Las Vegas Weekly

April 16, 2010 · 12:11 PM

Photos: It’s a helluva hoedown at Gilley’s grand opening in T.I.

By Robin Leach

The grand opening of Gilley's Saloon at Treasure Island on April 15, 2010.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

It’s a beast of a bull with no name … yet!

The $100,000 state-of-the-art mechanical monster occupies pride of place in the new Gilley’s that opened last night at Treasure Island. It’s so lifelike that even members of the Team USA Professional Bull Riders were impressed with its bronco-bucking antics.

The Gilley Girls, the Jack Daniels girls and male and female guests all took on the brute, and most of them lost. For safety reasons -- and a later show at the Luxor -- Fantasy headliner Angelica Bridges had just the slow spin cycle under the watchful eye of rodeo cowboy legend Ty Murray, the husband of singer Jewel.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue captured all the sights, sounds and first-night experiences for this action-packed photo gallery, and I added a couple of my own pics. Vegas DeLuxe also extends a warm welcome to 24k Media’s Chris Rauschnot, who shot this fabulous video of Angelica on the bull at Gilley’s last night.

We couldn’t persuade billionaire Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin to ride the beast, but he did serve first-night snacks to the country music fans and 25 pro-rider cowboys from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and the U.S. Phil also was honored by the PBR and its CEO Sean Gleason.

The gorgeous girls of Sirens of T.I. entertained the crowd with Miranda Lambert’s “Gunpowder & Lead” after the Gilley Girls taught guests how to line dance. The party was one helluva hoedown, with the festivities spilling onto the Strip-front patio.

Gilley’s managers, including General Manager David Modelo, told me that there will be an official naming celebration soon for the mechanical bull, but meantime, most guests last night were divided between Bessie the Beast or Titan the Terrible! We posted a story about Gilley’s yesterday ahead of the grand opening party.

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.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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