Oakenfold puts down Vegas roots—a Weekly exclusive
We teased you in February with the promise of an “earth-shattering announcement of a musical nature” from the Palms. Prepare to reap the benefits of your patience.
Accepting his first residency in 10 years, since appearing at Home in London, DJ/producer Paul Oakenfold has entered into a landmark promotional partnership with N9NE Group to re-brand Saturday nights at the Palms’ Rain nightclub.
Paul Oakenfold Presents Perfecto Saturdays is slated to launch in August or September with Oakenfold himself on the decks a minimum of twice a month. When the artist is not in residence, others on Oakenfold’s Perfecto label and top touring artists will guest DJ. The full production show, says Michael Fuller (elevated recently to vice president of N9NE Group), features custom props, a cadre of performance artists and choreographed go-go routines. “Think Cirque du Soleil meets Ibiza,” says Fuller. The new venture comes with a whopping $60,000-$70,000 weekly budget, none of which, stresses Fuller, will go toward celebrity guest hosts. “Everyone else has gone the celebrity route; we’ve gone the production route. This is going to be the most elaborate production on a Saturday night in a Vegas nightclub.”
The residency will commence once Oakenfold completes his annual summer world tour. According to Fuller, Oakenfold insists on having adequate time to properly promote his every project.
“When you think about Paul’s career, he’s always done everything to the highest level. His name is never attached to anything weak or that has failed. He’s the largest and most recognized brand [in the industry]. From his remix career to his movie career he’s really crossed over into many genres … He’s in a class of his own.”
In addition to DJing, Oakenfold brings to the table possible premieres for the movies he soundtracks, visits from the artists he regularly remixes and a live CD with partners iTunes and MySpace accompanied by a live video. “He has relationships across the board with everybody,” Fuller says.
This partnership will be accompanied by a reorganization and minor functional renovation of the club. “[Rain] was ahead of its time, and it’s had seven years of major success. It’s still a very relevant nightclub, but the changes will make it more of a standardized nightclub.” The repositioning of Rain will begin with the launch of Rain Fridays on April 4, a night meant to deepen the musical mix by bouncing back and forth between hip-hop and the new age of crossover acts like Z-Trip, Rev Run and DJ Steve Aoki.
Ghostbar, Rain’s original partner in crime, will be receiving a little love as well. “It’s getting some cosmetic upgrades, just prettying it up a little,” says Fuller. The tower-top club will also get some new image events to keep it in our consciousness. “Ghostbar is, believe it or not, our most profitable venue,” and it was that kind of brand loyalty that attracted Oakenfold to the idea of collaboration. “From his mouth, there’s no other place in America to have a residency other than Vegas, because the people come to you, it’s the entertainment capital, and it has international appeal.”
Amid healthy growth, AMG and TMG go to war
Don’t believe the hype. Life in clubland isn’t all sparkler service and block-rockin’ beats. Sometimes it can get downright ugly. And when it does, no one knows better how to regroup than the residents of Vegas’ ever-expanding nightlife empire. Even while battling former business partners in federal court, the ranks of Angel Music Group (AMG) continue to grow in the days prior to the opulent Wet Republic ultra-pool’s opening at MGM Grand.
A preliminary injunction for a restraining order as well as a $90 million lawsuit were filed in New York on February 27 against Angel Music Group CEO Neil Moffitt and five other AMG employees by former business partners Andrew Fox and Lee Heiman of The Management Group. The case was removed to federal court on March 4 with a show-cause hearing held that Friday. TMG accuses AMG of essentially disregarding all stipulations of their partnership agreement and—later—the dissolution thereof, and of stealing employees, luring away $1 million client DJ Tiesto and making threats of violence.
While AMG’s defense attorney Ronald Richards plays down the event, calling the accusations which prompted the restraining order “patently false and defamatory,” and the suit itself a “minor leftover complaint,” the plaintiff points out that AMG has agreed to adhere to the tenets of their prior agreements and has given their word not to pose any physical threat, and that the suit for $90 million in damages is indeed moving forward, the trial likely to occur in six to nine months. “We have every expectation that we will be successful in the end,” says TMG attorney Larry Hutcher.
In stark contrast to the not-so-nice goings-on in New York, business is booming for AMG here in Vegas, with Wet Republic readying for an April 15 opening. In the last two and a half months, AMG has assembled a crack team of over 12 nightlife operators and hosts with a combined resume touting Pure, Aura, Tryst, Jet, Moorea, Prive, CatHouse and Ice. By the end of April, AMG expects to be successfully overseeing the promotions and programming of Tabu, Studio 54 and Wet Republic, with additional exciting projects just beyond the horizon.