Las Vegas Weekly

June 30, 2010 · 12:29 PM

Carey Hart’s Wasted Space and Love mark anniversaries

By Robin Leach

Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr unveil a tribute to John Lennon and George Harrison in celebration of the first anniversary of The Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage.

Photo: Scott Doctor/www.greatscottstudios.com

Love, love, love -- and thanks to Cirque du Soleil, The Beatles musical Love at The Mirage has been sharing exactly that now for four years. Tonight marks the fourth anniversary of what many believe is the best of the seven Cirque shows on The Strip.

Congratulations to the creative team in Montreal and to the 50 cast members and all the crew here in Las Vegas for a record-breaking achievement that looks set to run for many years to come.

Ringo Starr this week met up with four of the Las Vegas cast at the kickoff of his North American tour near Niagara Falls and posed for a photograph to mark the fourth anniversary.

It’s difficult to believe that four years have passed since its grand gala world premiere and that stars from Britney Spears to Dita Von Teese have watched the spectacular production enthralled by its songs and music, audio brilliance, fabulous costumes, astounding acrobatics -- and above all the story of four lads from Liverpool who conquered the world and changed the pop scene forever with extraordinary lyrics and charmed compositions.

I go back all the way to their earliest days when they were just the Gold Bugs playing underground beer caverns in Hamburg and before furniture store owner turned manager Brian Epstein changed them into The Beatles. My then news editor wouldn’t let me cover them in Germany, so I suggested that Brian call my pal Derek Taylor instead, and he went on to become the CEO of their company Apple while I immigrated to America.

I witnessed firsthand their explosive worldwide stardom and watched their debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York City just months after I’d arrived here. I stood with them in the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan looking down on the crush of fans crowding to get a glimpse of them. I joined promoter Sid Bernstein at Shea Stadium for their first major concert, and we marveled at the phenomenon they had created.

And then I followed them with my still good friend Ken Mansfield at Capitol Records, who went on to run their record label here. You can read the account of his life with The Beatles at FabWhiteBook.com.

Then they split, but Cirque boss Guy Laliberte through a meeting with his friend George Harrison brought The Beatles back into the spotlight in creating the musical Love. It’s been one incredible sensation since June 30, 2006.

CAREY HART’S WASTED SPACE

Congratulations also are in order today for Carey Hart’s second anniversary of his music lounge Wasted Space at the Hard Rock Hotel. Carey, who is married to singer Pink, also operates Hart and Huntington, his tattoo salon at the Hard Rock, and still performs the motorcycle stunts that brought him into the public spotlight. Wasted Space is thriving and open nightly with great music acts and performances all week long.

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.

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

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