zac Brown Band; and closing night Saturday, Dec. 13 -- Jack Ingram, with Matt Lewis as Elvis!

Each night after the stars’ opening performance, the top 15 contestants in the categories of bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding will compete for a share of the $5.625 million prize purse. Additionally, the Academy of Country Music has set up a stage in the adjoining Cox Pavilion to showcase up-and-coming country music artists.

Now here’s the Royal Robin Rundown for the entire 10 days of NFR:

Tonight through Saturday, Billy Childers entertains at South Point, and through Sunday Western Underground plays at Harrah’s. Tomorrow Sawyer Brown is at Boulder Station, and all weekend long it’s Brooks & Dunn at the Las Vegas Hilton, Travis Tritt at the Tropicana, Ron White at The Mirage, Mirada Lambert at the Golden Nugget, and Clay Walker at the Silverton Casino Lodge. Sunday night Lee Greenwood sings “God Bless the USA” at The Orleans. Starting Sunday for the week at Silverton is Flynville Train, while Susie Dobbs holds down South Point, and Pat Green performs Sunday and Monday at the Golden Nugget.

Next week Rodney Carrington plays the MGM Grand from Monday through Saturday, Ronnie Millsap plays Tuesday and Wednesday at the Golden Nugget, and John Rich and Cowboy Troy are at the Hilton on Wednesday and Thursday. Then starting Thursday through the final weekend, we’ll have Gary Allan at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay, Bill Engvall at Treasure Island, Charlie Daniels at the Golden Nugget, Blaine Gray at South Point, Blake Shelton at Silverton, Gretchen Wilson at the Hilton, Lost Trailers at Imperial Palace, Jo Dee Messina at the Orleans -- all capped off by redneck funnyman Larry the Cable Guy at The Orleans Arena.

We’ll repeat the list on a day-by-day basis from here on out so you can keep track of who is where each night.

Today’s NFR activities include the Benny Binion Bucking Horse sale at the South Point Equestrian Center with proceeds benefiting the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. The staggering NFR Cowboy Christmas Gift Show opens its doors at the Las Vegas Convention Center with more than 400 booths of custom-made clothing, jewelry, arts and crafts spread out over 300,000 square feet. If you’ve haven’t been, I urge you to explore it. I even picked up two leather jackets of the stars there last year from my friend Sandi at Leather Renditions, who designs for all the country and western stars.

Famed Flint Rasmussen will demonstrate “Outside the Barrel” on the main stage there today. The Miss Rodeo America pageant continues on with the president’s luncheon at The Orleans. The first performance of the rodeo starts at 6:45 p.m. today in the Thomas & Mack Center and is followed with the first buckle presentations at South Point at 11 p.m. hosted by Randy Corley and Flint Rasmussen. The NFR Tonight show hosted by Don Gay, eight-time world champion and Hall of Fame cowboy, and TV host Dan Miller runs from 10:30 to 11:30 p.m. at the Gold Coast showroom.

“Country Future Stars” kicks off tonight in the Canyon Club of the downtown Four Queens casino hotel with country pop rock trio the Abdomen and a blues country performance by Brian McComas and Aaron Benward. Up on the Strip, Amanda Hekel and Cody McCarver will entertain on a special stage set up in The Mirage Race & Sports Book as part of the nightly live broadcasts from the NFR arena.

— From Vegas Deluxe

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