Remember when a Vegas vacation was cheap? Bargain buffets, comped cocktails and reasonable room rates? Me neither. Sure, Slots-A-Fun still has its infamous $1.75 Heinekens and you can score an off-Strip crash pad for minor duckets, but a genuine good time gets expensive. Prior planning can cut the price of just about everything but who has the Friday night foresight for that?
A Strip-side suite in which to sleep, five-star eats and an impromptu booth and bottle will cost you but don't require reservations. Finding front-row tickets to tonight's show? Forget about it. Sold out in Vegasese means SOLD OUT. Even savvy scalpers have a tough time scraping together tickets. If black- market bartering for possibly bogus and definitely nosebleed seats isn't your style, try your luck at Tix4Tonight.
Though they won't promise a prime placement, if you're in a pinch, they've got seats for over 40 fabulous acts at half the price. That's two-for-one tickets for tonight. The catch is, you can't call in for show info. No ordering over the Internet. You must pick and pay in person. Mitch Francis, Tix4Tonight's CEO, promised the producers of every show he sells that the discount distribution wouldn't interfere with their in-house box office. And since 2004, he's stuck to it.
Standing in line is a small price to pay for some of the shows they offer but for specifics you have to stop in. Even my powers of persuasion couldn't coax Mitch to cough up the catalog, and anyway, it changes daily. Sporting events, concert series, visiting variety acts, even headliners can be had for same-night seating but show up early. It's first-come-first-serve and the selection for exclusive events is always limited.
How will you know if they have aisle seats at Celine? Grab a Mai-Thai at the Hawaiian Marketplace and get in line for a glimpse of this afternoon's offerings. Half-price tickets to those crazy Cirque du Soleil shows? Maybe. It's worth standing on line with the other hopefuls at their booth across from the Stardust, provided you've made party provisions. Dollar draft in a plastic football and a foot-long hot dog is very North Strip-chic.
With four locations citywide, Tix4Tonight also has booths in the Fashion Show Mall and Four Queens on Fremont Street.
Jennifer Henry's got the goods on what to get & where. E-mail her at
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