I don’t really know when this whole “host” fad started. Maybe it’s been going on forever; I just didn’t notice before coming of age. Or maybe it’s a fairly new concept. Regardless, it’s everywhere. Every weekend. Every club. Someone with a famous/infamous name and face is hosting the night.
But the term “host” seems to have quite a different meaning in a nightclub then at any other party. Case in point: Over the weekend, I ventured into Tao, where NBA superstar LeBron James was hosting the night. The venue was an absolute circus. The lines were long and people were everywhere.
About two and a half hours after the event’s start, an announcement came over the speakers. James was on location. And for the first time, the song, “I’m in Miami, Bitch,” was appropriate in Las Vegas. The King was making his entrance.
The crowd went crazy. People jammed together to get as close to the action as possible. The Tao girls ran over to a platform above the dance floor, holding letters that spelled out “K-I-N-G.” As a casual, sunglassed James made his way to the center of the dance floor, a cake—shaped and decorated like a crown—was carried through the crowd, and a bottle of Cristal was flown to him by a man on a wire high above the clubbers.
I guess Tao figured that at 6-feet, 8-inches, the summer’s most talked-about sports figure needed no platform. He towered over most, but people still shoved and pushed to get near him. And unless you were a large-breasted or exposed woman, it was pretty much mission impossible. I knew I should have worn something more revealing!
So there I stood, with the other clubbers who couldn’t get close, standing on our tip toes, peering between heads and outstretched hands, trying with all our might to catch a glimpse. And there he stood and smiled for 10 minutes—just 10 feet and what felt like 5,000 bodies and 10,000 security guards away.
From there, I assume James was escorted to the nicest VIP booth, where he and his entourage partied for the remainder of the night. The host’s duties were done. Goes to show, we’ll really do just about anything to party, even just for 10 minutes with a celebrity.
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