Las Vegas Weekly

December 17, 2008 · 7:42 AM

Morning Call: Motley Crue set to close down The Joint ‘in true Crue style’

By Robin Leach

Motley Crue, perhaps no longer smokin' in the boys room. It's the mens room now.

Photo: Courtesy

It will probably be one of the wildest nights in rock ’n’ roll history -- and who better to get than our local rebels Motley Crue, touring for their new CD Saints of Los Angeles, to close the doors on a legendary venue. Mark it down now: Feb. 6 and 7 for two extraordinary nights to shut down one of the most hallowed halls in rock, The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

“We hope to really bring the house down in true Crue style,” drummer Tommy Lee said. “The Joint has played host to some of the world’s greatest rock bands over the years, and Motley Crue is honored to close it down,” added Las Vegas resident Vince Neil, the group’s frontman.

It will be 14 years almost to the date that the first historic rock venue of Vegas closes. Since February 1995, The Joint, which has hosted everybody from The Rolling Stones to The Foo Fighters, established national credibility as a legitimate tour stop by luring top-notch talent who had never played Vegas before.

“As one door closes, another one opens,” said Randy Kwasniewski, president of the Morgans Hotel Group and Hard Rock. “We shut the doors to the one Joint, which revolutionized the Vegas music scene, and look forward to writing a new chapter in rock history with the opening of a new Joint.”

The new $60 million venue with seven premiere VIP suites is scheduled to open in April. It will be twice the size of the current Joint and will feature cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, technologically advanced sound and lighting systems. That will include more than 36 relay speakers through the back of the venue, bar, lobby and restroom areas!

Additionally, the seated and general admission capacities will be doubled with more than 700 fixed, stadium-style seats with Wi-Fi access throughout the venue. It can be easily converted for boxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts events, red carpet movie premieres and even trade shows and corporate events.

It’s all part of the Hard Rock’s current $800 million expansion, which will add 860 guest rooms, including an all-suite, 15-story south tower and a new 17-story north tower with a 30,000-square-foot casino and 60,000 square feet of meeting space. New nightclubs, bars, restaurants, a spa and health club and boutiques will all open there in late 2009.

“The Joint will be a completely new, unparalleled entertainment experience that fans and artists have come to expect from live entertainment” said John Meglen, CEO of AEG Live/Concerts West, the company that books its acts. “The Joint has been widely known as the country’s pre-eminent rock ’n’ roll venue and has been a must-play for both established and up-and-coming artists. That tradition will continue with the world’s most well-known musicians.”

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