January 7: Gary Wright, who drummed in 12 Volt Sex, The Nines and a slew of other local bands, dies at age 42 after a battle with cancer.
January 30: After nearly 33 years, Jubilee! at Bally’s closes to undergo a reimagining by Frank Gatson Jr. It reopens in March.
February 19: Imagine Dragons hit “Radioactive” sets a Billboard record by logging its 77th week on the Hot 100. It winds up spending 87 weeks on the chart.
March 8: NYC live-music transplant Brooklyn Bowl launches with a performance by Soulive, then celebrates full-on a week later with Elvis Costello and The Roots.
March 19: The Contemporary Art Center’s board votes to dissolve the organization. By April, a new board steps forward to rescue the group from dissolution.
March 31: The High Roller, the world’s tallest observation wheel at 550 feet, opens at the eastern end of Caesars Entertainment’s Linq Promenade.
April 1: The Tempest, an adaptation of the Shakespeare play conceived by Teller and Aaron Posner, begins a sold-out run at the Smith Center’s Symphony Park.
April 21: After a two-year search, the Las Vegas Philharmonic announces former Nevadan Donato Cabrera as its new music director and conductor.
May 9: The Rock in Rio festival announces dates (May 8-9 & May 15-16) for its first-ever U.S. edition, set for Las Vegas’ MGM Festival Grounds.
May 23: Drai’s Beach Club and Nightclub rooftop complex opens at new boutique hotel the Cromwell.
Year-End Issue: Critics' Picks
May 26: Pure, the celebrity-favored nightclub inside Caesars Palace, closes after nearly nine years.
May 31: Strip headliner Frank Marino celebrates performance No. 25,000 during his Divas Las Vegas show.
June 1: Popovich and the Voice of the Fabled American West, the second feature from local filmmakers Jerry and Mike Thompson, premieres at LA’s Dances With Films.
June 3: Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis opens her first-ever restaurant, the Italian-inspired Giada at the Cromwell.
June 15: Hot Fuss, the triple-platinum-certified debut album by The Killers, turns 10 years old.
June 20: Victor Drai opens Liaison, the first LGBT nightclub in a Las Vegas casino-hotel, at the former temporary Bally’s location of his afterhours operation.
June 20-22: Electric Daisy Carnival draws a reported crowd of 400,000 over its three days. One festivalgoer dies from an Ecstasy overdose in the parking lot.
August 6: Owner Marty Walsh announces that Trifecta Gallery will close at the end of January.
August 13: Caesars Palace headliner Celine Dion cancels shows through at least March, citing health problems—hers and her husband’s.
August 14: Todd VonBastiaans and Bryan McCarthy bring Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England to ArtSquare Theater from Chicago.
August 23: Life nightclub opens at the new SLS, which debuts the Sayers Club and Foxtail five nights later.
August 25: Downtown’s Bunkhouse Saloon reopens with a headlining performance from Built to Spill.
September 1: A Zedd Labor Day party breaks the attendance record at XS, drawing a reported 11,323 people.
September 6: Kinky Boots becomes the first Broadway show to launch its national tour at the Smith Center.
September 12: Folky Vegas band Dusty Sunshine plays its final show after four years on the local scene.
October 14: Hakkasan Group announces that Pure will become Omnia, with the remodel projected to cost $38 million.
October 16: The fifth edition of the PollyGrind film festival kicks off at the Galaxy Luxury Theaters in Green Valley after being pulled from its initial venue.
October 24-26: Kanye West, OutKast and the Foo Fighters headline Life Is Beautiful’s second edition, which also includes expanded culinary, learning and art components.
October 31-November 2: Phish returns to Las Vegas after a 10-year absence for a three-concert run that includes the band’s first Halloween show here since 1998.
November 1: After nearly five years, Haze closes with a headlining set from DJ Carl Cox, leaving megaresort Aria without a major nightclub.
November 4: Helen: A Literary Magazine launches with digital copies of the Las Vegas-based, biannual publication, followed shortly by print editions.
November 5: Kiss kicks off a mini-residency at the Joint, following in the hard-rock footsteps of Mötley Crüe, Guns N’ Roses and Def Leppard.
November 12: Elaine Wynn buys Francis Bacon triptych “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” at a Christie’s Auction for $142.4 million, the most ever paid for a work of art at auction.
November 15: After announcing that it will close December 1, TastySpace Gallery holds its last art opening with work by Boston-area photographer Olivia Gatti.
November 29: The Writer’s Block bookstore opens on Fremont Street (with a rabbit mascot munching lettuce while you shop).
December 13: Caesars Palace headliner Shania Twain ends her two-year residency, which started with a stampede of horses on the Strip.
December 15: Clark County reveals that popular annual all-ages music festival Extreme Thing will not take place in 2015.
December 16: Hakkasan announces it will purchase Light Group for $36 million, expanding its Vegas profile to 24 venues.
December 20: Steve Wynn’s $10 million Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers celebrates its grand opening at Wynn Las Vegas.