LINE PASS: Ice Melts Away

But as the tourists filtered out into the night at around 4 a.m., something special began to happen. People began arriving in droves. Through e-mail trees and text messaging, word had passed around town that Saturday was the end and Vegas' industry came out to show its respect. Within an hour, the club was packed. Cash registers were turned off and the bars were thrown open. Then at 6 a.m., the Arena's huge video screen was filled with a message: "Greg Neely would like to thank the following employees for their dedication and service," with staff members' names slowly appearing and disappearing. Neely, Ice's owner, had already made his rounds, emotionally hugging friends, employees and well-wishers. Four hours later, the party was still raging—and continued raging until well past noon. The reasons for Ice closing are open to speculation, but with a previous lackluster six months leading into Vegas' normally slow winter season and a lease due to expire in 2007, Neely undoubtedly wanted to go out with his head held high.

According to Mike Fuller, former Ice DJ and now corporate director of marketing for the N9NE Group, the club's history somewhat mirrored its last night. "They weren't killing it out of the gate," said Fuller, explaining that it took the stand-alone venue about a year to build its name and reputation as a center for house music. But in the second year, the club took off. "Vegas already had a full audience for house but Ice gave them what they wanted. "There were moments we had at Ice when that could've been any place in the world—it was that good," said Fuller. The best night, according to Fuller and many others, was New Year's Eve 2004-2005, when both Deep Dish and Tiesto were headlining. As legend has it, a customer didn't want Tiesto to stop playing and personally paid the Dutch DJ $10,000 to spin for another 90 minutes. As Fuller remembered it, the club brought in more than a $250,000 in the one night.

But there was more to Ice than wealthy fans tossing small fortunes at world-famous DJs. As the years went by, the club became known throughout the industry, both here and abroad, as both the place to play and to party. Resident DJ Joey Mazzola, opening for Tommy Lee at San Francisco's Crash Nightclub, nearly missed the closing party, but once Lee and club owner Rick Haynes heard that Ice was shutting down, they split the bill on a private jet to fly Mazzola back to Vegas in time for the festivities—such was the club's notoriety. And as soon as Mazzola arrived at Ice at 8:30 a.m., he jumped onto the turntables.

"Ice is the reason dance music exploded in Vegas," Mazzola said after, one of the gang reluctant to leave the back office nearly 10 hours later. Others there were Brian Klimaski, Marc Jay, Kevin Daily and Josh Donaldson, all of whom except Jay now work for Jet, with Daily being the club's new assistant general manager.

"Ice gave everyone an outlet to realize what dance music was all about," said Mazzola, adding that events such as Tao hosting Sander Kleinenberg and Jet's Tuesday blow-out that featured Bad Boy Bill, Richard Vission and a slew of others would never have happened without "Mr. Neely."

"Ice was like the Ministry of Sound for the United States," said Josh Donaldson, Donald Glaude's manager and Ice's old talent booker, referring to England's famous club. Klimaski, Ice's VIP director, noted that half of his tables on the last night were the same people who had come opening night.

Mazzola also credited Ice with launching his career, saying that if he had stayed in San Francisco, he'd only have been a rave DJ while here he has more residencies than he can count. Fondly remembering the night he was given the chance to open for John Digweed and Bad Boy Bill, Mazzola added, "Ice trusted in me. Ice gave me a lot of love. When I walk out this door, I'm going to be really sad about it."