I went to check out Devo at the official debut of the new Crown Theatre/nightclub at Rio. This is the space that has hosted everyone from magician Mac King to Prince’s 3121 stand.

I remain very excited by the independent booking of the club. I am less impressed by the mix of concert venue with nightclub. Everything seems to get mixed with nightclubs: from strip clubs, to swimming pools to bowling alleys, to strip clubs sponsoring swimming pools.

But the independent booking has potential. Most shows in Vegas are booked not through casinos but by big companies like AEG Live and Live Nation. Only certain acts are worth a big promoter’s time in the Vegas market. I hope an independent club in a casino can bring the acts that fall through the cracks and never play Vegas. Some bands with recent discs off the top of my head who have no upcoming Vegas shows included on tours: Drive-by Truckers, Graham Parker, John Hiatt, the Fall and New Pornographers. Anyway, the list is endless. Unless you are a band with a track record of hits (no original band members required) then the tourist corridor tends to pass. Certainly there are exceptions. Some examples: Vegas got behind Kings of Leon, Muse  and Lady Gaga relatively early on.

The sound system and acoustics of the Crown room are not great, but they are good enough. They worked for Prince. They work here. The room has not changed much from previous incarnations and still has the bothersome (for the audience), awkward spiral design out from the stage. For this opening, it was getting Devo that was special. The band still rocks pretty hard for men decades into their career. But the attendance was depressing. That is one reason why the big promotion companies pass on the bands like Devo with cult audiences and instincts toward art. They miss that a cult audience is a dedicated following. Without this new venue, I doubt Devo would have seen Vegas this tour. Why is this the case with Vegas? This is the curse of the Faustian four wall bargain the casinos have made with their concert venues over the past decade renting them out to companies like AEG Live and Live Nation.

Devo could have filled the room and done Rio proud in gambling returns as the casino packed up with geek fans making a night of the concert. That is the Vegas model  of a concert as a loss leader. How much would you pay to see Devo? $40 or so seems fair to me in the real world. Wouldn’t it be great if you could see them in Vegas for just $20 or get free tickets with your room? That is a model that used to work well for Vegas and still could bring tourists here in droves.  Instead, Vegas is still moving in the opposite direction. Crown is another example.

The problem is that a four wall deal, where the club is essentially a tenant, means Crown has to make a profit in order to pay rent. The gambling in the resort does the concert venue no good. That is true in everything from concerts at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay to the Cher show at Caesars. Casinos promoting concerts on their own have become rare. The resorts are mostly just landlords for shows and concerts.

Since Vegas rents are outrageous, ticket prices here must pay not just bands but casinos as landlords. Devo tickets were $79-$150 for Saturday night. That is not a bargain price that will bring people to town. The result of that price was likely behind a room with a lot of  empty space on opening night. It looks like Crown has a hard road ahead. Rio should help.

Casinos can have a lot of success with venues like Crown if they work at keeping the ticket prices low and the music interesting. This is probably among the most obvious lessons that resorts have yet to face from the Great Recession. The future of concerts and shows in The Entertainment Capitol of the World should  not be something for the tenants to worry about at Vegas resorts. Entertainment at resorts should once again become a core mission used to bring tourists here. Devo showed clearly how even that most basic idea of Vegas entertainment has De-evolved to the current mess. (Photo: Lanie Crossman)