Like it begins for so many, Las Vegas was only supposed to be a short stop on a longer trip for Colin Comer. The Chicago native moved here five years ago to work for the Light Group, “anticipating maybe six months or a year of learning at a great company and growing from that, but ultimately planning to move back to Chicago.” But you know how the story goes ... Vegas happens. You meet great people. You come across incredible opportunities. You stay.
For Comer, who started as director of marketing at the Bank Nightclub and worked his way up the Light Group ladder to vice president of marketing, there was an abundance of great people to work with, including his current partner, John Pettei. And the most incredible opportunity occurred after Hakkasan Group acquired Light Group and then decided to turn over sparkling Mandalay Bay venues Light and Daylight. Comer and Pettei created Play Management to operate the nightclub/dayclub combo for ownership group the Yucaipa Companies. “It’s always been a dream of mine to have a business of my own, but I thought I’d have to move to a smaller market to achieve that, somewhere down the road,” Comer says.
Comer and Play are certainly seizing the opportunity by hiring top talent and getting them involved in every detail; using a nimble, small-business management mentality; and fitting Light with what they hope will be a reputation as a world-class music venue. “If you look at our recently announced residencies, what defines these artists?” Comer asks. “To us, it’s really like a mixtape. We’re not stuck on one type of genre or artist, and we’re not content to just book an artist and throw them onstage to do a concert. We try to add layers to the things we do.”
