Las Vegas Weekly

March 31, 2009 · 10:08 AM

DWTS Photo Gallery: Julianne’s free concert; double-elimination night

By Robin Leach

Tom Bergeron, Lacey Schwimmer and Steve-O.

Photo: ABC TV

New country singing star Julianne Hough is “coming home” to Las Vegas -- and I can confirm that Friday night, she will give a nearly hourlong free concert on the Third Street stage downtown in Fremont Street Experience. It’s her way of saying thanks to all her fans who have propelled her to fast-track stardom on the country charts.

The former Las Vegas Academy student will appear from 7:45 to just past 8:30 p.m., followed by Top New Male Vocalist winner Jake Owen at 9 and country star Jason Aldean from 10:30 p.m. to midnight. Matt Stillwell kicks off the Friday night fiesta at 6:45 p.m. Julianne flies in here from a concert in Ivins, Utah.

Julianne, who is currently teamed with country singer boyfriend Chuck Wicks on Season 8 of Dancing With the Stars, also will squeeze in rehearsals with him here over the weekend. They will be together on Sunday night’s red carpet at MGM Grand for the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, for which she is nominated as Top New Female Vocalist. She was declared the winner in that category by fan voting, and now she awaits the Academy’s decision Sunday.

ABC cameras will follow the couple as part of next Monday’s DWTS show. Vegas Deluxe will have full coverage of all the country music stars in town for the awards, including our advance interview with country queen Reba McEntire, who will be hosting again.

Julianne would have stayed in Vegas next Monday night for the tribute to George Strait, as she is his opening act starting in May for his summer tour. But she has to return to Hollywood for next week’s DWTS. Their summer tour kicks off May 15 in Charlotte, N.C., and continues through July 25 in Chicago. Their nearest stop to Vegas is July 17 in Salt Lake City.

Before last night’s show, Julianne broke the rules at the TV studio and sat on the judges’ table despite warning signs for a pre-show tour of the set. Click HERE for that video.

Our colleague Leslie Frisbee, editor of our sister publication, Las Vegas Magazine (LVM) that posts Vegas DeLuxe each day on its Web site and weekly in its print edition, recently interviewed Julianne. For Julianne’s Top 10 things she loves about Las Vegas, click HERE.

Playmate Holly Madison danced with inflamed muscles around her rib cage competing against injured Jackass stuntman Steve-O and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Click HERE for our spoiler-alert story we posted shortly after the East Coast telecast.

Tonight as Holly and the two Steves possibly face a double elimination at the bottom of the board, it’s up to viewers to agree or disagree with the judges’ decision. Boyz II Men, who are the guest stars tonight, brought down the house when Justin Timberlake personally picked them for his charity concert here at Planet Hollywood.

I’ve heard there’s been talk of them performing in a limited run at the new Sugarcane Live lounge at Sushi Samba in the Palazzo after comedy heavyweight Andrew Dice Clay wraps his current sold-out run.

I’m flying to Hollywood this afternoon to sit and watch right from the dance floor first-hand the results, and we’ll have that dramatic double-elimination news shortly after the live broadcast. Incidentally, on Saturday evening, the stars downtown for free concerts on Fremont Street are Glorianna, the Zac Brown Band (Top New Vocal Group), Kellie Pickler and LeAnn Rimes.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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