Electronic dance music is a universal language that connects the globe, often without words, in a shared culture. It should come as no surprise that scenes from all over the world have contributed to the sea of styles that have thrived over the past four decades.
Vegas Turns Up Nose At Superstar Djs
On April 28, when the new nightclub Intrigue opens at Wynn Las Vegas, no world-famous knob-spinners will swell the payroll.
“It is the opposite of a big DJ-driven club,” Sean Christie, chief operating officer of Wynn Las Vegas, tells The Post’s Michael Kaplan.
Explaining that the new spot will feature a small, private VIP room, where social media is verboten and conversation is encouraged, Christie adds, “The DJ is no longer the most important part of the recipe.”
Says Victor Drai, whose eponymous club has focused on live music since it opened in 2014, “People are sick of the DJs in Vegas. It’s ridiculous to have the same five or six guys, pay them a fortune and lose money. It will reach a point where DJs are totally irrelevant.”
An insider says that most DJs have been on multiyear contracts with the hotels: “When they renew, offers are expected to go down, some by as much as 50 percent.”
In 2018, when the hotly anticipated Alon Las Vegas casino and hotel opens across the street from Wynn, six-figure DJs will not be in the mix. Jesse Waits, who had been the force behind Wynn’s EDM mecca XS and now oversees clubs, lounges and restaurants for Alon, says, “We created a monster.”
He’s referring to clubs that got loaded with EDM fanatics and eschewed a picky door. “People who just want to see DJs don’t dress up, they don’t have style, they don’t even want to be in a nightclub — they want to see a concert,” he says. “They’re not cool. Nightclubs are cool-people clubs.”
At Alon, he adds, “I’ll be creating a club for the cool people.”
