Since the dawn of nightlife in America, Las Vegas has always been the leader of the pack. Massive hotel-casinos constantly upping the ante on every aspect of entertainment, while colossal nightclubs attract visitors from all over the world. There may be other cities in and out of the country that provide an atmosphere that's just as rich in nightlife, but no one does it like Vegas; this is where a majority of America's privileged adults come to be someone else for a weekend.
It's no secret that music plays a pivotal role in the success of any entertainment scene, and that's definitely been the case for Las Vegas. If there's one aspect of their entertainment that's acted as a steroid for their nightlife scene in the last few years it's dance music, and seeing as their parties have only gotten bigger and better, there's been talk of Las Vegas becoming the "new" Ibiza.
For anyone that's visited the Mediterranean oasis off the coast of Spain during their club season, it's evident that it's the mecca for dance music. The world's
biggest and brightest artists descend upon the island for three months of some of the most sought after nightclubs in the world that bring in names like Paul van Dyk,
Carl Cox,
Steve Lawler,
Deadmau5 and
Kaskade on a consistent basis.
U.S. head of William Morris Electronic, Joel Zimmerman is known to have played a pivotal role in the development of Las Vegas' dance music scene, but he believes that at the end of the day, there will only be one Las Vegas, and one Ibiza.
"I don't think we're taking people away from going to Ibiza," Zimmerman recently said in an interview with MTV. "One's a beautiful Balearic island off the coast of Barcelona, and the other is stuck in the middle of the desert where people come to lose their minds. But the transient aspect of the island and Vegas, being a different crop of people every weekend, is very similar."
Much like Las Vegas, there really isn't anything that compares to Ibiza. But there's reason to believe that the edge here would have to be given to Las Vegas. Rather than having a "club season," where their real numbers come in, they're free to book these artists on any given weekend throughout the year. Who doesn't want to stay at the penthouse of an infamous hotel-casino, then head down to play to a massive crowd of party people?
Is Las Vegas slowly turning into a version of Ibiza stateside? It's clear that the popularity of dance music in the U.S. is on a steady increase that doesn't seem to be letting up, and based on tourism numbers constantly increasing there is some evidence. What are your thoughts?